DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Browns' Mack on opt-out clause: Winning is important

Browns' Mack on opt-out clause: Winning is important

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By Marc Sessler
Around the NFL Writer
Published: Dec. 24, 2015 at 10:02 a.m.
Updated: Dec. 24, 2015 at 10:24 a.m.

Browns center Alex Mack has the power to opt out of his contract this offseason. Will the Pro Bowl pivot ditch Cleveland for brighter shores?

Here's one gem of a clue:

"I will say that winning is really important to me," Mack said Wednesday, per Mary Kay Cabot of The Plain Dealer.

Mack has the option to opt out after the Browns clumsily placed the transition tag on the mauler after the 2013 campaign. The Jaguars pursued him, furnishing Mack with a five-year, $42 million deal that included a no-trade clause and the option to void the final three years of the pact.

That leaves the Browns vulnerable to lose their top player on offense behind bookend Joe Thomas, although Mack won't say for sure what he plans to do.

"I really like the guys I play with," Mack said. "The other guys on the O-line are great people. They're awesome friends and really good teammates. Like I said, I owe a lot of thanks to them for helping me be a good player."

Still, Cleveland is facing another potential reboot of the coaching staff, which -- if it happens -- would make for Mack's fourth coach since being drafted in 2009. His gritty play and Pro Bowl pedigree will prompt teams with far more in-house stability to come calling.

If he goes, the Browns will be forced to thrust Cameron Erving into action. The first-round lineman was drafted with Mack's exit in mind, but his play has been spotty at best and disastrous in spots for a Cleveland team that can't afford to have another high pick fizzle out. They also can't afford to lose Mack, but that's out of their power now.

Wow. Farmer really destroyed this team.

Don't be a "gloom and doom guy" Mack, we're gonna win ....some day lol

what the heck is he talking about? we've won three times this year

Never too early to pile on and nag a losing team. Has to be easier than covering their upcoming game. Mary Kay gets the assist for this "non-news" article, huh?

The story they want to write.

Disappoints me.

I think it's news-worthy. It's another example of how freaking stupid Farmer is.

I saw a lot of negative posts about Mack this year, but I never saw the justification for that negativity no matter how closely I looked at his play. In fact, the more I watched, the more I saw what a good job Mack was doing.

We will miss him if he leaves. That is news-worthy.

Yeah, Farmer really screwed the pooch this year.

Mack stared slow and I was kind of hoping he would not come around and maybe, just maybe, we could still keep him because on the money on the table.

But he has gotten better every week imo and he will command big bucks from better situiations.... dang it

He will be missed

Hey, we have three wins!!!!!!!!!!!!

For a team so devoid of consistent, above average players, losing a pro bowl center may be a catastrophic blow.

Cam Erving is just a big 315 lb marshmallow and teams already know they can run right through him and do, often. I seriously doubt he can add the strength and learn the techniques he needs to seriously up his game in one off season. Let alone call the line signals!

Without Mack, 2016 could be just as bad, or even worse than 2015 (cringing at the thought of that!)

LOL...........some guys think big bench press numbers trump a guy getting knocked backwards often and even occasionally on his butt.

He gets overpowered where it matters........in real games.

If you are referring to the fact that Farmer used the Transition Tag instead of franchising Mack, then I don't think I can agree.

Mack could have signed the Franchise Tag, then signed a 2nd tag, and then, if the team wanted to keep him without exposing him to the rest of the league, would have had to franchise him again at a tag level equal to (IIRC) the top 10 contracts in the NFL. Not OL contracts on that 3rd tag .... but all contracts. (including QBs)

So, Farmer kept Mack for 2 years, and has a possibility of keeping him beyond. In the end, it is really about the same situation we could have been in anyway.

destroyed? We've been destroyed since 99.. Can't blame Mack leaving on him.

He could always opt out and then resign to get a new signing bonus. I think Browns would have to make him the highest paid center in history to get him to stay though.

His pro-bowl selection just upped his value. He will be a very rich man this time next year, and it won't be here.

I do watch. Too bad you don't stop making things up to protect Farmer's picks.

Are you saying that Farmer was not permitted to give Mack a new contract?

So, you call me out an insult and then get offended when I reply? LMAO........you are a piece of work.

It took me a little while to come around to this thinking but I'm in 100% agreement. He's done more harm than good and he has done some good things.. You just can't fail at ALL your 1st rounders and with the POSSIBLE exception of Manziel (and I do mean just possible)he's failed..

Does anyone know if Mack's "opt out" option is available to him after every remaining off season in his contract?

So...if he stays for next year, can he opt out again this time next year?

Matters not I suppose...he's likely gone and morphs into a 3rd Rd supplemental pick in the future

I don't think Mack has played as well this year as in the past, but I'm willing to chalk it up to his recovery from the leg injury. My hope for his return to form, along with concern with Erving's play makes me wish the Browns would contact his agent today and offer a re-done contract with a healthy increase, call it a "veteran premium". We have the cap space, may as well use it on a productive OL instead of more burned out FA WRs.

I wish we would resign Mack, Gipson, and Schwartz.

It's weird that on a losing team we actually have some good players who should be part of the future and the team just treats them like dog crap. All three of those guys are above average players. Instead they walk and we have to spend valuable resources replacing them when those resources could've been used elsewhere.

This team embodies the term "loser".

I think other FOs just sit back and laugh their arses off at the Cleveland Browns.

Agree with you on Schwartz, but not sure with Gipson. He's played like he wanted to avoid contact this year, imo.

Up in the air on Gipson !

Not at all. That is not what I said.

If Mack was determined to leave, as it sounds he is, then it does not matter if we franchised him, or transitioned him.

In a way, we might have got what we wanted, in that we got Mack for 2 years at a "reasonable" rate.

If we had franchised Mack, and he was determined to leave, then he would have signed the tag, and played. If he was still determined to leave, then he would have signed a 2nd tag, and played. Then, unless the team wanted to pay him a contract that equals the average of the top 10 contracts in the NFL, (IIRC) then they would have to have let him walk anyway.

The Browns got a chance to convince Mack to stay, and it appears that they have failed. They had a chance to show that things are turning around, and whether we had franchised Mack twice, or not, he would still be leaving after this season.

Now I admit that there is a possibility that Mack might have signed a long term deal here if he had been franchised, but it seems unlikely, given his desire to play for a winner, and the fact that he was almost 28 the 1st time he was tagged. Would he have signed a 4 or 5 year deal, taking him past his 32nd or 33rd birthday, if he was unsure of the direction of the team? I find it unlikely to think he would have.

I think Gipson is getting a bad rap this year.

I also think Farmer is partly to blame for Gipson's performance. I get the argument that Gipson should be playing his arse off because he's playing for his next contract. I also think the way the FO treated him is in his head a little. Some say that makes him not mentally strong enough. I say it makes him human.

The Browns cannot afford to let good, young, home grown talent walk. This is an unstable organization that needs to do things to "stabilize", not make matters worse. If you're the Patriots you can afford to let a guy like Gipson walk. Not if you're the Browns.

I think it is absolutely deplorable the way Farmer has handled our own. The sucky part is Farmer will get to collect the rest of his millions sitting on a beach somewhere while the fans will pay for his actions.

I would rather resign Greco and Schwartz than continue giving Mack 8 mil a year.

I agree w/you about Mack, Gipson, and Schwartz. Three good players that have a lot of mileage left. Those are the types of guys you should keep.

I hope we fire Farmer before it's too late and we lose all three.

Oo and I am not saying I dont want mack back but I just feel Grecco and Schwartz are the more talented players. those 2 were having outstanding years before John went down with the injury. Probably the best right side we have had since the return.

I really can't understand how many people don't see how well Mack is playing. Confounding.

He has been decent but its been far from a probowl year. I know he is still getting strength back from rehabbing the injury but this has been the worst year he has had in probably the last 4. When you see a guy play at an epic level last year before the injury and compare to that, it is why many arent seeing the quality of his play. He was really balling last year.

Also I really wanted to give special props to Grecco and Schwartz for the year those 2 had. Until Grecco went down, that right side of our line was as good as anyone's in football. Everyone is talking about Schwartz a FA and Mack can walk but I believe Grecco is a FA as well.

We aren't FORCED to play Erving. We could actually draft a center next April.

If Mack wants to leave, he should leave. I'd rather have him gone than have him stay and half ass it. I didn't think he played all that great this season. Could have been the injury still bothering him. Could be playing for this lousy staff.... Either way, we need to move on as he will surely do. Find us another center. Erving is NOT the answer.

We will see how much winning means to him by what team he signs with. Will he sign with the Patriots for a very low salary so he can play for a winner? Or will he sign with the team that gives him the most money regardless of winning? I'd bet on the money side....

he said he wanted to go somewhere to win and he signed with the freaking Jags. Winning was really important to him lol.

I wouldn't put all that on Mack. He's going to have his agent trying to push him into more money regardless of winning so the agent can make more money. Look how well the agent played this the last time. He got Jax to give him that contract we had to match where he got the out clause and now he gets to go to the well again. Anything Mack says right now is just posturing.