Leadoff with Lee 9.21.15 #Manziel #Browns #Cowboys #Buckeyes #TigerWoods

By @cleeverizon

- This should be a interesting week in Cleveland sports talk. We have two quarterback controversies brewing in sports. The highly debated players for the Browns will be McCown vs Manziel and for Ohio State Jones vs. Barrett.

The funny thing is, the underdog, Johnny Manziel, performed better than the three other quarterbacks, (McCown DNP concussion protocol). Both quarterbacks from Ohio State seem inconsistent, inaccurate and unprepared on Saturday. Manziel posted a 133.9 quarterback rating while going 8-15, for 172 yards and two touchdowns. While his numbers may not be as good as Marcus Mariota on the other side 21-37 for 252 yards and 2 touchdowns(29.7 QBR) or as eye popping as Tom Brady's 3 touchdowns and 466 yards passing. Manziel came into yesterday's game looking prepared, accurate and was consistent through the entire game, unlike Jones and Barrett for the Buckeyes.

Now do you stick with Manziel for the remainder of the season? Or if McCown is out of the NFL's concussion protocol do you go back to the savvy vet? McCown is your bridge quarterback right? He can still be a great teacher for Manziel working as his backup. That's what you wanted him to do right? Show him how to be a leader on the field and in the locker room. Help him learn how to read defenses and and call out line protections. I will say Johnny Football isn't a finished product yet and will be a work in progress. So let the kid progress and give him that on the job training he needs. With a good running game, special teams and stopping the run on defense, you only need Manziel to manage the game and not throw interceptions, (hold on to the ball too). Lets see what Johnny has and leave him in there. You might be surprised. 

- According to multiple reports Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant will miss up to 12 weeks with a broken bone in his foot. Bryant underwent surgery last week but needed a bone graft which requires a longer recovery time. Bryant broke his fifth metatarsal in his week one game versus the New York Giants. A screw was inserted to speed up the healing,but also needed a bone graft and transplant of tissue. His new recovery time is 10-12 weeks.

- Ohio State sophomore cornerback Damon Webb has been suspended indefinitely from the team for a violation of athletic code policy. The team announced his suspension prior to Saturday's 20-13 victory over Northern Illinois. The exact violation of the athletic code has not been verified as of yet but we do plan to have more information about the subject sometime midweek.

- Indians Triple-A affiliate the Columbus Clippers have won the International League championship. The victory for the Clippers clinched their 10th International League championship, and their 3rd since becoming the Tribe's Triple-A affiliate in 2009. (They won it in 2010 and 2011.)

- The Milwaukee Brewers will hire 30 year old David Stearns as their new General Manager today according to multiple sources. Sterns worked the past three seasons as assistant general manager for the Houston Astros and two years as the director of baseball operations for the Cleveland Indians before heading to Houston. The young executive also worked for the commissioners office after graduating from Harvard in 2007 from 2008-2011. His duties in Houston included contract negotiations, player evaluations and he also helped oversee the Astros' player development,scouting and analytics departments.

- After battling multiple injuries over the past 3 years, Tiger Woods is done until the 2016 golf season. Woods underwent a second microdiscectomy on his back on September 16th,and his second back surgery in two years. Tiger Woods had a small disc fragment removed that was pinching a nerve in his back. The surgery was labeled a complete success and Woods will return ready for the 2016 season.

Leadoff with Lee 3.3.15

By @cleeverizon

- Despite having over $50 million dollars in cap space, the Browns did not sign any of their own free agents or use the transition or franchise tag on any of their players, including oft injured tight end Jordan Cameron and QB Brian Hoyer. So at this point and time the Browns are letting go more players than they have draft picks.

As of now, the Browns own 10 picks including [round in ()] - Nos. 12 (1), 19 (1), 43 (2), 77 (3), 108 (4), 112 (4), 139 (5), 173 (6), 186 (6), 204 (7).

The players who are set to become unrestricted free agents come March 10th along with Hoyer and Cameron are: Ahtyba Rubin, Jabaal Sheard, Miles Austin, Buster Skrine, Marlon Moore and Sione Fua. Cleveland also has four players who are restricted free agents. The Browns have until March 10 to tender qualifying offers to them should they desire to retain a right of first refusal/compensation for them. Tashaun Gipson, Ishmaa’ily Kitchen and Johnson Bademosi. Since the franchise/transition tags have been in effect, the Browns have franchised one player (Phil Dawson) and transitioned one (Alex Mack).

- Two key wide receivers were franchise tagged yesterday, Dallas' Dez Bryant and Denver's Demaryius Thomas. The Detroit Lions did not place the franchise tag on defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. For a list of notable franchise/transition tags and free agents, click HERE.

- The Texans gave Andre Johnson permission to seek a trade. Houston said he would have a reduced role next season. Johnson asked to be traded or cut instead. He has two years and $21.5 million remaining on his contract. He is scheduled to make $11.5 million ($10.5M base/$1M roster bonus) in 2015.

- Bulls guard Jimmy Butler will not need surgery, but will be out 3-6 weeks with a sprained left elbow. He is averaging 20.2 PPG & 5.9 RPG this season.

- The NBA suspended James Harden one game and will miss one game check for kicking LeBron James Sunday. The NBA upgraded the call to a Flagrant 2 foul. He'll miss tonight's game in Atlanta.

- The Columbus Blue Jackets made a series of moves yesterday as they traded defenseman James Wisniewski & 3rd round pick to the Anaheim Ducks for Rene Bourque, William Karlsson & 2nd round pick. The Blue Jackets also agreed to terms on a 3-year contract extension with forward Cam Atkinson. They also acquired defenseman Justin Falk and a 2015 fifth-round pick from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Jordan Leopold.

- The first black player to play for the Chicago White Sox and former Cleveland Indian Minnie Minoso has passed away at the age of 90. Minoso spent parts of four seasons with the Tribe and hit 45 homers combined in '58-'59.                  

- Spring training starts today in Goodyear,Arizona as the Indians face the Reds. Zach McAllister will get the start and the batting lineup will go as follows:                      

1. SS Jose Ramirez
2. C Yan Gomes
3. 3B Lonnie Chisenhall
4. 1B Carlos Santana
5. RF David Murphy
6. 2B Mike Aviles
7. DH Tyler Holt
8. LF James Ramsey
9. CF Tyler Naquin

- Finally, a possible stadium design for the St. Louis Rams to stay in St. Louis was released. The riverfront stadium that sits on the banks of the Mississippi River would cost a proposed $1 billion and seat 64,000. While there's no guarantee that this would keep the Rams in St. Louis, this could be a good start to convince them to stay.

Leadoff with Lee 2.27.15 #AdrianPeterson #DezBryant #Browns #CBJ #EarlLloyd

By @cleeverizon

- A judge had overturned the NFL's ruling and reinstated Adrian Peterson Thursday afternoon. Within a hour of the ruling, the NFL has appealed the court decision and will keep open the option to go through the CBA appeal process too.  In the meantime, Peterson has returned to exempt list. Peterson could be traded to another team as soon as March 10.

- The Dallas Cowboys are expected to franchise wide receiver Dez Bryant if a long term deal can't be reached. But a alleged video tape has emerged between Bryant and his girlfriend in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Dallas police have said they have no video of what took place in the parking lot. But I have found out that ESPN has footage and is ready to roll with the package as soon as new infotainment is available. I do find it strange that a Cowboys owned media group was the first source to report this. But here is the police report. You be the judge. 

- Yesterday morning it seemed as if the Buffalo Bills were negotiating a contract for free agent quarterback Josh McCown . As of late last night, league sources indicated that the Browns are still in the fold to sign him. McCown is expected to make a decision sometime Friday.

- Buster Skrine is expected to command anywhere from about $5 to $7 million dollars a year in free agency. The Browns are interested in resigning the cornerback. Skrine will wait until March 10th when free agency starts to determine what his actual market value is . As a restricted free agent the Browns can match any offer made to him by any other team.

- The Falcons have released RB Steven Jackson, the move will save the Falcons 3.7m against the salary cap this season. Since the emergence of quarterback Matt Ryan, Jackson wasn't relied upon as the number one back as he was in St.Louis. Jackson should be able to make it to someone's training camp. But the question is, does he have what it takes to return to the fantasy football dominance he once had?  

- The Columbus Blue Jackets traded forward Nathan Horton to Toronto for forward David Clarkson. Clarkson, 30, signed a 7-year, $36.75 million contract with Toronto in 2013, but hasn't become the impact player that they expected. Horton, 29, has been on the Jackets non-roster injury list for most of the season with a threatening back injury.

- The Florida Panthers acquired Jaromir Jagr from the New Jersey Devils for two draft picks, one in 2015 and one in 2016. Jagr has 11 goals and 18 assists in 57 games for New Jersey this season. Jagr is sixth in NHL history with 716 gores, seventh with 1,068 assists and fifth with 1,784 points in 1,530 career regular season games. Over his 22 years in the NHL, he has played for Pittsburgh, Washington, New York Rangers, Philadelphia, Dallas, Boston and New Jersey.

- The winner of the Mayweather vs Pacquiao fight on May 2 will be given a new belt. WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman says he would like it "to have emeralds or platinum." If boxers are allowed to keep the belt, I would just retire after the fight.

- Finally and sadly, NBA pioneer and first African-American to play in the NBA Earl Lloyd died Thursday at the age of 86. Lloyd came into the league in 1950 for the Washington Capitals, debuting before Sweetwater Clifton and Chuck Cooper. Along with helping the Syracuse Nationals win the 1955 NBA title, Lloyd averaged 8.4 points and 6.4 rebounds in 560 games played, over nine season with Washington, Syracuse and Detroit. He served in the U.S. Army during the 1951-52 season, and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003 as a contributor. Thank you Earl Lloyd for EVERYTHING you have done.

Leadoff with Lee 1.12.15 #Packers #Colts #Bills #RexRyan #CBJ

By @cleeverizon

- From East Rutherford, New Jersey to Orchard Park, New York? The Buffalo Bills have hired former Jets head coach Rex Ryan to become their next head man.

The Bills signed Rex Ryan to a 5-year $27.5 million deal which will have him stay in the AFC East. A few things concern me though. Who will Rex hire to fill out his coaching staff? After sending out some tweets and text messages early yesterday morning, this is what I found out. The offensive coordinator will be Greg Roman from San Francisco while the defensive coordinator will be Dennis Thurman, from the Jets. The Bills also have said they would like to keep Jim Schwartz as defensive coordinator. Ryan already has spoken to Schwartz about staying with Buffalo, but Schwartz runs a 4-3 defensive scheme with a wide-9 front while Ryan prefers a hybrid 3-4 scheme. 
Also, if Roman does accept the job in Buffalo, that means back to the drawing board for the Browns and Trestman moves ahead of the pack. I personally am intrigued by Raiders QB coach John DeFlippo.

- Ohio State are in discussions to hire former Nebraska offensive coordinator Tim Beck to replace Tom Herman. Beck was not retained after the Huskers fired head coach Bo Pelini. The Ohio native is a Cardinal Mooney grad and will serve as the Buckeyes quarterbacks coach and will be the primary recruiter in Texas. Beck is a former Texas high school coach in the Dallas area who had been recruiting the state for Nebraska.

- The Green Bay Packers rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat the Dallas Cowboys 26-21. Aaron Rodgers threw 316 yards and 3 touchdowns. Green Bay receiver Davante Adams caught 7 balls for 117 yards and a touchdown and Randall Cobb added 116 yards on 8 grabs. The Cowboys running game was on "Fleek" as DeMarco Murray rushed for 123 yards on 25 carries and 1 touchdown. Tony Romo was sacked 4 times in the game while going 15/19 for 191 yards and 2 TDs. Dez Bryant scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter, but only had 38 yards and 3 catches. Bryant would've had another big time catch down the field, BUT after further review the officials said he did not maintain control of the ball as he crossed the goal line.

Without getting into depth about the rule, here is what the V.P of officiating Dean Blandino had to say about it: 

Bryant going to the ground. By rule he must hold onto it throughout entire process of contacting the ground. He didn't so it is incomplete.

— Dean Blandino (@DeanBlandino) January 11, 2015

-Andrew Luck took the horseshoes off the Colts for a 24-13 upset of the Broncos. Peyton Manning had a extremely quiet game, throwing only 211 yards, 1 touchdown and was sacked twice. Andrew Luck threw for 265 yards, 2 touchdowns but also threw 2 interceptions. The Broncos weren't able to capitalize on the turnovers. Manning didn't have his magic in the fourth quarter and had two "3 and out" series. Will Manning return for his 18th NFL season? Will John Fox return as head coach next season? Will offensive coordinator Adam Gase get a head coaching job elsewhere or in Denver if John Fox is canned? Only time will tell, but this next month of the coaching carousel will be interesting.

- Three Columbus Blue Jackets were named to the NHL All-Star team. Forwards Nick Foligno, Ryan Johansen and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. The game will be played January 25th at Nationwide arena in Columbus.