Is the end in sight for Winslow and Browns?

The Browns suspended tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. for one-game following his verbal bashing of GM Phil Savage and head coach Romeo Crennel in the wake of what he felt was the team’s mishandling of a staph infection. And as Patrick McManamon of the Akron Beacon Journal writes, this could be the beginning of the end for Winslow in Cleveland.

Kellen WinslowThis comes from nothing anyone said privately or publicly, but from the occurrences of the past few days and from the statement released by General Manager Phil Savage that was so cold it had icicles dripping from it.

This clearly is one angry GM.

Savage has always been restrained with announcements and news. That he was blunt and direct in the statement about Winslow speaks volumes.

Savage called Winslow’s comments ”unwarranted, inappropriate, and unnecessarily disparaging to our organization.” He said the comments ”brought unjustified negative attention to our organization, and violated the team-first concept of our football squad.”

…But Winslow undercut Crennel twice — first after the game on Sunday, then Monday morning when he had more to say after meeting with Crennel on the team plane Sunday night.

Winslow cares about the team. But he also believes that he is better than most anyone and that is why he expects the ball.

This time, though, he put himself ahead of the team. After a tough loss, he made it about himself. If his coach is not on board with the suspension — and does anyone expect Crennel to say anything today except ”we’ve moved on”? — Winslow need only realize he is the one who put his coach in this position.

McManamon goes on to note that the Browns were in no hurry to re-do Winslow’s contract this offseason and they even went as far to draft a tight end (Martin Rucker) in this year’s draft.

If the Browns do part was with Winslow, it would be another first rounder from the 2004 draft that a team has sent packing. The Lions recently traded WR Roy Williams to the Cowboys and released RB Kevin Jones, the Falcons dealt CB DeAngelo Hall to the Raiders this offseason and the Jets sent LB Jonathan Vilma to the Saints before the start o of the year. Interesting.

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