There’s plenty of time to go before Browns cornerback Joe Haden’s contract expires after the 2014 season, but the Browns and Haden’s representatives are continuing the extension discussions that they started back in February.
Haden wants to remain in Cleveland and says that the team’s brass has sent him the message that they want him to remain around, which is a good starting place for any negotiation. Eager though he may be to get a deal done, Haden plans to let that negotiation take its course while he focuses on football.
“I’m just trying to ball,” Haden said, via the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “The business thing, it is a business and everybody has to understand that, too. The team wants to do what they got to do. Players are going to do what they want to do, so I’m just trying to ball right now. I’ve got a really good agent and he’s handling that part.”
Haden is playing for his fourth different head coach and third front office regime since the Browns made him a first-round choice in 2010, but he has been one of the few bright spots for the team through all of those changes. Whether it is with a new deal or via a tag next year, we’d expect that continues for at least two more seasons.