Some Quick Changes...

[slowkidz]

DeMar joins first-team line
Monday brought two changes to the Browns’ first-team lineups: Warrick Holdman in as the weakside linebacker and Enoch DeMar in at left guard.

Holdman’s promotion is not really a surprise. He’s a six-year veteran who signed with the Browns in April with intentions of starting and making an impact on a defense that saw his speed, tackling ability and experience as pluses.

DeMar’s situation is markedly different. A year ago, he made the team as an undrafted, unheard of rookie free agent and eventually started two games when injuries depleted the team’s offensive line.

After playing as the second-team left tackle for the first nine days of training camp, DeMar was told in a meeting Sunday night he was replacing Chad Beasley with the Browns’ starting unit.

“(The promotion) is a big thing for me, but it’s only one step,” DeMar said. “Starting isn’t enough—it’s what you do when you’re with the first team. I’m going to do my best to keep (the job).”

The Browns are the only NFL team that offered DeMar a contract after the four-year starter at Indiana went undrafted in 2003.

“The only team that called me,” DeMar said. “I felt like the last kid picked in kickball.”

He said he signed with the Browns for “peanuts, but that doesn’t matter. When you step out on the field, it’s man against man. It’s not his signing bonus against my signing bonus.”

DeMar knows that from experience. In his first NFL start last season, he was matched up – and held his own – against Pro Bowler Richard Seymour of the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots.

“I think I grew as a player and got better that day,” he said. “But as far as New England being the Super Bowl champs, everybody is good in this league. It’s not like you say you’re going to take a day and rest and relax out there. I approach every opponent the same way.”

Barring injury or another sudden lineup change, DeMar will be in the starting lineup Saturday when the Browns open the preseason at Tennessee. He said he hopes he can keep the job not only for himself, but also for the long-term good of the line and the team.

“I want to play above and beyond the call of duty,” he said. “If we’re going to run the ball, we need to have five guys who hang tough and have the right technique.

“When you have continuity, you just gel together and know each other. I know that Ross Verba is going to do such-and-such on a specific play. I know that Jeff Faine has my help. Being on the same page is a big thing.”