The Browns are now the only team in training camp without any of their draft picks signed. This is discouraging, and it’s starting to irk Butch Davis, who at first downplayed the importance of the rookie-only practices, then warned the holdouts that they were hurting their own chances.

Sure, at face value it seems inexplicable that long-snapper Ryan Pontbriand, drafted in the fifth round, would fail to come to terms when he was “totally flabbergasted” to be drafted at all, but this article from today’s Plain Dealer offers the first real explanation I’ve seen for why the Browns are in this predicament. In a “radical shift” in negiotiating stategy, the team is insisting on five-year deals, longer than the average for lower-round picks, which will delay their ability to become free agents.

Maybe that’s a good idea, in hopes of keeping a nucleus of talent together in the long term. But it also leads me to question whether this is another example of the team being willing to make sacrifices this season in order to gear up for 2004 and beyond. And also, if they are hoping to get rookies to agree to contracts so far out of the ordinary, why was President/CEO Carmen Policy on vacation until this week?