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This is part five in our 10 part series counting down the best moments/stories in Cleveland Sports for 2009. Many of you have left comments for us and we appreciate it. Remember, this isn’t just the best game, shot, or play; its the stories as well. Today we will examine two of the most polarizing figures of the “new” Browns era.

#6 Kellen Winslow II and Braylon Edwards are given their walking papers by new Browns head man Eric Mangini.

Remember back in 2007? The Indians were one game away from the World Series. The Cavaliers made it to the NBA Finals. The Browns finished 10-6 and became “that team” for the up coming season. The corner seemed to be turned in Berea. They had a running game with a veteran 1,300 yard back (Jamal Lewis) running behind the best offensive line we’ve seen in this city since the days of Cody Risen, Dan Fike, and Mike Baab. They had finally found their QB in Derek Anderson (ha ha), a big armed pocket passer with the guts of a burglar. Most importantly, DA had not one, but two Pro Bowl Caliber targets at his disposal. One was a fiery, tough as nails Tight End who played through pain and caught everything thrown his way. The other, a big play Wide Receiver who could out-run anyone who dared to cover him deep, but sometimes forgot to actually catch the ball.

Of course, I am speaking of Kellen Winslow and Braylon Edwards.

The future for these two seemed so bright in Cleveland after the ’07 season. They were both coming off career years and had great chemistry with Anderson. Ah, the best laid plans.

Winslow spent the 2008 season in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. But for the most part, he wasn’t at fault. While his team struggled in the face of big expectations and five primetime national TV stages, K2 was brought down by a nasty staph infection that was mis-handled by the organization on every level. You know the story by now. It turned into a he said/he said between K2’s people and then-Browns GM Phil Savage. Eventually, Winslow couldn’t keep it inside any longer. He wanted the world to know he was told by the Browns to cover it up, despite the fact that the organization allowed rumors to float around (swollen testicles anyone? STD’s?) on exactly what had happened to their start Tight End. Maybe this was payback for missing all of that time because of the motorcycle accident. Who knows. But the Browns did him wrong and the damage was done. Despite all of this, Winslow did his best on the field, played hurt, and was still had the glue-fingers.

Edwards on the other hand is a completely different story. During his time in Cleveland, he all but mastered the art of upsetting his own fans and teammates. There was the infamous helicopter ride to see the Ohio State/Michigan game the day before a game of his own in which he was told not to go to for fear he would be late for a meeting. He went anyways. There was his strange homage to Ohio State when during a home Browns game where “Hang on Sloopy” was played, he actually did the “O-H-I-O” with the crowd; this coming from a guy who told them media that he thought the reason people didn’t like him here is because he went to Michigan. There was the last straw incident in which Braylon was seen punching one of Lebron James’ friends outside of a club in the warehouse district. But mostly, it was his uneven play on the field that made him so unlikeable.

It’s one thing when a guy drops a couple of passes. It’s another when he leads the league in drops two straight years. But to go further, it makes it that much worse when he regularly uses excuses as to why he treated the ball like a hot potato. My personal favorite was after the ’08 opening loss to Dallas in which Braylon told the media afterwards that “losing the ball in the sun” was the reason for his momentum-killing, sure touchdown that completely changed the game. The Browns lost 28-10. It was just another in a long line of bad drops for Braylon.

Beyond the drops was the attitude problems. Braylon was a lazy, selfish diva who was more interested in being famous than being an all pro. Winslow may have been a diva as well, but you couldn’t call him lazy on the field. Sure, he didn’t run the best routes and his blocking wasn’t great, but he still played through a numerous amount of injuries and always caught everything thrown his way. Braylon was a sloppy route-route runner and was called for at least one bad penalty a week. And I’m not talking about holding; I’m talking about lining up offside or being called for false start. What other WR do you remember that happening to?

So this offseason with Eric Mangini now in place as the kingpin of Browns football, the house-cleaning began. Winslow, who had spent the last year lobbying for a new contract via his agent Drew Rosenhaus (K2 was looking for a Dallas Clark-type deal), was shipped to Tampa Bay in late February for a second round pick in 2009 and a fifth round pick in 2010. Winslow eventually got that new contract before playing a single down for the Bucs; a six year, $36 million deal.

Braylon once again started the season as a marked man in Cleveland. As the only true threat in the passing game, Edwards struggled as teams shaded their coverage his way. Naturally, he made it known that he wanted out with his infamous “I signed a five year contract. It’s year five” quote. He clearly was not a “Mangini guy” and stories surfaced that he was filing grievances with the players union against his coach. Tie it all in with the sucker punch outside of a Cleveland night-spot and the writing was on the wall. Mangini shipped Big Mouth Braylon to the Jets a couple of days later, where he could be in the New York spotlight. He was happy, and so were Browns fans. Never in all of my years of watching sports has a player been so disliked in his own city than Braylon Edwards.

Trading the two best pass catchers they had left the Browns passing game bereft on any real threat. There is no doubt that Winslow is missed. But would he have really been happy and quiet if the Browns hadn’t re-done his contract (which they wouldn’t have done) and the team was still this bad? Trading for picks is never a bad idea when you are in the position the Browns were/are in. Dealing Edwards was a no-brainer. They received not only draft picks, but a decent slot receiver in Chanci Stuckey and an underrated special teams/extra linebacker in Jason Trusnik. The Browns could have received four footballs for Braylon and many in this town (me included) would have been happy.

The two talented, but enigmatic players time in Cleveland has now come and gone and it was certainly memorable, but in reality, does anyone really miss them? There was a new sheriff in town who was not going to tolerate diva behavior and guys who didn’t buy in. That is exactly why Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow are now playing elsewhere.