Bentley still on hold; Baxter rips coverage

The Browns center is on the physically unable to perform list.

BEREA (AP) — Browns center LeCharles Bentley’s comeback has been delayed, and cornerback Gary Baxter expressed frustration Tuesday with media portrayals of his return from injury.

Cleveland placed Bentley on the physically unable to perform list to give his surgically repaired knee more time to heal.

Bentley has yet to practice, but hasn’t given up on playing this season and had hoped to begin practicing with the team by the end of August.

“He’s disappointed, but because we sat down and we talked about it — he’s been in my office every week — he appreciates my concern,” Crennel said. “I’ve told him all along I want the best for him. Not only just to get him out on the football field but the best for LeCharles Bentley.”

By placing Bentley on the PUP list, he will be permitted to attend team meetings and continue his rehabilitation at the team’s facility. After six weeks on the PUP list, the Browns will have three weeks to allow Bentley to begin practicing.

Timetable

If Bentley begins practicing, the Browns have three weeks to make a decision on his roster status — they can add him to the 53-man roster, place him on injured reserve or leave him on the PUP list for the rest of the season.

Crennel didn’t want to make a rash judgment this week about whether Bentley was ready to take the field.

“During that window in October, we can get him out on the field and see where he’s at,” Crennel said.

A two-time Pro Bowl selection with New Orleans, Bentley signed a six-year, $36 million contract in March 2006 to join his hometown team, then tore his left patellar tendon on the first full-contact play of Cleveland’s training camp last summer.

Following surgery to repair the tendon, a staph infection attacked the knee and Bentley needed three more surgeries. Bentley has said that doctors considered amputating his leg at one point.

He was cleared to return to the playing field in July by Russell Warren, the New York Giants’ team doctor who performed two of Bentley’s operations.

The Browns gave Bentley an MRI exam when he reported for training camp and decided he should continue his personal rehab for another four weeks. He’s been working out away from the Browns’ facilities but attending meetings.

Unprecedented comeback

Baxter, who is attempting an unprecedented comeback after tearing both patellar tendons on the same play last October, lashed out Tuesday at media reports saying he suffered a setback when he wasn’t at practice last week.

“I didn’t come out for those couple days. What’s that mean? Was that a setback?” he said to reporters. “You guys ain’t wrote nothing positive about anything that I’ve done.”

The Browns are in a bind with Baxter, who has not played in a preseason game. They removed Baxter from the PUP list at the start of training camp and by Saturday must put him on the active roster, place him on injured reserve or cut him.

Asked if he wished he still had the option of putting Baxter on the PUP list, Crennel said: “Well, I’d just be wishing. So I’m not going to wish because I can’t do anything about it.”