L.T.

[CLEVELandMILIDH]

Cut Lewis and give his 6 million a year to LT, or sign them both that would be a pretty nice backfield

 

 

Posted by Mike Florio on March 5, 2009, 5:19 p.m.

As the Chargers and running back LaDainian Tomlinson continue publicly to express hope that they’ll work out a restructured contract that will pay L.T. something other than $6.725 million in 2009, his mother, Loreane, told XX 1090 in San Diego on Thursday that the situation “doesn’t look promising.”

 

“They almost like handed him crumbs,” Loreane Tomlinson said as to the offer that the Chargers have made.

 

Of the uncertainty as to L.T.’s status, she said, “It’s almost like a slap in the face. . . . Tell us something.”

 

Though she explained that the situation is hard on the family, she said that her son is keeping a positive outlook. “I’ll be playing somewhere,” L.T. told his mother, according to his mother. “I don’t know where, but wherever I go it’ll be OK.”

 

We’d love to know how it came to be that Mrs. Tomlinson ended up doing a radio spot. The hosts weren’t sure how to pronounce her name, so it’s not like she’s a regular on the station.

 

Based on what she said, our guess is that someone in the L.T. camp realized that she would be the best person to get the message into circulation, without giving anyone in the media fodder for claiming that LaDainian is whining about his situation.

[Rooster Dick]

.....prepare for.... booooooo, we don't need old veteran projects. He's falling off the last couple years...... injury concerns. Let's just stick with our 2nd round draft pick. We are super bowl bound!!!!

[CLEVELandMILIDH]

.....prepare for.... booooooo, we don't need old veteran projects. He's falling off the last couple years...... injury concerns. Let's just stick with our 2nd round draft pick. We are super bowl bound!!!!

 

would rather get a LB or center, RT, Safety to many needs to waste on a RB when there are perfectly capable RB's that wouldn't cost that much We cant fill every need in one draft, were gonna have to sign some vet's so all you guys that keep saying nah that players to old, be ready to be dissapointed cause its inevitable

[JewDago]

.....prepare for.... booooooo, we don't need old veteran projects. He's falling off the last couple years...... injury concerns. Let's just stick with our 2nd round draft pick. We are super bowl bound!!!!

booooooo, we don't need washed-up vets who've fallen off and can only still contribute on teams that are already good. we need to be ready for another 4-12 season, because that's where we're headed.

 

tomlinson could be good with a short deal, but he's gonna want a bunch of money. the issue in san diego is that money equals respect, and he's not gonna find a team that's willing to pay him the money he expects, which means he'll either be pissy all year and pout or he'll use it as motivation to have one last good year. either way, signing him to the compromise of a three-year deal that he'll end up with is a financial move the browns aren't likely to make given their obvious reticence to get involved with high-price free agents.

 

if we're going to sign a back who's likely going to suck no matter what (considering who's available), i'd rather have it be noah herron or maurice hicks. even nick goings is a better option if the browns are looking to bring in someone cheap, which it seems they are. besides, if we go into the season with harrison and lewis on the roster, our third back won't see the field all that much except for spot duty.

[CLEVELandMILIDH]

booooooo, we don't need washed-up vets who've fallen off and can only still contribute on teams that are already good. we need to be ready for another 4-12 season, because that's where we're headed.

 

tomlinson could be good with a short deal, but he's gonna want a bunch of money. the issue in san diego is that money equals respect, and he's not gonna find a team that's willing to pay him the money he expects, which means he'll either be pissy all year and pout or he'll use it as motivation to have one last good year. either way, signing him to the compromise of a three-year deal that he'll end up with is a financial move the browns aren't likely to make given their obvious reticence to get involved with high-price free agents.

 

if we're going to sign a back who's likely going to suck no matter what (considering who's available), i'd rather have it be noah herron or maurice hicks. even nick goings is a better option if the browns are looking to bring in someone cheap, which it seems they are. besides, if we go into the season with harrison and lewis on the roster, our third back won't see the field all that much except for spot duty.

 

Id rather pay LT 6 million than jlew. but if we could sign LT for a 2 year 7-8 million dollar deal which i think is very possible we could have one hell of a 1-2 punch, they would compliment each other beutifully

[JewDago]

i wouldn't hate signing LT to a two-year 7-8 mil deal if the browns got rid of lewis' bloated deal. however, we'd then just be in the same situation next year with a tentative, broken-down RB who's lost speed and can't hit the hole the way he used to. without a new, young RB, we're unlikely to have an effective running game anyhow, so, if we don't sign someone young and give him a chance, we should ride out lewis' contract and batter him for all he's worth.

 

when RBs break down, it happens really fast. we saw shaun alexander go from MVP to nothing in two years at the end of his career in seattle, and now LT's doing the same thing in san diego. in comparison to the guy we have, LT's still got more speed than lewis does, but he's not running with the same aggression he once had. it's a brutal descent from greatness to the scrap heap, but that's the life of a modern NFL running back.

[CLEVELandMILIDH]

i wouldn't hate signing LT to a two-year 7-8 mil deal if the browns got rid of lewis' bloated deal. however, we'd then just be in the same situation next year with a tentative, broken-down RB who's lost speed and can't hit the hole the way he used to. without a new, young RB, we're unlikely to have an effective running game anyhow, so, if we don't sign someone young and give him a chance, we should ride out lewis' contract and batter him for all he's worth.

 

when RBs break down, it happens really fast. we saw shaun alexander go from MVP to nothing in two years at the end of his career in seattle, and now LT's doing the same thing in san diego. in comparison to the guy we have, LT's still got more speed than lewis does, but he's not running with the same aggression he once had. it's a brutal descent from greatness to the scrap heap, but that's the life of a modern NFL running back.

 

I agree hes not what he used to be, but if we had him and jlew next year we would be able to keep them fresh. Then next year jlew will be a freeagent and we can draft a RB, and if LT isnt worth keeping around for year 2 we could release him with little to no salary cap demage.

[JewDago]

we could keep lewis fresh by using harrison and a cheap back who might have a future, too.

[CLEVELandMILIDH]

we could keep lewis fresh by using harrison and a cheap back who might have a future, too.

 

I guess your right, I just think LT has alot more left that your giving him credit for.

[JoeSixPat]

i wouldn't hate signing LT to a two-year 7-8 mil deal if the browns got rid of lewis' bloated deal. however, we'd then just be in the same situation next year with a tentative, broken-down RB who's lost speed and can't hit the hole the way he used to. without a new, young RB, we're unlikely to have an effective running game anyhow, so, if we don't sign someone young and give him a chance, we should ride out lewis' contract and batter him for all he's worth.

 

when RBs break down, it happens really fast. we saw shaun alexander go from MVP to nothing in two years at the end of his career in seattle, and now LT's doing the same thing in san diego. in comparison to the guy we have, LT's still got more speed than lewis does, but he's not running with the same aggression he once had. it's a brutal descent from greatness to the scrap heap, but that's the life of a modern NFL running back.

 

I think you're right on target about everything.

 

I think the lack of action early in free agency indicates that the front office either Can't sign players or Won't. You should hope its the latter.

 

There's nothing wrong with mining the middle class of free agency - which one assumes the Browns front office will eventually begin to do. You sign players to "prove it" deals for 2 years with limited guaranteed money and see who works well in your system and who doesn't - building a core of players to build on next year.

 

Yes, that means another rebuilding 4-12 season this year - but one still would think that bringing in a guy like LT on an incentive laden contract is something the front office considers. That's not enough to turn this team into a Super Bowl contender but at least the team is attempting to fill some holes in 2009 so that they can begin to contend in 2010.

 

Thus far we haven't seen even that. But at some point I think they'll have no choice but to sign among the leftover FAs - and there's definately some diamonds that can be found in that rough.

 

[JewDago]

I think you're right on target about everything.

 

I think the lack of action early in free agency indicates that the front office either Can't sign players or Won't. You should hope its the latter.

 

There's nothing wrong with mining the middle class of free agency - which one assumes the Browns front office will eventually begin to do. You sign players to "prove it" deals for 2 years with limited guaranteed money and see who works well in your system and who doesn't - building a core of players to build on next year.

 

Yes, that means another rebuilding 4-12 season this year - but one still would think that bringing in a guy like LT on an incentive laden contract is something the front office considers. That's not enough to turn this team into a Super Bowl contender but at least the team is attempting to fill some holes in 2009 so that they can begin to contend in 2010.

 

Thus far we haven't seen even that. But at some point I think they'll have no choice but to sign among the leftover FAs - and there's definately some diamonds that can be found in that rough.

i like the mid-level FA approach that builds for the future, in part because the future is all we, as browns fans, have to look forward to. our present is hideous.

 

i really hope it's that the FO doesn't want to sign players to deals above market value, not that they can't close the deal. that would be effing terrible.

 

@mills: you may be right that LT has more left than i'm giving him credit for, but he looked pretty bad last year. it's not his injuries that worry me, it's that he's not hitting holes with authority anymore. he's dancing behind his linemen the way shaun alexander ddid during his last year in seattle when he looked like ass.

[JoeSixPat]

i like the mid-level FA approach that builds for the future, in part because the future is all we, as browns fans, have to look forward to. our present is hideous.

 

i really hope it's that the FO doesn't want to sign players to deals above market value, not that they can't close the deal. that would be effing terrible.

 

@mills: you may be right that LT has more left than i'm giving him credit for, but he looked pretty bad last year. it's not his injuries that worry me, it's that he's not hitting holes with authority anymore. he's dancing behind his linemen the way shaun alexander ddid during his last year in seattle when he looked like ass.

 

At this stage, the Browns might have no choice but to overpay for FAs - if the front office hasn't already figured that out they will - but that also doesn't mean they sign FAs for the sake of signing them.

 

The lack of resolution on the QB front doesn't help attract players who are on the verge of breaking out - and to most player/observers they've so far seen more DECONSTRUCTION of the existing Browns than rebuilding. Players with upside aren't going to think a 4-12 team is going to polevault them into a big contract in 1-2 years.

 

So all of that does mean to me that if they want to compete with more successful organizations they will have to overpay - but with a likely uncapped year next year, that affects Randy Lerner's wallet more than the makeup of the team, so if one's in a situation where they DO have to overpay to attact talent, 2009 and 2010 aren't the worst times for that.

[Booker]

Lol, are people not seriously considering LT????

 

In his worst year ever, he still rushed for more yards and ran for twice as many rushing TDs than Jamal. This doesn't even include the ~500 yds he will provide in receiving yards.

 

Maybe I'm biased against stutter-stepping for 1 yard gains.

[JewDago]

Lol, are people not seriously considering LT????

 

In his worst year ever, he still rushed for more yards and ran for twice as many rushing TDs than Jamal. This doesn't even include the ~500 yds he will provide in receiving yards.

 

Maybe I'm biased against stutter-stepping for 1 yard gains.

yeah, because LT didn't do any of that this year...

[Tobalaz]

No no no no no!

I'm sorry but LT was great. Emphasize WAS.

Without Turner to split reps he was almost as bad as one and done Lewis.

If he had been a FA 2 seasons ago I'd be all over that, then I'd be bitching last season he was over the hill.

I'm sick of overpaying for washed up to near washed up overpriced FAs every season and staying bad in the process.

We need to go after a young guy to split reps with Harrison and if we can restructure Lewis;s deal then use him as a situational back and see if we can't make a Bettis out of him.

If we can't, we cut him lose.

I'm tired of hand me downs, I want a REAL back with some moxie in him for a change and I think we can find him with one of our 2nd round picks.

 

[Guest mz.]

This whole conversation is kind of stupid. LaDainian Tomlinson isn't playing for the Browns, next year or ever.

 

Next...

[Guest AdaM]

i like the mid-level FA approach that builds for the future, in part because the future is all we, as browns fans, have to look forward to. our present is hideous.

 

i really hope it's that the FO doesn't want to sign players to deals above market value, not that they can't close the deal. that would be effing terrible.

 

@mills: you may be right that LT has more left than i'm giving him credit for, but he looked pretty bad last year. it's not his injuries that worry me, it's that he's not hitting holes with authority anymore. he's dancing behind his linemen the way shaun alexander ddid during his last year in seattle when he looked like ass.

 

 

Tends to happen when you have a detached frickin tendon in your groin.

 

If he fully recovers from that.... he's back.

[mikebrancato]

Lets just draft a solid back day one and get it over with.