The Future Power of the AFC North

I was listening to the Rich Eisen podcast on a weekend drive from Philly to Richmond Sunday, and one nugget jumped out at me. Right now it's very popular to talk about how some teams are having player-led camps, and talk about how dedicated these players must be! Yeah, very exciting, great.

But one jumped out at me. Apparently Colt McCoy is running what has been dubbed "Camp Colt." It would seem that McCoy has thrown down as the would-be organizer of this camp, demanding most of his offense join him. It would seem that he's running a very regimented workout, including lifting and social activities on top of the football work they're putting in. To top this off, Eisen said that Colt has even ordered a media black-out by the players for this camp, not allowing the media into the practices and asking players not to talk about what they've worked on with media members.

I searched far and wide for a post with my thoughts on McCoy, but I couldn't find one. Patrick can probably recall our discussions about him though. I said it at the time he was picked...this is a kid - as a Ravens fan - that I fear. I specifically remember having a conversation (I believe with Patrick) where I said very soon after the Browns drafted him that they were one of a very few teams I really didn't want to see take him.

McCoy actually compares somewhat closely with Drew Brees coming out of college. Generally a weaker than you'd like arm, but exceptionally smart and highly accurate. He's the type of QB I think you want to take a risk on...the guy that has everything except the physical tools.

In other words, he's last year's Christian Ponder, except the Browns didn't have to use #12 on him, they used #85 instead. This is the difference between why McCoy was a terrific pick for the Browns, and Ponder was a bad pick for the Vikings.

Still, word of Camp Colt just further emphasizes why I'm scared of the kid. He started eight games for them, went 2-6 in those games as a 3rd round rookie, and yet still he demands the respect of his teammates and seems to have become the team leader.

Granted, we know very little about what's going on. We can't say for sure the players are treating him as the given leader of this team. But if it is true, count it as another notch on my belt keeping track of why I think this guy is going to be a great QB down the line, and why I'm very concerned about the Browns over the next five to ten years.