Cleveland Browns notify RFAs of reduced offers as of June 15

[NewEraDawg]

http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/...ify_rfas_o.html

 

BEREA, Ohio -- The Browns have sent written notification to their five unsigned restricted free agents that they will exercise their option to reduce their contract tenders if the current ones are not signed by June 15.

 

 

 

In four of the five cases, the Browns' substitute offers of 110 percent of their 2009 base salaries would be significant decreases from the offers that have been on the table since March.

 

Fullback Lawrence Vickers would get about $589,000 instead of the $1.759 million tender. Running back Jerome Harrison would get $593,000. Linebacker D'Qwell Jackson would get $704,000. And linebacker Matt Roth would get $770,000 instead of the $1.809 million tender for a five-year player.

 

Safety Abram Elam, who was also a restricted free agent last year, would get $1.65 million instead of $1.759 million.

 

Harrison and Vickers have been practicing with the team after signing injury waivers. Jackson, Roth and Elam have boycotted all of the voluntary organized team activity practices and this weekend's minicamp.

 

Each player was told in face-to-face meetings with President Mike Holmgren of the club's intention prior to receiving the letter this week, a club source said.

 

The Browns have committed to substituting the original contract tenders and the letter is a courtesy to remind the players, the source said. The Browns' position is that they want to see the players perform and are not ruling out negotiating long-term contracts with the RFAs at a later date, but are not making any promises of doing so.

 

 

 

[Gips]

They need to find a way to reduce elam's contract by 50% to even come close to his actual worth otherwise release him and let him try to make 1.6 mil elsewhere...the guy sucks that bad and is a bad investment..

Roth has a bad attitude and is an obvious malcontent that needs to be shown an exit from the nfl and the entrance back into the real world of earning your pay..

DQJ needs to be traded for a 12 pack to a 4-3 based team that can utilize his true skills and abilities..

Vickers and harrison will sign and contribute to the team this year hopefully gaining those multi-year contracts they seek..

And dawson deserves a very hefty pay adjustment just for enduring the mental trauma of sticking with this rabble of a team for 10 years let alone all the points he has scored,can anyone say "seriously underpaid"?

[choco]

I like this new fo....

 

 

[ballpeen]

http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/...ify_rfas_o.html

 

BEREA, Ohio -- The Browns have sent written notification to their five unsigned restricted free agents that they will exercise their option to reduce their contract tenders if the current ones are not signed by June 15.

 

 

 

In four of the five cases, the Browns' substitute offers of 110 percent of their 2009 base salaries would be significant decreases from the offers that have been on the table since March.

 

Fullback Lawrence Vickers would get about $589,000 instead of the $1.759 million tender. Running back Jerome Harrison would get $593,000. Linebacker D'Qwell Jackson would get $704,000. And linebacker Matt Roth would get $770,000 instead of the $1.809 million tender for a five-year player.

 

Safety Abram Elam, who was also a restricted free agent last year, would get $1.65 million instead of $1.759 million.

 

Harrison and Vickers have been practicing with the team after signing injury waivers. Jackson, Roth and Elam have boycotted all of the voluntary organized team activity practices and this weekend's minicamp.

 

Each player was told in face-to-face meetings with President Mike Holmgren of the club's intention prior to receiving the letter this week, a club source said.

 

The Browns have committed to substituting the original contract tenders and the letter is a courtesy to remind the players, the source said. The Browns' position is that they want to see the players perform and are not ruling out negotiating long-term contracts with the RFAs at a later date, but are not making any promises of doing so.

 

 

I am sure most will sign at the 12th hour...it's all about posturing at this point.

 

 

The only one who might not is Elam since we are talking 100K.

 

I am sure they will sign, and the ones who are really ticked will try to force a trade over the next month or two.

 

 

I would trade both Roth and Jackson....those are the two who seem to be a lost cause. 4th round picks might be dreaming, 5th round sounds more realistic.

 

 

Vickers and Harrison...they will both sign. I think they both sense a decreased roll which will hurt them next year, so they can't afford to give up a million or so....this very well could be their big payday.

 

 

Elam....he will just play hard and take his chances as a FA, if we don't try to sign him later down the road.

 

 

 

 

Dawson....I agree, he needs a adjustment....I posted his salary info in another thread. He is in the bottom 3rd....and should probably be in the top 3rd salary wise.

 

 

 

His problem is the position....with only 32 jobs available in any given year, competition is tough...competition to drive down the salary....once you get to a point, there isn't a whole lot that separates the top kicker in the NFL from the bottom kicker in the NFL when you get right down to the nitty gritty.

 

 

I think his leverage is going to come when it is getting close to the time his contract expires. He has gotten stronger over the years and kickers can perform well at 40 or more....so he still has one more contract in his future.

 

 

I like the guy but I understand why the team isn't in any hurry to hand him 1.5 in bonus and another 600k per season for 3-4 more years.

 

 

I have no idea here.....maybe someone knows....who was the last Browns player who spent their entire career as a Brown...and I am not talking some guy who played 5-6.....I am talking a player who spent 15 or so years in the league.....Dieken??

 

[professor_g]

I guess I like how they're not f-ing around. Tell them straight-up: this is a good sum of money; play your ass off this year and we'll see where we're at. They all have very good reason to play hard this coming year with unrestricted free agency around the corner, and the way things are going you want to get paid something substantial this year because there may very well be a lock-out next year.

[NewEraDawg]

I have no idea here.....maybe someone knows....who was the last Browns player who spent their entire career as a Brown...and I am not talking some guy who played 5-6.....I am talking a player who spent 15 or so years in the league.....Dieken??

 

Peen........I think if the team didn't move we might have had a few more . I really don't know how many we had but it would have been more . Damn Modell

 

[listercat]

They need to find a way to reduce elam's contract by 50% to even come close to his actual worth otherwise release him and let him try to make 1.6 mil elsewhere...the guy sucks that bad and is a bad investment..

Roth has a bad attitude and is an obvious malcontent that needs to be shown an exit from the nfl and the entrance back into the real world of earning your pay..

DQJ needs to be traded for a 12 pack to a 4-3 based team that can utilize his true skills and abilities..

Vickers and harrison will sign and contribute to the team this year hopefully gaining those multi-year contracts they seek..

And dawson deserves a very hefty pay adjustment just for enduring the mental trauma of sticking with this rabble of a team for 10 years let alone all the points he has scored,can anyone say "seriously underpaid"?

 

 

Roth a malcontent? You could be correct; however, I really liked the dude's play last season and would really prefer for him to remain with our Browns

[Canton Mike]

I would also like to keep Roth, but on the BROWN'S terms.

I agree that Dawson should be paid in the TOP 3rd of the league. At his position, I consider his situation on a par with what Josh Cribbs' was. His value to the Browns is enormous.

Mike

[hoorta]

I would also like to keep Roth, but on the BROWN'S terms.

I agree that Dawson should be paid in the TOP 3rd of the league. At his position, I consider his situation on a par with what Josh Cribbs' was. His value to the Browns is enormous.

Mike

 

Agreed. The problem all these RFAs have is the CBA is up next year, and we're not giving up big signing bonuses and long term contracts to marginal players. So sign your tenders, and go cry in your $1.7 million bucks worth of beer. They ought to know what the market is by now, because none of them have gotten offers from other clubs.

 

Elam can definitely go pound salt for all I care.

 

[HowieDawg]

At the risk of sounding like a parrot, Roth's conduct is a disappointment to me. I really liked him, his hunger was great last season and I enjoyed seeing him, if he goes to the wire and signs the contract on offer do we have a sulky LB who won't show up at games? Man, I wish I had the opportunity to be pissed off at £1M a year. If Roth signs and doesn't show the kind of player he did last year I'm going to run onto the field myself and chin the bastard.