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CLEVELAND — The Browns are the only NFL team without a logo on their helmets.
Now, they’re also the only ones with their nickname written down the sides of their pants.
Cleveland unveiled its new uniforms, featuring nine color combinations, on Tuesday night before thousands of fans who seemed to like the team’s new look following months of speculation and secrecy.
After nearly an hour of buildup during a program honoring the team’s past, nine current players walked onto the stage wearing large orange sideline jackets to hide the new, Nike-designed uniforms. When the orange, brown and white uniforms were finally revealed, Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam smiled and 3,000 fans applauded with approval.
The uniforms include “BROWNS” written on the pants, and “CLEVELAND” emblazoned across the front of the jersey. Also, the words “Dawg Pound” — a nod to the team’s rowdy fans — are stitched on the inside of the jersey’s collar.
“I like having Cleveland on the front because that means everything to the team,” Pro Bowl tackle Joe Thomas said.
The Browns will be able to mix and match colors, allowing them to wear brown jerseys with brown pants, brown jerseys and orange pants and a traditional white and white combination — Cleveland’s most recognized look — among others.
No Winston or Mariota at draft
CHICAGO — While 26 draft-eligible players have accepted invitations from the NFL to attend the proceedings later this month, Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota are not among them.
The two most recent Heisman Trophy winners and highest-profile players in this year’s crop have opted to stay home with their families for the April 30-May 2 draft. The quarterbacks are projected to go at the outset of the draft, which has moved to Chicago from New York this year. It was last held in Chicago in 1964.
Agreeing to attend are such All-Americans as running back Melvin Gordon, defensive end Vic Beasley, offensive tackle Brandon Scherff, defensive tackle Danny Shelton and safety Landon Collins.
Wide receiver Devin Smith of national champion Ohio State, and DE Arik Armstead, Mariota’s teammate at national runner-up Oregon, have agreed to attend.
The players who will attend at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University:
Arik Armstead, DEOregon; Benardrick McKinney, LB, Mississippi State; Vic Beasley,DEClemson; DeVante Parker, WR, Louisville; La’el Collins,T,Louisiana State;Andrus Peat,TStanford; Landon Collins,S,Alabama; Breshad Perriman,WR,Central Florida;
Bud Dupree,LB,Kentucky;Shane Ray,DE,Missouri;Cameron Erving,T,Florida State;Brandon Scherff,TIowa;Dante Fowler Jr.,DE,Florida;Danny Shelton,DT, Washington; Melvin Gordon,RB,Wisconsin;Devin Smith,WR,Ohio State; Randy Gregory,DE,Nebraska;Jaelen Strong,WR,Arizona State; Todd Gurley,RB,Georgia;Laken Tomlinson,G,Duke; D.J. Humphries,T,Florida;Trae Waynes,CB,Michigan State; Kevin Johnson,CB,Wake Forest; Kevin White,WR,West Virginia; Byron Jones, CB, Connecticut; and Leonard Williams,DT,Southern California.
Ruling on Vikings’ Peterson remains uncertain
April 15. Tax day, and the day upon which Vikings running back Adrian Peterson is eligible for his NFL reinstatement.
The former is a definite. The latter is anything but, according to NFL spokesman Greg Aiello, who sent this email reminder of Peterson’s vague timetable when asked Tuesday if the league would be removing the former NFL MVP from the commissioner’s exempt list Wednesday:
“Here is what we said regarding April 15 when we announced his suspension [last fall],” Aiello wrote. “Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings was notified today that he has been suspended without pay for at least the remainder of the 2014 NFL season, and will not be considered for reinstatement before April 15, for violating the NFL Personal Conduct Policy in an incident of abusive discipline that he inflicted on his four-year-old son last May. … In order to assess [Peterson’s] progress going forward, [NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell] will establish periodic reviews, the first of which will be on or about April 15, 2015.”
NFL exec warns San Diego that time is short
SAN DIEGO — With momentum building for an NFL team to move to Los Angeles, “time could be quite short” for San Diego to resolve the contentious issue of building the Chargers a new stadium, the NFL’s point man on relocation said Tuesday.
Eric Grubman, the NFL’s executive vice president, met with a sub-group of Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s Citizens Stadium Advisory Group a week after holding a conference call with the full group.
Afterward, Grubman said that while the advisory group seems enthusiastic about finding a solution, “as of yet, there hasn’t been any proposal that would get everybody on the same page. That to me is really the next task.”
Grubman said, however, that he didn’t come to town expecting everybody to be on the same page.
“That’s not unusual,” he said during a news conference. “At the point in time where everyone decides to dig in and try to get a project done, almost always people are on different pages. They have to work to get on the same page. What’s different here than in some of the cities that we’ve worked with, is the time frame to work through those differences and get on same page, that time could be quite short.”