 BEREA -- Chaun Thompson has had to fight for playing time so often in four training camps with the Browns that, if there were no setbacks be probably, wouldn't know how to react. His latest challenge is overcoming a calf injury that kept him out of the first two preseason games. That hiccup came after waking up one morning in April as an inside linebacker instead of an outside linebacker. For Thompson, the challenges began in 2003 when he tried to make the jump from West Texas A&M to the NFL as a second-round draft choice. Imagine being a taxi driver for Yellow Cab in Canyon, Tex., home to the Fighting Buffaloes, and learning you've been transferred to Manhattan.
Thompson hurt himself that first year by holding out, then he broke his wrist the next training camp. The injury bothered him for two seasons. It has finally healed. Year Three for Thompson saw Romeo Crennel take over as head coach. The first thing Crennel did was change the defense from four linemen, three linebackers to a 3-4 configuration. Thompson was as outside linebacker in each defense, but his assignments changed. And now, instead of trying to beat tackles around the corner, he has to fight off beefy guards inside.
''I'd like to have to same job two years in a row, but if the coach moves you around it means he thinks a lot about you,'' Thompson said. ''I have to have dog fight in me. I have to go out and practice well and play well and do the extra things to get noticed.''
Thompson spent a majority of practice with the first defense yesterday. He and rookie D'Qwell Jackson are in a battle to start alongside Andra Davis.
Jackson has made some rookie mistakes, as he did last week when he blew the coverage on a touchdown pass to Kevin Jones. He also has made good plays that defy his lack of NFL experience.
Crennel says Jackson is instinctive. Even though Jackson is a rookie, he reacts more instinctively than Thompson does three-plus years on the job.
That assessment doesn't come from Crennel. It comes from Thompson.
''We're both practicing and both running the same scheme,'' Thompson said. ''He has a little more instinct, but he wants it and I want it and we're both working hard. That's going to make the team better.''
Thompson's best season was 2005 when he made 102 tackles and five sacks. Under normal circumstances, that would be enough production to give him another year at outside linebacker, but again, the circumstances went against Thompson when the Browns used their first draft choice on Kamerion Wimbley.
The decision to switch Thompson, 6-2, 249 pounds, inside was made before Wimbley, Jackson and Leon Williams were drafted. Williams also plays inside.
Neither rookie closes with the quickness Thompson shows when in lateral pursuit. As Crennel sees it, Davis, Thompson, Jackson and Williams are a huge upgrade from 2005 when the inside linebackers were Davis, Ben Taylor, Orlando Ruff and Mason Unck.
Hopefully, they will be real good,'' Crennel said. ''You don't know until you start playing games. You can see them react under pressure. They can make plays in practice, but what counts is if you can make plays in the game. It gets turned up a notch when the regular season starts.''
How well Thompson plays against the Bills Saturday will go far in determining whether he starts against New Orleans in the opener.
Crennel said only that Thompson is ''a possibility'' to start against the Bills.
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