I know I have come down hard on the Bronws, in this space and on my Facebook page, for not giving Josh Cribbs what he deserves and offering him a low-ball contract extension. After reading various articles, blogs, watching TV reports and listening to radio stuff, I have softened my stance on the Browns' ineptitude, slightly. Here's why: The timing of Cribbs' "announcement" that he was cleaning out his locker and leaving town was really awful. Mike Holmgren was immersed in deciding whether or not to bring back Eric Mangini. He was (and still is) interviewing general manager candidates. And, he just began work with the team on Monday, so I am sure the initial load of tasks to complete was daunting. And on top of that, Holmgren has his best player and his two agents, Peter Schaffer and J.R. Rickert, taking to every form of media possible, complaining about the contract offer, making demands and drawing national attention to this case. I am sure Holmgren LOVED this timing of this, and I would not be surprised at all if the Browns don't make another offer to Cribbs, partly because they are set on their price and partly because Cribbs and his agents may have burned bridges this week. Lots of bridges. So, the timing of all of this was bad on the part of Cribbs and his agents. They could have waited a week, a month, or until training camp starts in August when the pressure would really be in the Browns front office to get something done. On the other side, I am still of the position that Cribbs deserves a contract extension. Here's an interesting note: over the past three seasons, Cribbs has more all-purpose yards than any player in the NFL (as pointed out in article by The Plain Dealer's Mary Kay Cabot on the link below).That is a remarkable figure, especially when you consider that Cribbs has more yards than players like Adrian Peterson, Maurice Jones-Drew, etc... To me, that sounds like someone that should be making more than $1.4 million per year, which is what the Browns' offer to Cribbs was. There is no question that Cribbs has outperformed his current contract. No question that Cribbs is the best overall player on the Browns and one of the best of the league. No question that he is a fan favorite and and seemed to genuinely like playing in Cleveland. But at this point, there may be no turning back as relations between these two parties is severely strained. A lot can happen between now and the start of next season in September. Hopefully repairs can be made to this situation and Josh Cribbs will be back in 2010. But I won't be holding my breath.
* File photo courtesy of The Plain Dealer
Two thoughts - First, Cribbs' agents seem incompetent. I'm no capologist, but most 6 year contracts in the NFL are really 2-3 year contracts, where the next 2-3 years are at a vastly increased salary (so they are renegotiated). Cribbs' agents didn't...what young player in the NFL gets locked in for 6 years at 1 mil a year.
ReplyDeleteSecond, the all purpose yards leader thing is a bit misleading - Danny Amendola is 6th this year...and also had more return yards than Cribbs, mostly because StL sucks more than the Browns do. The leaderboard is somewhat dominated by returnment (and Chris Johnson, who ran for 2000 yards). Not saying Cribbs isn't valuable, but his value is in his potential (if they can effectively work him into the offense more).
One of the agent, Rickert, went on Sirius Radio a few weeks ago and basically begged the Browns for a new deal, publicly. It was embarrassing. I would say Cribbs' representation is not the best.
ReplyDelete