FanHouse JoeThomas

Who moved to the head of the NFL class during the draft? Find out with FanHouse's team-by-team 2009 Draft Grades.

One year removed from a 10-win season, and on the heels of a four-win effort, owner Randy Lerner decided change was in order. He fired head coach Romeo Crennel and general manager Phil Savage and brought in Eric Mangini and George Kokonis.

If the first draft under the new leadership is any indication, the Browns will use the last weekend in April to restock the roster, and eschew high-priced, quick-fix free agents. The previous regime had a healthy mix of the two: Gary Baxter, Eric Steinbach, LeCharles Bentley and Donte' Stallworth were signed as free agents; Kamerion Wimbley, Joe Thomas and Brady Quinn were all high-round draft picks.

After a surprising 10-win season in 2007, followed by the more familiar four-win effort a year ago, the Browns enter the offseason as one of the most enigmatic teams in the league. They have a new head coach, a revamped roster, and, depending on who you ask, the potential to win anywhere from 2 to 11 games in 2009.

The AFC and NFC Pro Bowlers were announced a short while ago, and why make some pointless comment you are sure not to laugh at when we can just give you the rosters instead? Here goes.

Every Thursday, the FanHouse takes a look at the line play in one game for our weekly Between The Lines feature.

If you like upsets you had plenty to choose from this week. Between the Rams-Redskins, Cardinals-Cowboys and Browns-Giants, there were plenty of reminders of why suicide pools are so tough to win.

Among those upsets, the Browns-Giants may not have ranked as the biggest surprise, but it did bring up the question--where had this Browns team been during the first five weeks of the season?

In rewatching the Browns-Giants game, one thing was clear. If the Browns' offensive line plays like this the rest of the year and if Browns offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski keeps calling plays like he did on Monday night, they should be able to shut down the game's best pass rushes.

No matter your party's affiliation, there is obviously a fairly clear difference in the presidential hopefuls' sports knowledge. Barack Obama uses sports metaphors, talks of his beloved White Sox and tends to hoop as much as he can, even if it's against Stuart Scott. John McCain obviously isn't one to gloat about his sports teams, mainly because he's an Arizona guy and, well, they aren't exactly expanding their trophy case (even though he did pick the Final Four correctly this year).

That being noted, McCain brought out the big guns yesterday in Ohio, having Brady Quinn appear at the Republican rally in hopes of swinging as many Browns voters as possible, even though it's easy to leave a hanging chad with a paper bag over your face. From the Cleveland Plain Dealer...

McCain and his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin, rallied an overflow crowd Wednesday by urging Greater Clevelanders to support the underdog.

And who better to help deliver that message than two members of Cleveland's favorite underdog -- make that underdawg -- team, the Browns. Quarterback Brady Quinn and left tackle Joe Thomas made a surprise appearance at the rally before roaring supporters at the Walter F. Ehrnfelt Recreation and Senior Center.

Training camps are underway, the NFL season is right around the corner, and to get you ready for 2008, FanHouse previews all 32 teams, "heat index" style. We'll rate each club in 10 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Quarterback: A year ago at this time,Charlie Frye was the man. That lasted about 10 minutes into the Week 1 Steelers game before Derek Anderson came on in relief, and, well, you saw how things turned out. Anderson led Cleveland to 10 wins, and made the Pro Bowl, but faces pressure to exceed last year's surprising performance. I think he'll be fine, but if he falters, Brady Quinn will be eagerly awaiting his shot. Heat Index: 7

Running backs: Jamal Lewis was left for dead, at least in the professional sense, when the Ravens decided to "move in another direction" last offseason. Lewis signed a short-term deal with the Browns and proceeded to rush for more than 1,300 yards. He now has a new contract and will run behind one of the most underrated o-lines in the AFC. Heat Index: 7

Receivers: Prior to Donte' Stallworth putting out a hit on No. 1 wide receiver Braylon Edwards, these were some of the best pass-catchers in the conference. Actually, Edwards should be fine, and even with Joe Jurevicius on the mend, it's a talented group of big-play threats. And although he listed as a tight end on the depth chart, Kellen Winslow in No. 1A after Edwards. Heat Index: 9

While the offensive line might not represent a direct draft day decision for your roster, few areas of knowledge can offer a competitive advantage in fantasy football like having a good grasp of the various units of trench soldiers around the league. Over the course of the next couple weeks, I'll break down every NFL team's offensive lines into five tiers: the Crème de la Crème, the Highly Competent, the Serviceable, the Pretty Grim, and the Bunk.

Just six NFL offensive lines made their way into the 2008 group of the Crème de la Crème. If you see a team on this list, rest assured your running game is safe, your quarterback with have decent pocket time, and you might just dig up some big time sleepers amongst these rosters. Consider this your early birthday present. You ride with these guys and you're ridin' in drop top, six-four, tinted windows, top down, AC on style.

Read on for the best six offensive lines in the NFL.

Jeffri Chadiha of ESPN.com threw up his "Ten Most Indispensable Players" to their teams which has a few surprising names. A quick rundown:

• 1-Tom Brady, Patriots
• 2-Peyton Manning, Colts
• 3-Terrell Owens, Cowboys
• 4-Adrian Peterson, Vikings
• 5-Antonio Gates, Chargers
• 6-Albert Haynesworth, Titans
• 7-Brian Westbrook, Eagles
• 8-Joe Thomas, Browns
• 9-Matt Hasselbeck, Seahawks
• 10-Eli Manning, Giants

Let's start at the bottom: Eli Manning? I know we were all impressed by his playoff run, but you do remember the Giants looked very bad towards the end of last season, right? To me, the Texans' Andre Johnson, Panthers' Steve Smith or, Broncos' Champ Bailey are more list-worthy than Eli.

Not to dump on him, but he had a 32.2 QB rating in a win over the Bills and a 44.9 QB rating in a win over the Dolphins. His two highest QB ratings during the regular season? Both losses. That means he can suck and the Giants still can win football games. Doesn't seem very indispensable to me.

That brings me to Adrian Peterson ...