The Bucs give Kellen Winslow $20 million

NFL teams occasionally do things that make you sit up and say, "What?"

So it goes with the Tampa Bay Bucs, who Monday signed ex-Browns tight end Kellen Winslow to a six-year contract extension that makes Winslow the highest paid tight end in NFL history. This of course is their right. As Americans, we all have the right to be wrong and to give outrageous sums of money to a guy who has been playing on one knee and basically complained his way out of Cleveland after his team stood by him when he nearly ended his career with a reckless motorcycle accident.

The highest paid tight end ever. Chew on that over your Wheaties for a few seconds.

Let's say this first: Winslow is a gamer. He showed up on Sunday. Until last season, when his desire for this new contract (in my opinion) got in the way of things. But … Winslow also made no secret the past few years that he didn't like his contract as structured after his motorcycle accident, and he chafed any time it appeared he might not hit the incentives in his contract. In Romeo Crennel's first season, he was the first to publicly complain about Maurice Carthon's offense. It came across as trying to make the offense better, but Winslow privately mumbled something shortly after about not getting his catches, which meant not getting the incentives the Browns put in his contract after the motorcycle accident. As a coach once said to me, "When they say it's not about the money, it's about the money."

Last season Winslow chafed as Derek Anderson and the offense struggled. He asked to be traded, but wasn't. He then caught 10 passes from Brady Quinn in Quinn's first start as Denver's woeful defense dropped 30 yards deep and gave Quinn underneath routes. Winslow suddenly wanted to stay. He liked Quinn.

As for routes, Winslow's philosophy sometimes was to run to the open area, never mind that his route called him for him to stop or cut out or be somewhere else. It's something he developed at the University of Miami, where he and Ken Dorsey created a rapport. Winslow's thinking was that the quarterback should see what he saw, read things and get the ball to where he was going. This is all well and good and it may have worked in college, but it can't work in the NFL because the quarterback doesn't have time to mess around lest he be killed.

I've said this often, but Bernie Kosar told me a long time ago the quarterback's job in the NFL is to throw to the spot, that there is no time for anything else. The receiver's job, he said, is to win and get to the spot. It's why Kosar had such timing with his receivers. He didn't wait, because he knew he couldn't. For Winslow to expect the quarterback to wait, read and guess where he'd be running just wasn't realistic.

Winslow did a lot for the Browns. He played through pain, and he showed toughness. For a long time, I thought he was the kind of guy a team wins with. But things unraveled last season. So the new regime traded him and got two good draft picks for him. Winslow asked for the trade a long time ago and didn't get it. When he didn't, he knew he could make waves and get out of town that way. Did it work? Guys have gone to jail on less circumstantial evidence.

Now he signs a contract that contains no bonuses but includes $20 million in guaranteed money, according to every report about the deal. Nobody knows how these contracts are structured, but if I'm Winslow's agents it's in my interest to make sure these numbers get out because a deal like this will impress other players and entice them to sign up as well.

Set aside the attitude, which I admit can be debated. Winslow's knee is not exactly in great shape. Guys who have microfracture surgery usually don't last more than a few years. A lot of people in the NFL will be shocked if Winslow plays three more years, let alone the six on the contract. Yes, contracts are often not completed, but the $20 million guaranteed is still there.

It paid off for Winslow to leave Cleveland, no matter how he did it. It also paid off for Winslow to switch agents from the Postons to the Rosenhauses. They get deals, sometimes in ways that are not popular. But they get deals.

As for Winslow … well …he got what he wanted. He got paid. Now we'll see how he likes catching passes from Brian Griese, Josh Johnson and Luke McCown.

Time will reveal what the Bucs gain.

Tagged as: Cleveland Browns, Kellen Winslow