The Cleveland Browns have responded to reports regarding receiver/kick returner Josh Cribbs’ intent to skip a voluntary minicamp because he believes that the team has not honored a promise to adjust his contract.
And, as a league source tells us, the Browns’ statement is going to cause Cribbs to react even more negatively.
The statement reads: “Contrary to published reports this morning, 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.”
Our source suggested that an additional sentence be added to the statement: “Nor has anyone from the Cleveland Browns ever told the truth about this issue.”
We tend to believe our source on this one. We’ve now been told by multiple sources that Lerner advised Cribbs after the termination of G.M. Phil Savage and coach Romeo Crennel that Cribbs’ contract would be addressed.
Also, the Browns’ statement implicitly confirms our understanding that new G.M. George Kokinis is taking the position that the “current” regime should not be bound by the promises of the former regime.
Where this all leads remains to be seen. In our view, it’s the clearest sign yet that turmoil remains within the Browns organization.
Browns Throw Jet Fuel On The Josh Cribbs Fire
Posted by Mike Florio on May 18, 2009, 1:28 PM EDT
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Latest Stories in: Cleveland Browns, Contracts, New York Jets, Rumor Mill, Top Stories
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Latest Stories in: Cleveland Browns, Contracts, New York Jets, Rumor Mill, Top Stories
48 Responses to “Browns Throw Jet Fuel On The Josh Cribbs Fire”
These guys are giant Douche Nozzles.
Fire them both by week 8!!!!!!!!!!!!!
if this is true free agents are going to flock to cleveland
Josh Cribbs is the heart and soul of this football team. Mangini and Kokinis might not realize that yet, but all of us fans do. If they botch this one, they may never get respect from Browns fans.
This needs to be Fixed Quickly . Cribbs is A Class Act and has Given His Heart & Soul to the Organization . The Man is just A Football player . Get it done Browns . Loyalty runs two ways.
ManKok has been so focused on keeping quiet about what they are thinking/planning in the front office. My opinion is that they should have followed this philosophy and should not post a statement like that. This is something that should have been kept quiet and worked out professionally between the parties involved. No good comes from a back and forth like this in the media.
Only positive results on the field are going to make people not care about ManKok. If they suck, these guys will not be making many friends. They’re not exactly reaching out to fans, but that will be forgotten if the Browns play well. Given how that isn’t exactly likely, ManKok could soon be facing one heck of an uphill battle (forgive the sports cliche).
Just give the guy his money. For Pete’s sake.
He’s one of the few players from the Savage regime that’s even worth a damn, so unless he’s asking for something completely unreasonable – not the picture I get at all – just go to the table with the guy and work it out. And for goodness’ sakes, KEEP IT OUT OF THE PRESS.
Outside of Savage’s poor player choices, the only thing more inept about the Browns’ past regime was their press strategy. It seems to be contagious.
As soon as I saw the statement – on the front page of the Browns’ underwhelming website, I might add – I cringed. What the hell are they doing? That short, curt statement is their response? They really think something like that will win the fans to their side on this? Please.
Good for us….As the Bengals improve they can fight it out and fuss….We are focused on winning and building a TEAM, a team ready to win…Good luck to the Browns….
Whose twitter account is your source?
Regeradless of who said what why on Earth would the Browns NOT want to take a look at Josh Cribbs contract?!
@jwill007 – can’t wait to see on “Hard Knocks” what kind of “team” you have. That’s funny coming from a guy who roots for a team run by Mike Brown, starring a receiver more worried about what’s on his jersey than what he does in it. Keep your eyes on your own house, guy.
If you ask real nicely, you may have the Mantle of Ineptitude that the Bengals management currently has in their trophy case.
Browns 4 Life- he is the heart and soul of the team how?
If the Brown’s defense wasn’t so pathetic, you would hardly ever see the guy on the field returning kicks…
Seeing Cribbs on the field so much should be about as delightful as your Free Safety leading the team in tackles.
It is just the Mangini way of running things, never keep promises and if anyone goes public then deny everything. Having power is better than having success, they should put that as Mangini’s motto.
Cribbs signed a deal before the ’07 season for 6 YEARS! In the ’08 preseason he changed agents and was already asking for a new deal. He’s a return man. Not a shutdown corner that returns kicks. Not a slot receiver that returns kicks. He’s just a return man. Oh, and a kick cover guy. Wow, there aren’t a dozen undrafted free agents every year that are fast and willing to hustle. He signed a deal, had one big year and wanted a new deal. He was lucky they didn’t make him play out his rookie deal before he got the raise he asked for!
The other thing is that you hear this on every team every time there is a new GM or head coach. Didn’t Buffalo get the same BS from Peters and the Jets from Pete Kendall a few years back? Why should new executives be held to promises that the guy escorted out by security made?
who forced cribbs to sign his 6y 6m deal a couple years ago?…my source tells me someone had a gun to his head and forced him to sign it….any new regime is under no obligation to honor anything the prior team leaves behind…my sources tell me florio’s an idiot
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/sortableStats?div=NFL&stable=returning&stat=retKickAvg&stype=nfl-player-stats-kickoff-returning&dir=descending
The guy was great in 07, but from what I see here, he was pretty average at KR and PR…
4M in 4 years is pretty good money for this guy (2M bonus plus his 600K salary the last 3 years and 300k rookie salary in year 1)
The guy wants Devin Hester money! That’s 4/40 with 15 guaranteed. Is anyone here aware that he’s a horrible receiver who didn’t have the same year in 2008 as he did in 2007. Paying him that money is lunacy.
The guy just re-signed in 2007, for six years! WTF? Now its our problem that he’s not happy with it…weak sauce. I love Cribbs, but come on guy, fulfill your contractual obligations.
this kind of thing happens in every team. it just never is made public.
If the guy is a good, productive player and not asking for an outrageous contract why not at least talk, you can always say no. If Lerner really told him it would be addressed this statement by the Browns is an awful slap in the face. Ratgini in action, that’s why the Jets players loved him so much.
See Eagles fans, it’s not just in Philly! It’s a disease, and it’s spreading faster than the swine flu. There’s more confirmed cases of d-bag NFL players whining about their contracts than there are people getting the sickness. When will it stop! Answer: Never.
Way better than the oft injured and departed Winslow; can actually catch the ball unlike “Braying” Edwards; made the Pro Bowl… Cribbs has the work ethic, the proven hands and can play multiple positions including QB. Yet the blind ManKok led Browns can’t see that and are choosing to go “cheap Charlie” with one of the few real talents remaining from the Crennel experiment.
It’s another case of Cribbs not being a ManKok “guy” like all those disgruntled Jets; hence that ignorant diss on the Browns web site.
Lerner must be kicking himself several times a day for hiring the dueling DUMBASSes making up ManKok after all the coaching “gems” became available. One thing he is starting to consistently prove – his football sense is no better than “Art the Fart” Modell.
Cribbs is a difference-maker in the field position game. Pay him.
All of this for a guy who plays SPECIAL TEAMS!!! Same thing with Suan Rogers….if you want to renegotiate your contract every year…SIGN ONE YEAR DEALS!!
1. He isn’t the “leader” of this team.
2. He is a special teams ace…so what…so was Leon Hall….where is he now?
3. Kokonis is the GM….what Mangini has to do with any of this is beyond me.
Florio, your “source” is clearly Tony Grossi….the most bitter sports writer in all of sports because Mangani fired all of his “sources” (Cough) LEAKS (Cough). Do your thing Mankok, NO ONE is above the team. Kellen Winslow thought he was when he went out, got his cack pierced, got Staph then blamed the organization….GONE….banished to Tampa Bay. Want to change the “culture”? Start canning malcontents and let toher teams pay ridiculous contracts for guys who don’t play everydown (Cribbs) or don’t practice EVER (Winslow).
Anyone else unhappy?
Didn’t think so.
@browns_4_life
“Josh Cribbs is the heart and soul of this football team.”
Yikes, you guys have more problems than I thought…
Scientific
I would rather worry about a probowl receiver who is more concerned about their name than any who can’t catch or goes around drunk driving and killing innocent hardworking men…
The key word in that statement was “current”. The implication is that someone, probably Lerner, spoke to Cribbs about his contract but didn’t “promise” anything. That might be true. Here’s the thing. It seems stupid to go out of your way to antagonize a team player especially one who’s taking a haircut for your benefit. You don’t build team chemistry by encouraging asshole behavior. And you certainly don’t do this from the top down. Mangini is building a culture of negativity and blame that looks to derail the organization. I was curious why the Browns were on the ass end of many ranking predictions but now it’s starting to make sense – the writers are just echoing what their sources are feeding them. The Browns are gonna suck next year.
Q: When am I going to start believing my favorite NFL team is NOT totally dysfunctional?
A: As soon as Randy Lerner sells the God Damn team!
“If the Brown’s defense wasn’t so pathetic, you would hardly ever see the guy on the field returning kicks…
Seeing Cribbs on the field so much should be about as delightful as your Free Safety leading the team in tackles.”
Sez “bartholder22″ from the depths of DUMBASSedness.
Cribbs is one of the top 5 of all players remaining on the team – get him signed to some real money for all he does and will continue to do.
Our source suggested that an additional sentence be added to the statement: “Nor has anyone from the Cleveland Browns ever told the truth about this issue.”
BULL!! Your erroneous reporting of rumors of trades and fictional events shows one thing. You have no source. Unless you read the Cleveland Plain Dealer. You are making a mountain out of a mole hill, and you’re not even good at it. If there’s one guy on the Browns that will honor his contract, it’s Josh Cribbs. Having said that, I hope he gets his because he’s a true class guy who busts his butt for the team.
Is that statement an implicit admission that they did make such statements to the other players when with the Jets? They never came out so fiercely against those claims before.
Looks like the Steelers’ marshmellow-soft yearly schedule will stay intact.
(Cleveland / Cincinnati 4 games per year)
Not looking real good for any Browns improvement.
OK, as much as I love Cribbs’ work ethic, what he has done since coming to the Brown’s, etc., there is one tiny little detail that I just can not believe anyone has not pointed out or remembered in all of this….HE SIGNED A CONTRACT! If he was not satisfied w/the one he is under, why in the name of Jim Browns *ss did he sign it? When are these guys going to learn, a contract is a contract is a contract! Re-do his, then the next guy steps up & cries the same way…a la K2? We just got rid of a whiner(for the same reasons) people.
I’ve stated this before and I’ll say it again. I’m not a Browns fan, but geez, I feel sorry for these guys. They are loyal fans who have been consistently F’ed over ever since the Browns ‘came back’ to Cleveland. They play in a tough division where ‘good’ isn’t going to be good enough and it never seems like the team improves. Then when they have a breakout player…, this kind of BS happens.
It’s got to be brutal job selling season ticket packages up there…
Josh Cribbs was 27th in the league for kick return average and 42nd in the league for punt return average. In addition to basically being a nonfactor in the return game, he’s caught 5 balls in the past 2 seasons. Let’s see him be fully integrated and productive on offense or defense before even thinking about giving him a new contract. He hasn’t outplaed this one.
I don’t give a damn if he has the best attitude in the league, if it isn’t matched or exceeded by his production.
@ bartholder22 & Pea Tear Griffin,
If Cribbs isn’t the heart and soul of the Browns then tell me who is. He’s from the DC area but he’s lived in this area long enough that we feel like he’s one of us. He made the team as a walk-on free agent. He’s the kind of blue-collar worker that Cleveland natives can relate to. There’s not one bad thing anybody can say about Josh Cribbs. That’s exactly the kind of player this teams needs.
BTW, Cribbs pulled double duty and returned kickoffs and punts last year. If he’s returning punts, then that means the defense actually got a stop, right?
Fanball58 says:
May 18th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
“If the Brown’s defense wasn’t so pathetic, you would hardly ever see the guy on the field returning kicks…
Seeing Cribbs on the field so much should be about as delightful as your Free Safety leading the team in tackles.”
Sez “bartholder22″ from the depths of DUMBASSedness.
Cribbs is one of the top 5 of all players remaining on the team – get him signed to some real money for all he does and will continue to do.
Wow- your team is really fuct if this guy is one of the Top 5 players remaining on the team– he is good for about 1 catch every 3 games and 25yds a kick return… I say franchise him
BTW- shouldn’t it be dumbassness not dumbassedness? please clarify
BTW- I realize you can franchise a player under contract..
Given the current front office’s tight lipped manner so far, I give this about as much credit as a Tony Grossi article, zero.
@Kaz – Touche. But two things -
1. Edwards can catch. What we’ll find out this year is whether or not he can grow up. Maturity and concentration were the issues, not ability.
2. Stallworth was a Brown for one year, guy. And he didn’t contribute anything, except for perhaps spiking Edwards in the heel in TC and giving him an excuse to play the way that he did. His accident was a tragedy, and I hope he goes to jail. That said – come on. It’s not like there aren’t many Bengals that haven’t done their share of dirt.
@browns_4_life
“If Cribbs isn’t the heart and soul of the Browns then tell me who is.”
Jamal Lewis, Joe Thomas . . .
Mr Cribbs is under contract until 2013. He returns kickoffs and punts. Hardly worth 15 mil guaranteed. As far as the backbone of the team if this is true the browns are worse off than they seem. I can forsee Mankok trading Joshua if he holds out. And I would not blame them. If you sign a contract honor it. All these players holding out for more money I hope these teams would put the hammer down and say either honor your contract or go to work at wal mart.
If I were Cribbs (or his agent) I wouldn’t say peep. There’s like 19 other receivers on the Browns right now that would love to take his place. He might talk himself right out of a starting position. How many other teams out there are going to pay him big bucks when he hasn’t proved himself as a premier Wide Receiver yet? He should use his opportunity to show what he can do as a wideout this year and then demand money. He’s not going to have ANY contract leverage if he sits out 2009!
I love taking a dump on the Browns and Cleveland fans, but this is getting silly. This team is really totally dysfunctional. I thought the Bungles were the worst overall team in the NFL or maybe even the Lions, but the Browns are really giving them a run for their money. The front office shouldn’t even be commenting on the crap. It only makes them look like the petulant losers that they are. And if Joshua Cribbs is the “heart and soul” of the team, it offers a good explanation of why the Browns are so bad. Granted, the dude plays hard, but for goodness sakes, he’s a freaking special teamer. I know the Browns fans are going to slam me and rate this poorly, but as much as I like making fun of you, it is really sad to see just how far the Cleveland franchise has fallen. They’re now being spoken of with the dregs of the NFL and that in itself is a very sad statement.
Not only did he lead the team in Special Teams tackles but don’t forget he was a QB at Kent St. so he could run the Wildcat which is in vouge right now.
cantonborn says:
May 18th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Not only did he lead the team in Special Teams tackles but don’t forget he was a QB at Kent St. so he could run the Wildcat which is in vouge right now.
Hey, I agree. Josh is a special teams guy and he should be paid as such. The wildcat was in vogue last year. Maybe not so much this year. One fact is he wasn’t all that productive from that formation and he’s not a very polished wide receiver. He is one heck of a special teams player, and that’s what he signed his contract for. My point is that there are legitimate issues on both sides. The Browns are not the bad guys here and I resent hack journalist continually implying that they are a bad organization.
Why would the new guys in town re-do his deal? His value is at returner, and the Devin Hesters and Dante Halls of the NFL have shown that you can go from star returner to average in just a couple of years.
Didn’t Mangini just take over as coach? I wonder, did you ever hear of this type of thing on the Jets when Mangini was coach? Oh yeah, yes you did. Seems one of the first things he does as head coach when he walks in the door is make things his way, and screw any promises the team has made to any player. Now maybe they are within their rights to do so, but you would think that Mangini would learn he needs to build player trust instead of tear it down when he walks in the door. That is why no level of talent will ever win for Mangini, because they end up not trusting him, and keep watching for the knife in the back. Poor Ratgini, he will never learn.