BEREA, Ohio (April 29, 2005) -- Braylon Edwards pulled on a white knit stocking cap with a menacing dog logo and slipped into a pair of shorts as orange as Halloween.
"I like it," the Browns' wide receiver and first-round draft pick from Michigan said of Cleveland's dominant team color. "It's bright and bold -- kind of like myself."
On the other side of the locker room, quarterback Charlie Frye stood in front of a mirror and snapped on his shiny helmet.
"I thought I looked good," Frye said proudly. "I think it's a good fit."
Browns coach Romeo Crennel opened his first two-day minicamp for rookies and undrafted free agents, giving 42 players their initial taste of life in the NFL. For many of them it will be their one and only pro experience.
For Edwards, Frye and the other six players Cleveland took last weekend in the 2005 NFL Draft, it's only the beginning of what they and the Browns hope will be fruitful careers filled with Pro Bowl appearances, AFC championships and Super Bowl rings.
Before breaking off for meetings and taking the field for practice, several of the new Browns lounged around on the locker room floor reviewing notes and their playbooks one last time.
Safety Brodney Pool, the team's second-round pick, wanted to be prepared.
"I just know the coaches are going to quiz me on something," said the club's second-round pick. "I'd better know where I'm supposed to be."
This weekend is the first chance for Frye and Edwards, a pass-and-catch combination the Browns hope click for years to come, to get to know each other better. They never could have imagined after meeting at the NFL scouting combine in February they would soon be roommates.
When Frye walked into their hotel room April 28, he was greeted with a warning from Edwards.
"The first thing he said was, 'You better not snore,' " Frye said. "I don't."
Edwards noted he and Frye had immediate chemistry before hooking up for their first pass completion, a crisp 12-yard out pattern during a drill at the beginning of the workout.
"He's a good guy," said Edwards, who was offered a scholarship by Akron and could have been Frye's teammates four years sooner. "He doesn't snore and he doesn't mind the TV being on at night. I'm a night owl and I can't sleep without the TV."
The two spent their first night as Browns teammates going over their new playbooks and talking -- mostly about their golf games.
Edwards was impressed to learn Frye regularly shoots in the low 80s.
"I shoot 99," Edwards said. "He's giving me strokes right now. We've set a date to see who can really play."
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
Copyright 2005, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved