Browns busy on free agent front; Steelers hit field

By TONY GROSSI

The Cleveland Plain Dealer

BEREA

The Browns joined the frenzied pace of player transactions Thursday when they reached agreements with several players, including two rookie draft choices and their first unrestricted free agents.

They also were expecting to formally sign franchise kicker Phil Dawson and restricted free-agent tight end Evan Moore today, so they will report to the opening of coach Pat Shurmur’s first Browns training camp.

Agreeing to contracts were defensive end Jabaal Sheard and wide receiver Greg Little, who were second-round picks. The Browns also reached free-agent deals with players from the past two Super Bowl champions — free safety Usama Young of New Orleans and running back Brandon Jackson of Green Bay.

The Browns also confirmed the release of quarterback Jake Delhomme, along with linebacker Eric Alexander and tight end Tyson DeVree.

STEELERS

LATROBE, Pa.

Linebacker Lawrence Timmons spent four months waiting for the NFL lockout to end, if only so his teammates could stop making headlines off the field and start making plays on it.

Rashard Mendenhall’s tweeting about the death of Osama bin Laden. Hines Ward’s DUI arrest. Ben Roethlisberger’s highly publicized — and highly secretive — wedding.

Oh, and don’t forget James Harrison’s rants in Men’s Journal magazine about NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and the performance of his own teammates in the loss to Green Bay in the Super Bowl.

Timmons and the rest of the Steelers that made their way into Rooney Hall on Thursday as the defending AFC champions opened training camp at Saint Vincent College are only too happy to get back to work.

Did Harrison’s critique of Roethlisberger and Mendenhall bother Timmons? Not really. That’s just Harrison, who later apologized, for being, well, Harrison.

“I know all the guys he said things about, they know that’s James, and I just feel like this’ll be overblown,” Timmons said. “I think the guys that were involved were over it, and I say just let the peace begin.”

The football too. Besides, the compact training camp schedule doesn’t allow much time for the cloud of an uncharacteristically busy offseason to linger.

Coach Mike Tomlin called Harrison’s comments about Goodell “inappropriate” and wouldn’t speculate on whether he’ll be disciplined by the team. Tomlin doesn’t believe it will have any effect in the locker room.

“It didn’t register as big a blip on the radar as you guys might imagine,” Tomlin said.

Though Harrison, Roethlisberger, Ward and Mendenhall all avoided the media horde that camped outside the entrance to the player check-in, all were accounted for when the team hit the practice field.

Reports from The Associated Press were used in this story.