Thursday, November 22, 2001
Browns suspend Warren, Sellers for Bengals game
The Associated Press
CLEVELAND — Browns coach Butch Davis suspended defensive tackle Gerard Warren and fullback Mike Sellers for one game Wednesday following the players' arrests for separate incidents earlier this week.
Warren and Sellers will sit out Sunday's game against the Bengals.
“It's disappointing and embarrassing to (Browns owner) Mr. Lerner, and the whole team and the city,” Davis said.
Davis also suspended cornerback Lamar Chapman, who was already out for the season with an injury.
Davis said the players were suspended for “conduct detrimental to the football team” and will be reinstated next week as long as they aren't punished further by the NFL.
“We're certainly disappointed,” said Davis, who is in his first year with the Browns. “The players are extremely disappointed. They let the team down and they let themselves down, their families.
“I've always looked at teams that I've coached as extended members of my family. Sometimes they make mistakes, sometimes they don't do the right thing all the time. It doesn't mean you don't love them, but sometimes you have to have tough love.”
Sellers and Chapman pleaded innocent to felony drug-abuse charges Wednesday following their arrests after a traffic stop in Cleveland. Both have also been charged with numerous misdemeanors, including a drunk driving charge against Sellers, who was convicted for driving under the influence in Virginia last year.
They are due back in court next month on the misdemeanor charges and in January on the felony charges.
Warren, the club's top draft pick this year, faces a charge of carrying an unlicensed firearm following his arrest outside a nightclub in Pittsburgh.
The league's personal conduct policy states that players can be suspended for such criminal activity. But a suspension wouldn't come until after a player was convicted in court.
Browns president Carmen Policy applauded Davis' decision to suspend the players, and said he felt the punishment was tougher than anything the league might have handed down.
“I love the coaches' approach,” Policy said. “He's maintaining discipline and he's engaging in tough love. I think he's being a great parent to this team under these circumstances.”
Policy said the players would be fined the equivalent of one game's paycheck along with being suspended.
Warren and Sellers did not comment Wednesday but both practiced with the scout team as the Browns prepared for the Bengals.
“It's not a big distraction,” quarterback Tim Couch said. “Not when we've got to worry about Cincinnati. They're our teammates. They're our family and we're going to stay behind them.”
The arrests came less than 48 hours after the Browns had beaten the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens to improve to 5-4 and move back into the AFC playoff race.
With Warren out, the Browns will have a tougher time stopping Bengals running back Corey Dillon, who has destroyed Cleveland the past two years.
“People on this team are going to step up,” Davis said. “We are going to be focused.”
A dollar bill containing a white powder was found in a patrol car after Sellers and Chapman were taken to the police station. The powder tested positive as cocaine, police spokeswoman Sgt. Donna Bell said Wednesday.
Warren, the third overall pick in last April's draft who was fined $35,000 earlier this season by the NFL for a hit on Jacksonville quarterback Mark Brunell, was arraigned Tuesday and released after posting bond. Warren is due in court Nov. 30.
Davis said Warren had planned to get a license to carry the gun on Tuesday — an off-day for players — but instead decided to go to Pittsburgh for a party thrown by Steelers wide receiver Plaxico Burress.
“He knows that he shouldn't have carried the gun,” said Davis.
Policy said the Pittsburgh police officer who arrested Warren called him “one of the finest and nicest people he ever arrested.”
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Browns suspend Warren, Sellers for Bengals game