Did the Browns insult Josh Cribbs?

According to NFL.com, the agent for Browns’ playmaker Josh Cribbs said that his client will formally request a trade after being disappointed with the new contract offer he received from the team.

Cribbs, who set an NFL record for career return touchdowns this season and was promised a new deal above his veteran minimum contract by previous team management, was offered a new deal with an average salary of $1.4 million per season on a six-year deal, according to Rickert, with roughly $400,000 to sign. Cribbs, who is signed through 2012, has been working with the team in an effort to get a new contract since before the season began.

“We’re going to formally put in a request for a trade,” Rickert said. “He will not set foot in that facility again. If they had offered even something like $2.5 million per season we could have worked with them, but to me this offer is indefensible.”

Rickert said that team executive Dawn Aponte told him the offer was final and would not change, and that new team president Mike Holmgren was in agreement with her on the offer.

“Dawn said this was it, this was their offer,” Rickert said. “She said it would be 1.4 today, 1.4 in March and 1.4 in August.”

In 2006, Devin Hester had a breakout rookie year as a returner. If he wasn’t bringing a kick back to the house, he was setting the Bears’ anemic offense up with great field position. Fans and the media often joked that he was their offense.

The following year, the Bears decided that they wanted to try and make him a No. 1 receiver and just like that they limited Hester’s impact. Outside of a couple of big plays a year, he hasn’t been the same player for Chicago that he was his rookie year and the Bears have paid for it.

The Browns should fear that they’re about to lose their Devin Hester by insulting him with a weak contract offer. Cribbs is a game-changer and before Jerome Harrison decided to run like Jim Brown for the final couple games of the season, he was also their only offensive weapon. If Cleveland losses him, then they could wind up making a massive mistake just like the Bears did by forgetting how important Hester was as a returner.

Granted, it’s not the same situation. The Bears also had to decide whether or not Hester was worth the money and they eventually paid him. By making him a receiver, they tried to get the most out of their investment and it just hasn’t panned out.

But the Browns already know what Cribbs can do on offense. He might not be a No. 1 or even a No. 2 receiver, but he’s dangerous out of the Wildcat and explosive in certain packages. If they can’t recognize that, let’s hope he’ll wind up with a team that will. That said, I’m sure Holmgren knows what he’s doing and he does have to worry about 2010 being an uncapped year. So maybe this is just a bump in the road and the two sides will eventually come to an agreement.

If you’re looking for another take on this topic, check out Gerardo Orlando’s from Cleveland Scores, who writes that Cribbs and his agent need to chill out and give Holmgren some time to get his feet under him. After all, the Browns don’t even have a GM yet and Cribbs’ agent is in Holmgren’s grill looking for a new contract.


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Jerome Harrison is better than Jim Brown

Really? No, not really. In fact, Cleveland fans might have me shot for even remotely joking about something like that. But Harrison did prove on Sunday that he’s even more dangerous than the Dos Equis Guy.

Harrison rushed for a franchise record 286 yards and three touchdowns on 34 carries, while adding two receptions for 12 yards in Cleveland’s 41-34 win. He scored the game-winning touchdown with under a minute to play to give Cleveland back to back winning weeks for the first time this season. Harrison now holds Cleveland’s all-time record for rushing yards in a game, surpassing the great Jim Brown.

Harrison was so good that he managed to overshadow Josh Cribbs, which was hard to do on a day like this. Cribbs tied an NFL record with two kick returns for touchdowns, both of which came from over 100 yards out. He is now the all-time record holder for kickoff return touchdowns, with eight in his career.

Regardless of whether or not Mike Holmgren takes over in Cleveland, the Browns have to do everything in their power to make Cribbs happy in the offseason. He threatened to hold out this past summer if the Browns didn’t re-do his contract, which they didn’t. He never held out and has been the Browns best player this season, so the team’s first mission in the offseason should resolve his contract dispute.

Speaking of the Browns’ offseason, what should they do with Eric Mangini? He was an easy fire a couple of months ago when the Browns were hapless, hopeless and completely lost, but they’ve played well of late. Should he keep his job or should the Browns start over if/when Holmgren comes to town? Usually head coaches are fired when the team is heading backwards, but Cleveland is actually moving forward.

Quinn, Browns give putrid effort in another putrid loss

Eleven first downs, 160 total yards and zero points.

After two weeks to prepare for their opposition, that’s what the Cleveland Browns produced on Monday night in a 16-0 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

Nobody should be surprised by the outcome of Monday night’s game in Cleveland. Everyone knew that the Browns were awful entering the game, but to actually watch that miserable excuse of a team stumble over themselves for 60 minutes is rather amazing. It’s like a car wreck – you just can’t look away.

Brady Quinn is bad, so bad that it’s safe to say that he has zero chance of becoming anything resembling a decent starting quarterback in the NFL. I’m fully aware that he has no talent around him, but I dare anyone to watch that kid play for entire game and tell me he has any shot of success in this league. His own coaching staff doesn’t trust him to throw the ball further than two feet and I wouldn’t either. The Monday Night Football crew kept begging for the Browns to throw the ball vertically and whenever Quinn did, he was either picked off or was so far off the mark with his passes that there wasn’t a receiver within 20 yards of where the ball ended up.

Again, I know that he doesn’t have anyone to throw to but there’s just no excuse for being that inept. The Browns didn’t even reach the Ravens’ 40-yard line tonight and don’t forget that this was a Baltimore defense that has struggled at times this year stopping the pass. On multiple occasions late in the game when he was trying to make a feeble attempt at throwing deep, Quinn tossed the ball completely out of bounds. That means he’s so inaccurate with his throws that he can’t even keep the ball in play. He even overthrew a receiver on a screen pass, which is so mind-boggling that it pisses me off just thinking about it.

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Packers find their running game in win over horrendous Browns

For the second consecutive week, the Packers whipped a bad opponent as they routed the Browns 31-3 on Sunday. Aaron Rodgers threw three touchdown passes in the win, including a 45-yarder to Spencer Havner, a 71-yarder to Donald Driver and a 5-yarder to James Jones.

But the story for the Packers was their running game, as they totaled 202 yards on the ground. Ryan Grant rushed for 148 yards on 27 carries and Brandon Jackson chipped in 31 rushing yards on nine carries. The Packers’ O-line is still incredibly banged up and vulnerable, but if they can run the ball every week as well as they did today, then they won’t have to worry about teams pinning their ears back to get after Rodgers.

The Packers are starting to build confidence. Granted, they’re building confidence against the trash of the NFL, but they’re building confidence nonetheless. They still haven’t beaten a team with a winning record (they beat the Bears, but that was in the opener), but they’re crushing bad teams.

And make no mistake about it – the Browns are a bad football team. In fact, they’re one of the most offensively inept teams I’ve ever wasted time watching. Nobody kills a potential scoring drive like Derek Anderson and unless Josh Cribbs scores on a kick return or in the Wildcat, the Browns don’t score period.

Eric Mangini has a lot of work to do to getting this Cleveland team to respectable. I know at times the Browns have been competitive this season, but they were a total disaster today.

Don’t expect much out of the NFL trade deadline

The NFL trade deadline is today and not much is expected to happen because, well, nothing usually happens.

Here are a few reasons why:

- The deadline occurs after Week 6 and good luck getting any head coach to say that the season is over when there are still 10 games left on the schedule. Teams haven’t thrown in the towel yet and still believe the players they have on their roster give them the best chance to win. And if teams with losing records aren’t willing to deal, how are teams with the winning records supposed to improve themselves in an attempt to make the playoffs?

- Not every player is a match for a team’s offensive or defensive system. Football isn’t like baseball where the second base position in Milwaukee is the same as the second base position in San Francisco. It takes players weeks, if not months, if not seasons to learn a new system, so knowing that they can’t get a quick return on their investment, teams are reluctant to acquire new players. Take the Bears and Gaines Adams for example. Chicago acquired him on Friday night from Tampa Bay, but didn’t even bother activating him for Sunday night’s game against the Falcons because they knew he wouldn’t be ready to play in their system. The Falcons traded for cornerback Ty Hill (a former starter for the Rams) right before the season started and still haven’t played him yet.

- Unless an entirely new staff takes over in the offseason (i.e. Cleveland and Tampa Bay), coaches aren’t willing to give up on the players they drafted. You hear the term “his player” used all the time in the NFL. Come hell or high water, a coach is going to fight for the player he drafted (especially if they were a first day pick), because they don’t want to see the fruits of their labor have success anywhere else.

So even if you hear the names Brady Quinn, Josh Cribbs and Terrell Owens thrown around today, don’t buy into the hype that they’ll be traded because those players will likely be wearing the same uniforms come Sunday.

Teams are calling about Cribbs, but are Browns listening?

Cleveland Scores reports (via NFL.com) that several teams are calling the Browns inquiring about Josh Cribbs. But Profootballtalk.com reports that Cleveland has no interest in dealing the explosive receiver/return man.

This offseason, Cribbs threatened to hold out if he didn’t receive a new contract, but he never made good on his threats. He’s set to make $620,00 in 2009, $635,000 in 2010, $650,000 in 2011 and $790,00 in 2012. Considering his increased role in the offense, he’s highly underpaid and it’s understandable why he would want a new contract.

But the Browns aren’t ready to re-work his deal, which is why teams are calling about his services. The Dolphins seem to be the team that is pursuing him the most, although the Chiefs, Raiders and even the Colts have reportedly shown interest as well.

Cribbs wants to remain a Brown for the rest of his career, but if the team were unwilling to extend his contract, he’d welcome a trade out of Cleveland. Considering the Browns just traded Braylon Edwards to the Jets, one would think that they would pony up to keep a player of Cribbs’ talent. But Eric Mangini and GM George Kokinis have already shown the willingness to trade players from the previous regime, so nobody should be surprised if Cribbs is eventually dealt.

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