Browns’ Bentley vows he’s back

By PATRICK MCMANAMON

The center has missed two seasons because of a multitude of injuries and surgeries.

BEREA — Some folks close to LeCharles Bentley promise he will play in the NFL in 2008.

Bentley promised the same thing Tuesday.

“There is absolutely zero doubt that I will be playing somewhere — starting — in 2008,” Bentley said during the Browns’ minicamp, according to a transcript the team provided.

Bold words, because they come from a guy who has missed two years and who conceded that the staph infection that he fought after tearing his patellar tendon in July 2006 was “life-threatening.”

That Bentley was cleared to take part in the Browns’ three-day minicamp is testament to his desire and his determination. That he stood on the sidelines and did not take part in full drills is indicative of what has yet to happen.

Bentley clearly wants to play football again. But let’s keep perspective: It’s minicamp, and nobody has seen Bentley play football since January 2006. That’s 29 months in case anyone is counting. An elephant’s gestation period is shorter.

So perhaps we should take this as coach Romeo Crennel said the Browns are taking it: day by day.

Bentley was a celebrated free-agent signing in the spring of 2006, a Pro Bowler coming home to play center. Fate intervened in a cruel way, as Bentley tore his patellar tendon on the first day of training camp. A vicious staph infection followed, as did more surgeries.

The notion of Bentley stepping back on the field seemed far-fetched, especially after a much ballyhooed attempt before training camp in 2007 fizzled into a season on injured reserve.

Now Bentley is taking one more shot in Cleveland — and it might be his last shot to play with the Browns.

That he has been cleared to participate in minicamp is impressive, but it should not be cause for exultation or changed plans on the part of the team’s coaching staff.

Players wear shorts in minicamp, where they show they can run or catch or have an understanding of the playbook.

A minicamp does not reveal anything about a football player’s abilities, especially a lineman’s.

Bentley himself conceded that fact in his only minicamp with the Browns. Asked when it ended what a person could learn about a lineman in minicamp, he quickly responded: “Nothing.”

So this week it’s nice to see Bentley on the field, and it could be another chapter in an amazing comeback. But we should care when he lines up at guard or center and actually takes part in a play.

Bentley proved he could run when he passed the team’s 40-yard dash test.

Impressive? Very. But it does not prove he’s football ready. That will happen if he puts on the pads and has to block or move with a 360-pound nose tackle pushing at his every step.

Come camp, Bentley will get no quarter from his teammates, nor would he want any. At that point it’s every player for himself in his attempt to make the team.

The NFL landscape is littered with guys who wanted to come back from injury and were allowed to practice, only to be cut after a short return. A player practices, he’s healthy — so a team can’t be liable if it releases him.

These Browns do not seem like the type who would bring Bentley back just to prove he was healthy so they could cut him. If they say they’re giving him a fair shot, they will. A complete comeback, however, is a ways away.

Bentley’s future will be determined by August. He always has been a straight-shooter, and if he says he can do it, it’s tough to question him. People close to Bentley think he can do it, that he can prove all the doubters wrong. And that he will do it with an attitude.

“I’m as good as I’m going to get,” Bentley said.

The only question is whether that’s good enough.