Cribbs gives trade request

[YtownBrownsBacker]

I'm with Cribbs on everything, except he should show up and do the camps while he irons this out. And it will get ironed out. And he will be returning kicks for us this year.

 

Not a big story IMO ... but it's the off-season so what else do we have to talk about ... beats another QB thread I guess.

 

Zombo

 

You hit the nail on the head....................................It isn't as big of a deal as many are making it.

 

No different then Dawson or Jackson or 100 guys from other teams that want new contracts. He is under contract and will be playing for the Browns or not playing, but I would expect it will get done unless he backs the team in a corner and is too unreasonable.

 

He signed a contract as a UDFA, he out played that contract and signed another contract and got guaranteed money of $2 million up front and that was only two years ago. So, he has reaped about $3.6 million out of that second contract in two years. He has out performed what's left on that contract, but he has already been paid some good money up front for a special teams player. I'd say they will take care of him, maybe after this season, which will be after 3 years of the 6 year contract he signed. What he should be concerned about is that he doesn't cut off his nose to spite his face. As a WR or DB + STer he could be looking at a nicer contract. If he holds out and doesn't get any reps at WR or DB then he is a special teamer only and that doesn't merit the same kind of money IMO.

[lemosley01]

Millionaires say funny things sometimes. Especially ones that get to play sports for a living.

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And EVERYONE deserves to make the kind of money doctors and lawyers make.

 

Gee, Josh, most people don't make in their entire lives what you have made in TWO years, yet they are somehow able to survive. There is life (and jobs) after football.

 

Cry me a xxxxing river.

[Vegasdogg]

Pay the man. He deserves it with his unselfish attitude. I am willing to bet a promise was made but the old FO, and that Kokinis is just waiting for the right time to sign a deal.

[2yy4u]

Josh Cribbs just needs to go Elliot Spitzer style and change sides....time to join the defense JC! Cribbs would be a great safety....dude would be knocking fools out like he's Roy Jones Jr in the 90s. Cribbs has unfortuneately been a bystandard of the systems that he's been in throughout his career. Remember back in pee-wee when the most athletic was the QB, well that's what happend to him at Kent State and that stigma that he was merely intended for offense stuck on his ass. He's practically been begging to be placed there, think about it-he can make plays when he has the ball, but drops passes that the best receivers catch. On special teams he's jacking mofo's like Bobby on Whitney. In Mangini's inteview today, he even stated that Cribbs is claiming that he wants Mangini to quiz him b/c he's already learned several defenses down pat...he has football intelligence, and Mangini has to love the thought of having another smart guy out there...that's exactly why he didn't bite on Mauluga when he was still there in the 2nd, I mean the guy only got a 2 on the Wonderlic(get 3 points for spelling your name correctly on the sheet-that's where he messed up). Clearly Cribbs in an athlete....let's give him the chance to show that he can also be the quarterback on the defensive side of the ball. With all that said, he could ultimately still be utilized on the kicking teams too...there are certainly other defensive backs out there that return kicks as well.

 

What makes me think this may actually be possible is the fact that Mangini seems particularly high on doing his own evalutaion of players, running them through his own process to determine where each guys skill set is going to fit into his system and what he and the coaches are trying to accomplish as a unit. The man seems more organized than my ugly ass secretary(always a must, just so I'm able to work at work). Mangini is actually Johnny Facts 'n' Stats, keeper of the pocket protector...Manigini has actually turned football into a science somewhat with his approach and honestly I love it....the team will have balance and will be as good or better mentally prepared come the beginning of the season than any other team. He is bringing about a key component to any winning team and that is "accountability". Accountability is the most important thing that can be established at any point in a teams season or in running a business and that's the mentality that he is putting in these players minds. Having to know things like he stated in his intervies like for example, knowing the routes and duties on every play, every player, like you've got the memory skills of Rainman. The only problem with Mangini being a nerd-like coach is that means we will need a motivator on the field and in the locker room in a player. Gonna have to find our Ray Lewis like(minus the whole murder thing) motivator/coach/player to lead this team emotionally, or will uber son Rex Ryan fill that void?!

 

I like what I'm hearing from Mangini and I think that they are gonna place Cribbs where he can benefit the TEAM the most and that is on the field...not fighting over money. Pay the man, let him get back to being the guy that is a role model on and off the field...this guy has put his effort into it like he's Evander Holeyfield, taking blows, and even brain damage, and still gets back up in pursuit of the ultimate goal...win, of course The Real Deal needed to feed his 43 kids too!!!!

[Dan in Florida]

Passan: Some Advice for Josh Cribbs

Rich Passan - theOBR.com

May 23, 2009

 

As the standoff with Josh Cribbs enters its second week, Rich Passan offers his thoughts on the player's approach. Sage counsel from a man who has seen many-a-contract dispute.

 

 

On the surface, it seemed like a little spat, a small disagreement between two sides that would be remedied quickly.

 

And just as quickly, it spiraled out of control and didn’t have to.

 

Because of it, the Browns were forced to issue a statement regarding the club’s contract – let’s call it a misunderstanding for now – with return specialist Joshua Cribbs.

 

Cribbs insisted the club, specifically owner Randy Lerner, promised to take care of his contract, i.e. renegotiate since he has outperformed it. The Browns begged to differ, issuing the following statement:

 

“Contrary to published reports . . . no one from the current Browns organization, including owner Randy Lerner, has ever made any promises to Josh Cribbs with regard to his contract status.”

 

Now, we wander into the jungle world of semantics. Use of the words “current Browns organization” entails the likes of Eric Mangini and George Kokinis and that part very well might be true. And “contract status” covers a broad range of possibilities.

 

Mangini and Kokinis obviously don’t place Cribbs on the same pedestal as the previous regime (Phil Savage and Romeo Crennel). Why else would they recruit free-agent Chris Carr, a return specialist, during this offseason?

 

The new Cleveland duo might be able to work wonders in the personnel department, but it also appears as though they also have considerable clout with an owner whose reputation of being truthful is being severely tested.

 

When “including owner Randy Lerner” is invoked, the Browns’ statement takes on an entirely different meaning. When the top man in the organization permits his name to be attached to the statement, that’s getting serious.

 

It has become the word of a player unhappy with his contract because he has outplayed it against an owner whose memory is either selective, failing or spot on. Then again, with apologies to Roger Clemens, maybe Lerner misremembered.

 

We have a football player who gladly signed an exquisitely club-friendly six-year contract (actually a series of six one-year contracts) a couple of years ago. After all, he was signed as a free agent out of Kent State and was thrilled the club thought that highly of him to offer a pro contract.

 

Nothing was guaranteed except the signing bonus and a few other lesser bonuses. No one put a weapon to Cribbs’ head and demanded he sign the contract two years ago. He did so willingly. He couldn’t have been happier. If there’s anyone to blame here, Cribbs should stare at the nearest mirror.

 

He went out and more than justified the money in the contract. He was elected to the Pro Bowl in 2007 and was extremely instrumental in helping his team shock the National Football League with a 10-6 record.

 

Now, he wants to tear up that pact with four years left. He wants a bump in salary commensurate with his contributions to the team. (Just wondering . . . could the club have demanded some money back had Cribbs not played well? Rhetorical question.)

 

Accusations have flown back and forth between the two camps and both are staunch in refuting the other. The Browns have all but come out and labeled Cribbs a liar when he suggested Lerner promised him in a telephone call on the team bus following last season’s final game that he “would be taken care of” with regard to his contract following the college draft.

 

Someone’s not telling the truth and it had better be the Cribbs faction or else the Browns are in deep trouble. There a few things more harmful to a team’s success than an owner who plays fast and loose with the truth with his players.

 

Either Lerner made that call to Cribbs or the player has a hell of an imagination.

 

Either way, it appears as though the owner is throwing Cribbs under a bus and not necessarily the one on which he allegedly took that call.

 

Now Cribbs has come out with a public statement regarding the situation entitled, according to ProFootballTalk.com, “Josh Cribbs’ Statement in His Own Words.” Bad move. It is poorly written, poorly thought out and immature. It serves no other purpose than to exacerbate the situation.

 

Within the context of that statement is this ludicrous assertion: “If we are lucky, we get 10 years at best to make all the money we can to last the rest of our life.”

 

The rest of our life? Does that mean that when his playing days are over, Cribbs plans on doing nothing? Just sit back and live on the money he’s made? This guy is getting some bad advice.

 

“This is not personal, but I have to be a man and take care of my family for not just a year or two, but for as long as I am walking on this earth.” How is he going to take care of that family? By lounging around and dipping into the money he made as a professional football player for the rest of his life?

 

“I want nothing more but to wear the Browns’ logo on my chest until my career has come to an end and I am deeply disappointed that the team I put my hard work, blood, sweat and tears in (sic) will just write me off as though I am collateral damage.”

 

Collateral damage? Is this war? Have any lives been lost? Talk about being melodramatic.

 

With statements like that, Cribbs is going to lose an awful lot of credibility with the plug-uglies who will never earn as much he does now; who won’t earn as much in their lifetimes as he did when he signed that contract.

 

Here’s a piece of unsolicited advice for Cribbs. Don’t listen to your handlers. Seek the wisdom of those who preceded you, those retired players who have a much better understanding of life after football.

 

Talk with them and let them show you how unwise you are in your thinking. Let them show you there’s much more to life than football and that the separation between the two can be awfully hard from a psychological standpoint.

 

I don’t know if Cribbs has a graduate degree, but if he doesn’t, it might be a good idea to go back to college, get that degree, then go out and see what the real world is like. Go out and see what the average Joe makes and get some perspective. Go out and see what you do for a living now is a privilege, not an entitlement.

 

Understand that you have already made more money in your brief four years with the Browns than most people will make in their professional lifetime.

 

You’ve got your whole life in front of you. Believe it or not, there is life after football. And you’ve got a damn good head start monetarily on that life.

 

What, then, should Cribbs have done? Remained silent, that’s what. Take the high road and be a bigger man because of it. That would have saved him and the club more embarrassment.

 

The dispute, not surprisingly, has spawned the overwrought pay-me-or-trade-me talk. That’s nothing more than posturing and should not be taken seriously. Cribbs isn’t going anywhere but back to receive the opening kickoff for the Browns in September.

 

Should the Browns buckle – if they do, it will set a very dangerous precedent – and Cribbs signs a new contract and outperforms that one in two years, then what? Here we go again? It’s got to end somewhere.

 

And when this whole unfortunate mess is over, it’ll have a Shakespearean beginning (Much Ado About Nothing) and a Shakespearean conclusion (All’s Well That Ends Well) with a lot of rhetorical nonsense in between.

 

This isn’t any different than what the Arizona Cardinals are going through currently with wide receiver Anquan Boldin, who happens to be significantly more talented and valuable than Cribbs.

 

When the Cardinals rewarded fellow wideout Larry Fitzgerald with a $10 million-a-year contract last year, Boldin, who still had three years left on his pact, wanted to renegotiate.

 

Reportedly, the Cardinals told him not to worry, that he’d be taken care of, or words to that effect. When they didn’t, Boldin asked to be traded. Bitched and moaned. Sat out minicamp.

 

Sound familiar?

 

Eventually, Boldin reported to training camp and had a great 2008 season. Why? Because he’s a professional.

 

So is Cribbs.

 

link

[hammertime]

Damn dan that was long, but good.