BernietheKid Posted March 13, 2009 Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 Bonus contracts handcuff Browns by Tony Grossi/Plain Dealer Reporter Friday March 13, 2009, 1:45 AM A rash of cash roster bonuses, most owed to players today, has led to the release of at least two veteran Browns players and prompted the club's new management team to ask for relief from others. The Browns released offensive lineman Kevin Shaffer Thursday rather than pay him a scheduled bonus of $1 million and $2.65 million base salary. Shaffer was considering whether to return at a reduced contract or enter free agency, agent Alan Herman said. On Wednesday, the Browns released popular receiver Joe Jurevicius, who was owed a $250,000 bonus and $2.4 million base salary. Jurevicius declined a pay reduction to the NFL veteran minimum salary. Almost $30 million more in roster bonuses is owed in contracts inherited by new General Manager George Kokinis and coach Eric Mangini. The roll call: • Defensive linemen Shaun Rogers and Corey Williams each is scheduled to receive $6 million in roster bonuses in contract extensions given by the Browns after trading for the players last March. • Quarterback Derek Anderson has a guaranteed bonus of $5 million owed today as part of his three-year, $24 million contract. • Receiver Donte Stallworth is owed a bonus of $4.75 million in his seven-year, $35 million contract. • Running back Jamal Lewis is owed a $4 million bonus in the second year of a three-year, $17 million contract he signed last February. • Left tackle Joe Thomas is owed a bonus of $3.44 million in the third year of his rookie contract signed in 2007. All of those contracts were negotiated by former General Manager Phil Savage and his chief negotiator, Trip MacCracken. Savage was fired in December. A week ago, the Browns named Dawn Aponte, formerly with the NFL Management Council and the New York Jets, as vice president/football administration. The club said Aponte will oversee the management of the salary cap and player contract negotiations. The Browns are expected to meet most, if not all, of the scheduled bonus payments. Not paying a bonus would save the club cash, but would result in releasing the player and suffering, in some cases, serious consequences to the Browns' salary cap. A club spokesman said the Browns would not discuss their plans in regards to the bonus payments, and would announce only decisions that affect the team's roster. The logjam of scheduled bonus payments may partially explain why the Browns have been relatively conservative in free agency this year. The team confirmed on Thursday the signing of ex-Jets linebacker David Bowens. The Browns did not disclose the terms. They were reported by the Newark Star-Ledger to be $7.2 million over four years. The Browns also have signed Jets defensive lineman C.J. Mosley (two years, $5 million), Bills tight end Robert Royal (four years, $10 million) and Jets cornerback Hank Poteat (terms unavailable). The club also signed Jets safety Abram Elam, a restricted free agent, to a one-year offer sheet for $1.5 million. The Jets have seven days to match. The Browns also re-signed safety Mike Adams (three years, $4.1 million). Last month the Browns cut the salary of offensive tackle from $3.25 million to $845,000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lumbergh Posted March 13, 2009 Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 Awww poor NFL team has to make payroll. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClevelandFanForLife Posted March 13, 2009 Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 Bonus contracts handcuff Browns by Tony Grossi/Plain Dealer Reporter Friday March 13, 2009, 1:45 AM A rash of cash roster bonuses, most owed to players today, has led to the release of at least two veteran Browns players and prompted the club's new management team to ask for relief from others. The Browns released offensive lineman Kevin Shaffer Thursday rather than pay him a scheduled bonus of $1 million and $2.65 million base salary. Shaffer was considering whether to return at a reduced contract or enter free agency, agent Alan Herman said. On Wednesday, the Browns released popular receiver Joe Jurevicius, who was owed a $250,000 bonus and $2.4 million base salary. Jurevicius declined a pay reduction to the NFL veteran minimum salary. Almost $30 million more in roster bonuses is owed in contracts inherited by new General Manager George Kokinis and coach Eric Mangini. The roll call: • Defensive linemen Shaun Rogers and Corey Williams each is scheduled to receive $6 million in roster bonuses in contract extensions given by the Browns after trading for the players last March. • Quarterback Derek Anderson has a guaranteed bonus of $5 million owed today as part of his three-year, $24 million contract. • Receiver Donte Stallworth is owed a bonus of $4.75 million in his seven-year, $35 million contract. • Running back Jamal Lewis is owed a $4 million bonus in the second year of a three-year, $17 million contract he signed last February. • Left tackle Joe Thomas is owed a bonus of $3.44 million in the third year of his rookie contract signed in 2007. All of those contracts were negotiated by former General Manager Phil Savage and his chief negotiator, Trip MacCracken. Savage was fired in December. A week ago, the Browns named Dawn Aponte, formerly with the NFL Management Council and the New York Jets, as vice president/football administration. The club said Aponte will oversee the management of the salary cap and player contract negotiations. The Browns are expected to meet most, if not all, of the scheduled bonus payments. Not paying a bonus would save the club cash, but would result in releasing the player and suffering, in some cases, serious consequences to the Browns' salary cap. A club spokesman said the Browns would not discuss their plans in regards to the bonus payments, and would announce only decisions that affect the team's roster. The logjam of scheduled bonus payments may partially explain why the Browns have been relatively conservative in free agency this year. The team confirmed on Thursday the signing of ex-Jets linebacker David Bowens. The Browns did not disclose the terms. They were reported by the Newark Star-Ledger to be $7.2 million over four years. The Browns also have signed Jets defensive lineman C.J. Mosley (two years, $5 million), Bills tight end Robert Royal (four years, $10 million) and Jets cornerback Hank Poteat (terms unavailable). The club also signed Jets safety Abram Elam, a restricted free agent, to a one-year offer sheet for $1.5 million. The Jets have seven days to match. The Browns also re-signed safety Mike Adams (three years, $4.1 million). Last month the Browns cut the salary of offensive tackle from $3.25 million to $845,000. this is all due to the genius that was phil savage. the more time that goes by the more we will find out how much he screwed us. he thought that he had a superbowl caliber team in 07 and was hoping it would last through at least 2010. the problem is when that team fails, someone else has to pick up the pieces. that someone else is kokinis and i think that he is handling it well. sure it would be nice to dump more salary and sign better players, but there is only so much you can do with guaranteed contracts that were written by the idiot that is phil savage. savage was a terrible gm and i hope it doesn't take too long to right the ship that he sent way off course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calfoxwc Posted March 13, 2009 Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 Savage mortgaged the Browns' following year to be a bigshot success. Surely he had to know some of the players he brought in didn't fit with what Crennel wanted to accomplish... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClevelandFanForLife Posted March 13, 2009 Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 Savage mortgaged the Browns' following year to be a bigshot success. Surely he had to know some of the players he brought in didn't fit with what Crennel wanted to accomplish... all the more reason why savage was a horrible gm. the fact that savage and rac only spoke to each other at dinner didn't help either. romeo would never let a conversation get in the way of a good meal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicopee John Posted March 13, 2009 Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 Savage mortgaged the Browns' following year to be a bigshot success. Surely he had to know some of the players he brought in didn't fit with what Crennel wanted to accomplish... And all those who genuflected at the mention of Sewage's name. Good riddance, carrot top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Dawg Posted March 13, 2009 Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 Awww poor NFL team has to make payroll. Lumbergh once again proves what a Browns fan he is.......NOT!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClevelandFanForLife Posted March 13, 2009 Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 And all those who genuflected at the mention of Sewage's name. Good riddance, carrot top. this comparison between savage and carrot top is interesting. nobody likes either one of them and although they try to please people, they both fail miserably at it. im surprised this comparison didn't catch on earlier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fooleeze Posted March 13, 2009 Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 See, I have a much different perspective on this. Savage did a very good job of managing the cap every year, going into FA with usually upwards of $30MM or more available. And each year we heard about him renegotiating contracts and such to help the cap. he did it with Winslow, Bentley, and several others (whom I can't remember specifically). The point is, his salary cap situation was always a work in progress, always renegotiating, trading, etc. Then he got fired in the middle of his process. It's like getting hired to rake leaves, getting fired in the middle of autumn, then people blame you because the leaves start to pile up. I know Savage had his issues leading to his firing, but each year he did a good job of keeping the team under the cap. Sure, there are some overpaid players, but I'd argue that there are some underpaid players, too. But even with all of this, we still came into the offseason something like $16mm under the cap, and who knows what Savage had up his sleeve to free up more cap space for the current season. We'll never know, because his process got interrupted. Maybe he was going to trade Winslow, or had something up his sleeve to move DA or Quinn. Maybe he had plans to release Stallworth (thus the reason for the structure of his contract). We'll never know. So I can't really justify blaming him for unfinished business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YtownBrownsBacker Posted March 13, 2009 Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 The only point I want to say is maybe know some of the actions and moves being done by this FO and staff should be a little clearer. Of all those bonuses mentioned above, it doesn't say which are guaranteed and also which players got large signing bonuses and the bonus was spread over the live of the contract so it would be a very small cap figure as long as the player remained on the team. So when you can't figure out why Stallworth is still on the team and hasn't been cut, you have to look at the contract issues also. It might cost us more to cut Stallworth then to keep him. Yesterday you saw that Shaffer was cut becaue he wouldn't rework his contract worth $2.6 million. I thought that wasn't a bad salary for a starting RT (even though I can't stand Shaffer), but we didn't hear that he also had a $1 million roster bonus due. That's $3.6 million for a bum. Obviously, none of it was guaranteed so goodbye. Stallworth is still here because his is guaranteed. Now, yu can look at some of the bonuses paid and get a better direction of where this staff is going. Having to pay Lewis $4 million in a bonus means he will be our RB this year and Stallworth will be lining up at WR. Raji won't be drafted because they got too much tied up in DL guys and they all have guaranteed contracts because they were reworked last year and Mosley was signed this year. This also shows me that all the Guaranteed money for Edwards has been paid and he is the most marketable player we have. And also that Anderson's guaranteed money is now done and we just made him very marketable. Just further evidence why you need to build your team through the draft instead of bringing in overpriced FAs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaygroundLegend Posted March 13, 2009 Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 that 20 mil in cap left is after all these bonuses right? If not this is scaary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YtownBrownsBacker Posted March 13, 2009 Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 that 20 mil in cap left is after all these bonuses right? If not this is scaary Yes, actually, a big hunk of all our team salary is in the form of bonuses and deferred money. Not too many players get a big yearly salary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fooleeze Posted March 13, 2009 Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 that 20 mil in cap left is after all these bonuses right? If not this is scaary Yes, I'm pretty sure the cap numbers reflect any appropriate bonuses, or prorated portions of bonuses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snatch98 Posted March 13, 2009 Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 Yes, I'm pretty sure the cap numbers reflect any appropriate bonuses, or prorated portions of bonuses. The thing is EVERYONE on this message board knew what was going on with Savage and approved of the moves because most felt it was for the betterment of the team. Hitting FA hard is never the way to go and it seems like you finally have a coach that gets it, at least in the off season. We'll see how it translates to the field but everyone knew what was going on and that Savage was mortgaging the future for wins at the time. Now some are acting like they "had no idea" and it's laughable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich4eagle Posted March 13, 2009 Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 this is all due to the genius that was phil savage. the more time that goes by the more we will find out how much he screwed us. he thought that he had a superbowl caliber team in 07 and was hoping it would last through at least 2010. the problem is when that team fails, someone else has to pick up the pieces. that someone else is kokinis and i think that he is handling it well. sure it would be nice to dump more salary and sign better players, but there is only so much you can do with guaranteed contracts that were written by the idiot that is phil savage. savage was a terrible gm and i hope it doesn't take too long to right the ship that he sent way off course. Geez, I been calling Sewage what he is for four years .....er Sewage.......most of my posts get deleted for getting it correctomundo all along...........HOPE YOU HAVE MORE SUCCESS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich4eagle Posted March 13, 2009 Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 The thing is EVERYONE on this message board knew what was going on with Savage and approved of the moves because most felt it was for the betterment of the team. Hitting FA hard is never the way to go and it seems like you finally have a coach that gets it, at least in the off season. We'll see how it translates to the field but everyone knew what was going on and that Savage was mortgaging the future for wins at the time. Now some are acting like they "had no idea" and it's laughable. Not me bubba, I was chasitizing Sewage for four years.............so everyone is dead as wrong from your assessment...........good ole Rich called Sewage a loser six weeks into his screwing of the browns.....of course the gutless mods here will never relent in hating Rich for getting it almost always and them not getting it almost always this post may disappear soon so read and heed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicopee John Posted March 13, 2009 Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 I really don't see anything different here than you see in many nfl franchises and nothing that different when a new regime takes over. They want THEIR players, and they don't want to overpay for the ones the last guy brought in. Hint: the difference has to do with W's and L's. Success vs. Failure. Pretty simple stuff. Savage is a dunce. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. T Posted March 14, 2009 Report Share Posted March 14, 2009 Awww poor NFL team has to make payroll. Without JJ your punk DA got benched. He didn't have that savy veteran receiver out on the field snagging interference calls from the officials to save DA's inability to get us first downs. Half of DA's success was from JJ and Cribbs returning the ball to midfield, enabling DA to only work with a short field. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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