APPARENTLY, BRAYLON WANTS OUT OF CLEVELAND

In yet another sign of the disaster that is the 2008 edition of the Cleveland Browns, receiver Braylon Edwards sounds like a guy who’s trying to talk his way out of town. If, you know, they don’t kill him before he leaves. Actually, we love Cleveland fans. There’s no more loyal bunch, and no more deserving of something/anything to feel good about when it comes to their sports teams. Edwards likely doesn’t agree with our assessment, based on his recent REMARKS. After Monday night’s loss to the Eagles, Edwards suggested that his ties to Michigan football have kept him from being embraced by the folks in Ohio. Seriously. “I’ve learned being here that I’m very unappreciated,” Edwards said. “Not in the organization, just in the eyes of the fans, the city. Since Day One I’ve been a marked man coming from Michigan. It’s just gone that way. Even when things are good, there’s heckles.” Braylon, please do a little research on Thom Darden before coming to any conclusions regarding whether Browns fans hold grudges about guys who played for Michigan. On Tuesday, Edwards continued to chirp. “I’m not Paul Warfield, Webster Slaughter or Jim Brown,” Edwards said, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “I’ve given my all to this city for four years, and I realize it will never be enough. I went to the Pro Bowl last year and resurrected this team from the darkness, and nobody cared.” There’s more. “People in this town believe they are entitled to too much. They have been disrespectful to me and my family. I’ve gone out in public with my family and have had to deal with being called foul names. My parents have been called vulgar things at restaurants.” Hey, Bray, if you thought things were bad before, just wait until they see you and your folks out at the local eateries now. (P.S. Don’t order the bouillabaisse.) “My biggest problem is that I actually give a damn,” Edwards said. “I’m always rushing back from surgeries and injuries, never missing games or practices. But through this, I’ve learned how to overcome adversity. I’m also proud of how my foundation has taken off. I’ve been doing all this community service in Cleveland . . . my charity efforts will only be in Detroit from now on.” OK, Browns fans didn’t care about the Michigan thing before. But now they probably do. We’ve seen this routine before, and we know what Edwards is up to. Given his jump earlier this year to CAA and his awkward presence on the set of the whole Bissinger-Leitch thing, chances are that Edwards fancies himself a potential crossover media star. You know, the kind of guy who’ll get a movie in which he plays a role other than that of a current or former football player. But Edwards apparently thinks he’ll never be in position to become a national superstar/celebrity while toiling away for an underachieving team in a Rust Belt town. Signed through 2009, it could be that Edwards is trying to lay the foundation for an offseason trade to a new team, and the $10 million per year deal that would go along with it. But it would have to be a team with a profile that will allow Edwards to become the big deal he thinks he is. In other words, he likely wants to play for the Cowboys. (Thanks to our friend and former NFLtalk.com colleague John Taylor of The OBR Report for pointing out the emerging brouhaha.)