Josh Cribbs should be paid.
How much he should be paid, I don't know. He's a very valuable and talented player. If anyone deserves a re-worked deal it's him. There's no problem with him asking.
And … if the Browns really said their latest offer is their final offer (as claimed by the Cribbs camp) … well I don't agree with that approach. No offer is ever final until it's agreed upon. That's why it's called a negotiation.
But … expecting Mike Holmgren to drop the GM search and coaching decision to re-do this deal when the opening game is nine months off is just silly.
So is making a threat about not playing a game when the game is in September and it's now … umm … January. In fact, it's ridiculous.
Again, Cribbs deserves to be paid, but what's he gonna miss the next few months?
Talk about empty threats.
There is plenty of time to work this out. For anyone to do conniptions now over this latest public posturing by Cribbs and his agent is ludicrous. How many hundred times are we going to hear and read about a guy being insulted and taking his stuff and going home and holding his breath and turning blue only to see it work out in the end before we realize it's all the nonsense that goes with contract talks?
If Cribbs has a contract issue come minicamp, well then there's a small problem.
If Cribbs has the same issue come training camp, it's a bigger problem.
If Cribbs is not on the field for opening day, then it's a real problem that you'd think could and should have been solved.
But last I looked, opening game is nine months from now.
I think there's time to work it out.
Cribb's agent should pull it back from the brink. And Red Dawn should talk a walk and clear her head.
Holmgren just found out where the coffee machine is located.
Calm down everybody!!
I think after he negotiates a new deal, someone needs to hold an intervention and get him a new agent. This guy is an amateur.
When you've got the clout and the track record of tools like Scott Boras and Drew Rosenhaus, you can start acting that way, but this no-name needs to turn it down from 11 to about a 4 and be realistic.
Hey Scott,
I agree with you that the agent must pull this back, but this smells suspiciously like it is agent-driven in the 1st place. This guy must be a complete idiot (aren't most agents) if he is going to throw a tantrum like this to try to move up Holmgren's To-Do list.
Remember, a lot of agents are what? LAWWWWWWYYYYYEERRRRRS. As the great Stan Lee says, "'Nuff Said".
Elizabeth,
Guess I should have read your post first. Well said. This guy isn't doing any of his clients favors through these actions.
Sure, chill, but god forbid I log on and see "Browns trade disgruntled Cribbs" before minicamp even starts.
Cribbs has been shat on by several different regimes now. Yeah, I agree that any contract with the word million in it shows just how out of whack our society's priorities are, but that is just reality, and we have to deal with reality no matter how distasteful it may be.
That extension they signed him to was a hook-job from the get-go, and everyone but Cribbs and his moronic ex-agents knew it. He had out performed that extension even before it kicked in (and I mean he out performed the ENTIRE dollar amount of the full extension during the very next season). Cribbs has the most legitimate beef of any athlete I've ever heard complain about money, yet he's done the least amount of complaining of any athlete I've ever heard complain about money—so pardon me if I come down completely on his side.
That Mangini didn't tear up the deal already and get a new one done is just another reason that bozo has to go. This is just another problem he created/exacerbated since he's been here. That there are something like nine kick returners (none of whom is also their team's top coverage guy and one of the team's only offensive threats) making more money than what Cribbs would make under the "raise" they have offered him is ludicrous.
In no other business does the phrase "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" apply as much as it does in pro sports. Personally, if I had been Cribbs, I'd have held out this year. And then if the Browns really told him that he'd have a new deal signed and sealed by the end of the season, then ignored the calls and emails from his agents asking WTF was going on when that didn't happen, then Cribbs has every right to bitch to the high heavens right now.
Because I'll guarentee you one thing: no matter who the Browns pick up in trades, the draft or free agency this off season, come September Josh Cribbs will still be the best player on the team, and the most valuable player on the team.
Let's face it, our RB ran for a 286 yards in KC, yet we don't even come close to winning that game without Cribbs massive contribution. 286 yards from your tailback, yet we still needed Cribbs to return not one but two kickoffs for TD's in order to pull that one out.
PAY. THE. MAN. NOW!!!!
Holmgren's had three weeks to make one phone call and he has apparently not done so. I'd sure be pissed if I were Cribbs, and the ONLY thing a player can do is to go public and threaten to hold out. It's his only option. And better to start too early than too late, which is the mistake he made this past season. He waited far too long, then couldn't bring himself to actually walk out on the team once training camp started and no new deal was forthcoming.
So, considering he seems like a decent guy, if I were his agent I'd have been pushing him to start psyching himself up for a holdout six minutes after the final game ended, too.
I would say that the vast majority of Fans would give him a raise…After AFTER Hellomgren got an office to work out of and a parking spot …..I think Big Show might have waited a lil before giving a low offer ….that said it would be a shame if a player who likes it here the fans like and is good gets treated like a street free agent ……relax Josh you will get the Jackpot before spring….GO CAVS!!!!!!!!!!
To make a point to both Cribbs' agent and to every other agent out there who thinks the new regime can be played like a fiddle, Holmgren should draft a special teams return specialist. And then call up Mrs. Cribbs and ask her what she thinks about having her husband laying around the house like a Saint Bernard all day and all night. That deal would get done faster than you can say, "GET OFF THE DAMN COUCH!"
Yeah, Alan, that would work out so very well for us. I can just see the joy in the fans faces when we announce we have suspended Cribbs in favor of Rookie X, our new kick returner/coverage guy/running back.
Man, how is it the Browns have not hired you to run both the personnel and PR departments yet?
Miguel, fame is fleeting. The joy in the fans' faces? Nobody cares who's doing the job. You really think anybody cares whose name is on the back of the jersey? If Usain Bolt put on some muscle and learned how to catch a football, you don't think everybody would say, "Josh who?" All they need is a return guy. They really ain't all that hard to find.
By the way, take out the yardage on Cribbs' returns for TD on kickoff returns, and his career average really ain't all that fab. He's good, but he's nothing to have bronzed.
Dante Hall was a starting wide receiver that played every down. Joshua Cribbs is a novelty toy. It's silly this Cribbs thing is even open for debate.
Let me play the devils advocate here. Say 1.4 Million was the final offer. What can Josh Cribbs do? He IS under contract for 3 more years for a much lesser amount.
The public says he needs a raise. Holmgren says he needs a raise. Mangini says he needs a raise. So the Cribbs camp sets a deadline that the Browns are clearly unable or unwilling to meet. So the Cribbs camp starts making threats. Josh cleans out his locker. Goes on TV. Hits Twitter.
His agent says they are insulted. Starts throwing around figures of 2.5 million being the bottom line…for a guy already under contract for three more years! Then he pulls out the big gun 9 months before the kick off of the 2010 season! He asked for a trade! Went nuclear on day 1! My question for agent man is this; What if the Browns ignore him?
Mini camp comes and Cribbs sits at home. He loses incentive money. Training Camp comes and Cribbs sits out and he starts racking up fines. Regular season starts and he starts losing game checks.
Meanwhile Harrison starts fielding punts and kickoffs and like magic, he too looks untouchable going all the way several times in the first 5 games. Could it be that the other 10 guys on the field play a much bigger part in the success of the returner than anyone was ever willing to admit? Finally Cribbs reports to the team, attempting to end his holdout and the team suspends him for violating his contract.
Cribbs appeals but the NFL upholds the suspension and 2010 is a lost year for Josh Cribbs. Harrison is the new darling of the kick and punt teams.
Does anyone remember when Jim Brown wanted to come back from retirement to play for the Raiders and Modell would not release him from his contract to do it? It's the same scenario for Cribbs. He'll be forced to retire if he don't play for the Browns.
I can't believe what an idiot this guy is. How many people are out there that will resent him for this? As someone who deals with advertising quite a bit, this will hurt his marketability. Anyone thinking of using him in a marketing campaign would have to think twice because of the backlash.
The average guy making 30,000 a year hearing that he turned down a 400,000 pay raise will do a little math pretty quickly in his head and say I don't like this guy. Never mind the fact that Cribbs already makes more in 1 year than what a guy making 30,000 will make in 33 years.
This is going to turn on him pretty quickly. His agents are idiots and he is one too for following their lead. But then again the tweets his wife was doing during the KC game…somebody should have told her to keep her opinion to herself. The stupidity factor. Sometimes you just can't save some people from themselves.
Cribbs deserves to have his contract redone — but will they ever agree on how much? After Hester got 40 million, Cribbs began to make noise about what he was getting. As he continued to stand out on special teams, the fans agreed he deserves a raise.
But for how many years and for how much. If he's given 4 million for 5 years, that's only half what he's wanted in the past — and 2 to 3 million per year seems more in line with other contracts. The signing bonus would be the sticking point, though, as he must want a lot — like $10 or $20 million up front … and, although the signing bonus is spread over the life of the contract in salary cap equations, the remainder comes out the year he's traded or is cut or is injured and retires. His effectiveness may not last 5 more years.
I hope he'll settle for a contract of a total of $15 to $20 million, because I don't see Holmgren giving him more this first year, anyway. And maybe it _will_ take until March for Holmgren to know what he can and what he wants to spend on Cribbs to where they can deal.
Keith, $15 to $20 million would be ridiculous. Far and away the most expensive special teams contract in history. The guy lines up behind Alex Mack's pasty white butt five times a game, and suddenly he's Jim Thorpe. He can't throw, he can't catch, put him in a regular running back formation, and I'll bet he can't run, either. The guy deserves what Brendon Ayanbadejo got, who also occasionally moonlights at backup linebacker. That averages out to about $1.25 million a year. Anything even remotely close to $3 million a year is preposterous.
hey alan, looks like another one of your predictions is closer to reality.
reports are…mangini is staying. expect a walrus on the sidelines in 2012.
here's a yahoo article that i know will crack up brian and others…
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=Ar3jYBTaWVe6GWru2JHBuGUdsLYF?slug=jc-edwardsescape010710&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
Cribbs is a very good player. But, he isn't the entire team. I don't know if it's him or his amateur agent, but you can't ask for the world. You did sign a contract.
You need to honor that contract. Is he worth more money, sure he is. But, $700,000 per year is not welfare. I have to make it on a measley $40,000 per year. In this day and age with the economy the way it is any increase in slary is good. Suck it up Cribbs. You won't go bankrupt. Honor your contract and then push for a new one. If you hold out, you are a loser. That would mean that money is more important than the team and the game to you.
Scott, but it's not $700K a year. He got a signing bonus up front. Granted, there is some inflation involved in six years, so $6.7 million isn't really the same $6.7 million at the end of six years that it was at the beginning, but that's still more than $700K a year. And the signing bonus part was not subject to inflation. For a special-teams guy, and he's already being paid like a top special-teams guy. But on the Browns, Cribbs is like a wedding ring an infant swallowed, the turd-encrusted little diamond in your kid's poop.
As far as I'm concerned, Cribbs situation should have been number one on Holmgren's list. Has he made a phone call or not? I sure hope he has. If not, he is not sending a very good message to players or fans. Mangini keeps his job only because of Cribbs' performance. Not only is he the best player on the field, he's one of the best in the NFL. He will get paid, and if not here, then somebody will see the value. Go get your money Josh…u deserve it!!!!
terje, let's see how Braylon feels about the Jets when they don't offer him the contract he thinks he is worth.
Mangini stays and Heckert has reportedly cancelled his trip to Seattle.
Looks like the new/old regime is pretty much finalized.
i'm not that big on braylon and the jets. that's larry's deal. he's the one pumped on "the other team mangenius built". too bad fredo was coach of the browns while he was building the jets.
Alan, I get your point — but Cribbs said/implied/let his agent imply something along the lines of Hester's contract made Cribbs' contract unfair. Now they are saying 1.4 million is an insult, that 2.5 million as a first offer is more in line with something they can work with.
So, I'm thinking that maybe Holmgren would go 2 million for 5 years (and a 5 million signing bonus), which would only put Cribbs in top 5 to 10 money … which seems fair to me (although I'm not sure he'll still be a top 5 returner in 5 years, but he can be cut, too). That, though, only adds up to a $15 million offer — and at best they might only squeeze out another $5 million, I'd surmise … which would only get it up to half Hester money!
Hester? It's a ridiculous and totally bogus comparison they're using. Never mind the Hester contract is horrific in a partially non-guaranteed but Larry Hughes/Zydrunas Ilgauskas kind of way, which means just because one person was given a stupid contract that isn't true market doesn't mean the next contract should be just as stupid, it's not even a valid comparison. Hester is an every down player. Always on the field when the offense is out there. Where's Cribbs when he's not playing on special teams? Usually sitting on the bench. Why? Because he belongs there.
The valid comparison is a Pro Bowl special teams guy that very occasionally plays a second position only as necessary. That describes Brendon Ayanbadejo, who also wanted to be the highest paid special teams guy in the league.
I'm kind of in the line of thinking of Keith on this one, but with a slight revision. If I were the Browns, I would offer him a one-year contract extension for 5 million, non-guaranteed (only gets if he makes 53-man roster) with a 10 million signing bonus. He would keep his current $620,000 salary over the next 3 years. Thus, if you spread the 10 million over the next 3 years of the contract, that would be the equivalent of him making approx 4 million a year for the next 3 years ($10,000,000/3 = 3.3 million + 620K). If he's still productive after the next 3 years, he should have no problem making the roster in 2013 and getting the 5 million for that year. If he blows out his knee next season and is done for his career, he has 10 million in the bank. Sounds fair to me.