The Browns have never articulated their plans at fullback in their new West Coast offense. After drafting Marecic, Heckert said of Vickers, "When the league starts [after the lockout], we'll see."
Shurmur has said that every back in his offense needs to be able to catch the ball. If Shurmur and his staff determined that Vickers was not a good fit in their offense, Vickers said they made a mistake.
Owen Marecic.JPGView full sizeAPBrowns draft pick Owen Marecic of Stanford.
He said he was known as a versatile fullback as a rookie in 2006 coming out of Colorado, which ran an offense copied from Mike Shanahan's West Coast system with the Denver Broncos at the time.
Vickers had more than 500 yards rushing and receiving in his career at Colorado.
"I am a West Coast fullback. That's what they don't understand," he said.
He said he became typecast as a "knockout fullback" the past two years because that's how he earned playing time.
"I was on a team where they don't even use a fullback," he said of the Browns' offense under former coach Eric Mangini. "Mangini's era wasn't really a fullback era. I played just on [the belief that] 'this person has to be on the field.' Everything I got wasn't given. I took it. Our offense was based on New England's. They don't even have a fullback."
Vickers' reputation as an explosive lead-blocker actually began in Romeo Crennel's last two seasons in 2007 and '08. He paved the way for successive 1,000-yard rushing seasons by Jamal Lewis, who was running on bald tires and leaking oil. In 2009, when Lewis went down with concussion symptoms, Vickers' crushing lead blocks helped Jerome Harrison amass 561 yards in the final three games.
"Maybe if I wasn't knocking people out, maybe I'd still be known as a versatile fullback," Vickers said. "Anybody that watches football knows. The last two years, I haven't caught the ball. I wasn't a part of the offense. So I made a way for me to be on the field. That's what a football player does. Anybody that can make his presence on the field without the ball is a helluva guy.
"I played in the West Coast offense at Colorado. When I first came to the NFL, my first carry was at tailback. In [former coordinator Rob Chudzinski] Chud's offense, look at how many passes I caught [23 in two seasons].
"People have short-term memories. I forgive them for that. What I've done for you lately is knock people out. That's only because that's all that was left for me to do."
Vickers is not worried that the traditional fullback position seems to be on the endangered list in the NFL as teams load up on multiple-receiver sets and spread the ball through the air.
"I don't care where you are, you can pass the ball all over the place. Come November and December, you're going to have to run the ball eventually," he said. "Green Bay ran the ball even in their pass offense.
"I think people are getting away from the stud fullbacks because there aren't too many left in the league. But if you have one, you keep him."
Vickers said he won't give up hope of returning to the Browns until he is told, "Vickers, it's over." But he's not blind to the obvious.
"I just hope I don't have to come to Cleveland in a different uniform because it's gonna be bad [for the Browns]," he said. "Those [Browns linebackers] are my guys. They know they will come with it and I will come with it. It's gonna be one of those all-time Cleveland games."