BEREA, Ohio -- Fullback Mike Pruitt was among five players cut Monday by the Cleveland Browns in order to reach the NFL limit of 45 players.
Pruitt, a 10-year veteran who was the third leading rusher in Browns' history, was released along with wide receiver Dwight Walker, linebacker Aaron Brown, first-year center Scott Bolzan and first-year cornerback D.D. Hoggard.
Cleveland coach Marty Schottenheimer said the team unsuccessfully tried to trade Pruitt, whose 6,540 career rushing yards are only surpassed by Jim Brown (12,312) and Leroy Kelly (7,274) on the club list.
'We talked to a number of teams, but the pieces just never were put together,' Schottenheimer said.
'Mike's had a good career here. I'm sure he'll surface somewhere else and be a good player. Kevin Mack and Earnest Byner just edged Mike out.'
Pruitt, a 31-year-old who rushed 163 times for a team-high 506 yards and six touchdowns last year, said in a phone interview from his Westlake home that he was 'surprised, but not bitter.'
'You can be sure I'm going to try and hook on with another team,' said Pruitt's the Brown's first-round pick out of Purdue in the 1976 draft. 'I'd like to play in Miami, for instance.
'I think I have some good years left in me. I scored a lot of touchdowns (47) with the Browns and I can help out another team.'
Walker, the Browns' fourth-round pick in 1982, caught just 10 passes for 122 yards in 11 games last year after he missed a month following an automobile accident four days before the season opener at Seattle.
Walker has career totals of 47 receptions for 531 yards and one touchdown.
Brown's release was a bit of a surprise since Schottenheimer had praised the former Ohio State linebacker during training camp.
The coach said Brown, who played the last three years with Winnipeg of the Canadian Football League after three seasons with Tampa Bay, 'never performed in the kicking game as well as I had hoped.'
'We spoke honestly on the subject,' Schottenheimer said. 'He never lived totally up to the reputation he had at Tampa Bay, and he admitted it.'
Neither Hoggard, a product of North Carolina State, not Bolzan, a product of Northern Illinois, performed well on special teams.
Schottenheimer said it was 'unlikely we'll bring anybody else into camp unless (Green Bay wide receiver) James Lofton shows up on the waiver wire.'
The cuts leave Paul McDonald, the team's No. 3 quarterback, surprisingly on the roster.
'You're damned if you do and damned if you don't,' was Schottenheimer's explanation of McDonald's situation.
'I really don't expect to play much because of Gary (Danielson) and Bernie (Kosar),' said McDonald, a six-year veteran. 'If I do, fine. If I get traded, that's fine too.
'I just hope something happens so I can contribute to someone, somewhere. If it's here in Cleveland, that would be fine with me.'
Defensive end Sam Clancy does not count on the roster because the Browns received an exemption after acquiring him from Seattle last week. The exemption expires in a week.
