Tony Dejak/ AP The Cleveland Browns' selections held up one finger apiece during the NFL expansion draft yesterday at the Canton Civic Center. Lined up on stage are, from left, Damon Gibson, Steve Gordon, Scott Rehberg, Jim Pyne and Hurvin McCormack.

CANTON, (AP) - With bronzed Hall of Fame busts of Jim Brown, Lou Groza and Leroy Kelly reminding them of their rich NFL past, the new Cleveland Browns began building with no-name players.

Priming for their return this season after a three-year absence, the Browns selected Detroit center Jim Pyne with their first pick in yesterday's NFL expansion draft.

Pyne, 27, started all 16 games for the Lions last season after spending his first three years with Tampa Bay. His versatility made him attractive to the Browns, as did his salary cap number of $1.885 million.

The NFL required the Browns to take 30 to 42 players or spend 38 percent ($21.77 million) of their salary cap ($57.288 million) on players they take in the expansion draft. So Cleveland had to equally weigh a player's character, expense and potential before making him part of its future.

Pyne's selection fit perfectly into this day when history was on everyone's mind. He is part of the only three-generation NFL family in history. His father, George III, played for Boston in 1965, and his grandfather, George II, played for Providence in 1931-32.

''I'm excited,'' said Pyne, a 6-foot-2, 297-pounder out of Virginia Tech. ''Cleveland is a great place. I'm glad to be here. I wanted to be here. I grew up watching the Browns.''

So it seemed did everyone else at the Canton Civic Center.

More than 4,000 fans, including members of the famed Dawg Pound, were on hand for the 2 1/2-hour, made-for-television event.

It had been more than three years since Cleveland fans could scream for their football heroes. And with all the barking and

''Here we go Brownies'' chants, it was as if the Steelers were in town.

The NFL held the draft in pro football's birthplace to trumpet the rebirth of Cleveland's tradition-rich franchise. A high-tech stage,

complete with scoreboard, was ringed with the 13 bronzed busts

of Browns in the Hall of Fame.

Cleveland used its second pick on the defensive side, choosing Dallas end Hurvin McCormack. McCormack, 26, had five sacks for the Cowboys in '98. With the third pick, Cleveland snatched New England tackle Scott Rehberg,

a 6-foot-8, 330-pounder who played in two games for the Patriots last year and is considered a bargain at $325,000.

Cincinnati's Damon Gibson was the first skill player taken by the Browns, who plan to build the majority of their roster through free agency and in April's college draft. Gibson, 23, had 19 catches for 258 yards and three TDs last season.

In preparing for the expansion draft, Dwight Clark, Cleveland's director of football operations, said the deepest talent available would be on the offensive line. And that's where the Browns went again with pick No. 5, taking San Francisco center Steve Gordon.

Offensive linemen are important to any team, but particularly to the Browns, who could take Kentucky quarterback Tim Couch with the No. 1 overall pick in the college draft.

Young and cheap seemed to be the early direction for the Browns. Of their first 10 selections, only one player - Pyne - cost them over $1 million and none was older than 30.

Just because a player is with the Browns today doesn't mean he'll be wearing an orange helmet very long.

NFL expansion has taught fans this: Don't get too attached to your team.

The 1999 Cleveland Browns won't look anything like they will in a few years, maybe even in a few months.

Some of the 30 or so players the Browns select could be cut before the team opens training camp in July. Others could be traded as Cleveland attempts to secure more draft picks. Some will get injured. Some will retire.

The Browns used the expansion blueprints left by Carolina and Jacksonville in preparing for this year's draft.

Carolina took 35 players in the draft, and 15 made their roster for the start of that season. Four years later, just one - wide receiver Mark Carrier, a former Brown - remains and he was released at one point and came back as a free agent.

Of the 31 expansion players selected by Jacksonville, 22 made its opening roster. There are now just three original Jaguars remaining.