DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum DA may be tendered; Lewis up in the air (articles)

I don't know if these deserved their own thread but I'll post and then see what happens....

Cleveland Browns may give Derek Anderson highest tender
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Tony GrossiPlain Dealer Reporter

Phil Savage holds all the cards in the poker game that involves the careers of quarterbacks Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn, and the immediate future of the Browns.

On Wednesday, the Browns' general manager laid one of them down.

For the first time publicly, Savage said he is leaning toward giving restricted free agent Anderson the highest contract tender after the season. The tender of $2.562 million would guarantee the Browns first- and third-round draft choices if a QB-hungry team offered Anderson a long-term contract to be its starter.

If Anderson stayed through 2008, he could then become an unrestricted free agent in 2009. Savage said he would not be inclined to negotiate a trade for lower terms, as Atlanta did with Matt Schaub last season. The Falcons initially gave Schaub the highest tender and then traded him to Houston for two second-round picks and an exchange of their first-round choices in 2007.

"I think we'd be most comfortable with that 1-and-3 scenario rather than doing something less than that," Savage said. "Then you have to have a suitor. You've got to have somebody out there that's wanting not only to give up picks but to pay a lot of money. And sometimes that can be a double-dip."

After trading for Schaub, Houston signed him for $48 million over six years, including a $7 million bonus.

Anderson currently is making the NFL minimum salary of $435,000 for a third-year player.

Anderson has piloted the Browns to seven wins in his 10 starts (they are 7-4 overall).

He is tied with Brett Favre for fourth in the NFL with 22 touchdown passes. He is 11th with an 89.5 passer rating.

He is the trigger man of the highest-scoring team in Browns history and finds himself at the throttle of the most compelling rags-to-riches team story of the NFL season.

"He's done an excellent job overall," Savage said. "There have been some wobbly moments, some times when you wonder what's happening here. But at the end of games - with no timeouts, backs against wall, do-or-die situations - he's hit the key passes. That's something you can't really coach. Some of it's instinctual, and some of it is just his personality. It's a good trait to have."

Savage said with a laugh that after almost every Browns win he receives a text message from David Dunn, Anderson's agent.

So there is obviously a desire on Dunn's part to talk about a long-term contract.

"I wouldn't say that's out of the realm, without a doubt," Savage said.

But signing Anderson long term further postpones the development of Quinn, for whom the Browns gave up a second-round pick and next year's No. 1 to Dallas.

Is there room for both Anderson and Quinn over the long haul?

"That's a good question," Quinn said. "The funny thing about it is, I've obviously learned through this whole process that you have to take things one day at a time. That's how this league is, that's how my life's been throughout this past year now, so that's the way I'm taking things."

Savage said he and the coaches are comfortable with playing Quinn during this playoff stretch if needed. Asked how he thinks Quinn would do in the still-developing Rob Chudzinski offense, Savage didn't hesitate.

"I think Brady would plug in and do well," he said. "It's a pretty enviable cockpit to be riding in right now. You've got a pretty solid front line, got a very motivated Kellen Winslow, you've got Braylon Edwards making the catches that he's made on the perimeter, Joe Jurevicius, a pretty solid running game. I think Brady would do well."

Anderson declined to comment on his thoughts about the future.

"I'm not going to go there right now," he said. "That stuff will take care of itself when the season's over. Right now we're just trying to stay focused."

At the beginning of the year, national publications ranked the Browns' quarterback situation the worst in the league. Now they are the envy of some in the league, blessed with two young guns.

"It's a quarterback-driven league," Savage said. "Everybody feels like they have to have one. We feel we have two, plus Ken Dorsey. Hopefully, we'll be able to maintain that continuity over the next few months, maybe the next few seasons."

grossi

Jamal Lewis' future with Cleveland Browns up in the air
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Mary Kay CabotPlain Dealer Reporter

Jamal Lewis' future with the Browns is still up in the air, Browns General Manager Phil Savage said Wednesday.

Lewis' contract is up after this season, but the two sides have yet to begin renegotiating. He was signed to a one-year deal in the off-season worth $3.5 million, with another $1.5 million in incentives.

"Jamal and I have a good relationship," said Savage. "I'll keep him in the loop in terms of what we decide to do. I have enough respect for him that if I went to him and told him we were going to go in a different direction, he'd appreciate that. If I go to him and say, 'Hey, Jamal, we want to do something for next year,' I think he'd appreciate that as well. But I think he's laid it out there for us, and it's been great to see."

If Lewis keeps running the way he has the past two games, the Browns will be hard-pressed not to re-sign him. In victories over Baltimore and Houston, he averaged 113 yards and 4.4 yards per carry. Last week against Houston, he gained 134 yards, including 91 in the second half.

"I've said all along, a good Jamal is a hungry Jamal," said Savage. "That theme has played out well this year. Jamal has given us a demeanor, a toughness and just a temperament on offense that we didn't have before. That's part of this that can't be measured.

"Just his presence has given us something that we didn't have before. That has to be factored in as we're trying to decide what we're going to do. But he's got the remaining five games and hopefully beyond that to continue to play well for us."

Savage said the running back debate will be right up there in the off-season with that of the quarterbacks. Overall, Lewis has rushed for 741 yards and is on pace for 1,184. He's also rushed for six TDs over the past four games and eight on the season, the most since Kevin Mack in 1991.

"We've obviously discussed some [options] behind the scenes, but I think it will become more and more formulized going forward," said Savage.

Half-dozen rest:

Six players were idle Wednesday: Braylon Edwards (hamstring), Ethan Kelley (knee), Orpheus Roye (knee), Kevin Shaffer (knee), Robaire Smith (knee) and Eric Wright (knee). Coach Romeo Crennel said he's trying to get all of them on the field Sunday in Arizona. Edwards pulled the hamstring during the Texans game, but said he'll be fine. . . . Crennel gave no hint if Wright will return this week.

Baxter award:

Browns safety Gary Baxter has received the 2007 Ed Block Courage Award from his teammates for his valiant comeback to the practice field after suffering two torn patellar tendons in 2006.

Baxter, who's currently on injured reserve, plans to play next season and become the first player in NFL history to return from twin torn patellar tendons. He'll receive the award on Dec. 4 at 6 p.m. at the Providence House 12th Annual "Deck the House Benefit/Auction" at Cleveland Browns Stadium.

Winslow to attend funeral:

Kellen Winslow said he'll attend former teammate Sean Taylor's funeral on Monday. In addition to Winslow and Ken Dorsey, Browns linebacker Leon Williams also played with Taylor at the University of Miami and was a close friend.

Honoring Willis:

Crennel said the Browns will memorialize Bill Willis in some way, perhaps by wearing a decal on their helmets for the rest of the season. They're awaiting word from the NFL, which also plans to honor Taylor in a similar way.

Crennel cautions:

In the context of Taylor's murder, Crennel said he reminds his players they must be aware of their surroundings. He said he doesn't know if any of them have guns and "if they do have guns, I've told them to turn them in."

cabot

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Anderson declined to comment on his thoughts about the future.

"I'm not going to go there right now," he said. "That stuff will take care of itself when the season's over. Right now we're just trying to stay focused."

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I was gonna comment on DA hasnt said one thing this year about making leauge min. and having a great year, Us fans appriciate that, nothing can kill a fun year like were having than negative talk from players about how little thier making....Thanks DA

Two good articles, it seems that Savage is hedging his bets either way, which is good for team chemistry this year, it's also good to keep other teams guessing...

While I'm sure Phil is pretty nervous on the inside about getting these decisions right, it has to be better than the decisions he was making when he first got here, which for many positions was.. "Do I keep the old guy that sucks, or the young guy that sucks?"

.. I was gonna comment on DA hasnt said one thing this year about making leauge min. and having a great year, Us fans appriciate that, nothing can kill a fun year like were having than negative talk from players about how little thier making....Thanks DA

.. Yea well the league min. is $ 435.000 ? I guess I wouldn't be to sad ! I wish someone would pay me that kind of money to play a game ..

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.. Yea well the league min. is $ 435.000 ? I guess I wouldn't be to sad ! I wish someone would pay me that kind of money to play a game ..

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True very true, too bad few players feel that way about that much money....

OK... lets give up the first QB we've had success with in years, who has a rocket arm, isn't throwing stupid interceptions, and has accuracy... Good move Phil.

NRTU

Tendering the highest contract is the smartest and ONLY thing Savage will end up doing IMHO. If a team ponies up a 1st and a 3rd with a huge contract to boot then letting him go can be understood. If we keep him for the $2m odd, then we have another year of DA before either signing him long term or trading him. I know he'll be a UFA if we sign him to the RFA offer sheet but Phil could Franchise him and then deal him to the highest bidder.

Either way Savage is smart - he covers his own derriere in both eventualities because if a silly contract is placed in DA's lap, he'd be well within his rights not to match.

Either is a win win for the Browns. Savage is a smart man

Well, I guess if you can't insult his coaching, the next thing is his gun control policy.

Many things in this article as Savage is a pretty candid guy within reason.

One thing that stood out to me and spelled somethings out and I hope this sort of answers all the DA supporters who truly think he's perfection in the making.

Savage said with a laugh that after almost every Browns win he receives a text message from David Dunn, Anderson's agent.
So there is obviously a desire on Dunn's part to talk about a long-term contract.

If DA at this moment without a doubt in our minds were our Franchise QB - we'd be drumming out a nice long term deal with Dunn. After all why wait till he faces all these soft upcoming Defenses and a more than possible Playoff run! All the while breaking a Browns TD pass record. We would be able to get the best deal Dunn right now!

Its not going to happen...BQ is a very probably upgrade on DA. A first and 3rd round pick for somebody we stole off the waiver wires - a pure Bonanza.

JMHO

He knows a first and third tender is a decent price for a quarterback the way anderson is playing and someone will buy. 24 one of the best arms in the league, 2-1 TD-int ratio and he has been pretty clutch.

Phil's comments says more about Quinn than anything else. He must be pleased with the progression.

The one thing I keep thinking about is if DA leaves for what ever reason the new #2 is Dorsey.... I like trying to keep DA and Quinn, because even if we do get a 1st and 3rd from someone we are now in the market for a valid backup QB so do we use the 3rd for a backup ala CF? Just something to think about, especially if you go from having DA and BQ to one injury away from Dorsey as the starter next year.

Like I said....it evens things up.

Some can talk about cowboy movies and locks all they want.

We really need to keep Jamal Lewis for 1-2 more years for sure. That guy has showed he has a lot in the tank and with that position taken care of we can concentrate on the D!

The way I look at it is this:

What is the single most difficult position to find above average talent and production at? What, arguably, is the most important position on the offensive side of the ball?

Let's say we get a 1st and 3rd and lose Anderson.


Let's look at what the 3rd round has brought us under Savage.

Travis Wilson
Charlie Frye

Going back ... how about a Chris Crocker? Maybe our good friend Melvin Fowler? James Jackson anyone? How about Travis Prentice? JaJuan Dawson? OK, I'm depressed.

Are any of these guys more than a throw in at this point?

So .... what one position is an even exchange for a very productive QB? The 3rd round is a crap shoot. Sometimes you get lucky ..... sometimes not. Thus far Savage hasn't exactly been rolling 7s in the 3rd. Acrtually, the browns as a team have had pretty miserable drafting in the 3rd.

So, we are probably left with a 1st for an above average, productive, and young starting QB. Which position do we draft that equates to that value? LT? Got one, and finally, a good one. RB? DL? WR? LB? Is the value there? I dunno. It better be if we move Anderson ...... and Quinn better be all that and a bag of chips as well ... not only for the fans ....... but for the other members of the team as well. If we dump a QB who is not only productive, but from all reports popular with, and respected by his teammates, and the next guy flops ..... the team will revolt, and we'll be back to the last (too many) years again.

Tough call for Savage.

"Let's say we get a 1st and 3rd and lose Anderson.
Let's look at what the 3rd round has brought us under Savage."

You can look all you want and put your spin on it as if Frye, Wilson and nobody as we traded up for EW. I'll look at the last example!

We will have two 3rd round picks.
1. The new draft proceedings will have 3rd round picks at the beginning of the 2nd day not as an after thought of a long grueling day from the first two rounds. They did this (they = NFL ) cause not only Savage but many NFL GMs have not had good 3rd rounds.

2. If Savage has shown me anything...is In the first two drafts we needed Quantity...but the last draft and this upcoming draft it will be about Quality.

We will not hold onto picks for the Quantity...we will have a 1st....a 2nd and two 3rd rounders. There is no doubt in my mind we will use those two 3rds to get back into the 3rd round (or pending who we get the 3rd from) move into the early 2nd for somebody we Want...Lehan ILB Illinois (just throwing a what if out there).

Cause Savage will be pinpointing certain talents to infuse Impact into the Browns like he did with JoeT, BQ n EW...we are getting at the stage where a lot of our 2nd day picks won't make the team. This is a good thing and not a black mark on Savage.

So I'm sorry I'm not buying your 3rd rounder's suck statement so its really not a bargain. Of course its not the make or break of the deal. And as stated it won't surprise me if its the Vikings we are dealing with Its not a first and Taylor....how bad do they want DA??? We can trade his rights after we tender him. Just like Atlanta traded Schaub.

JMHO

Some of this "do or die" stuff is kinda funny. I've been a Browns fan my whole life. What Savage does or doesn't do won't change that fact. IF he does go witht the highest franchise and some other team offers a 1 and 3 AND a HUGE contract for DA. I'd say take it. Then if BQ turns out to be not so good, and DA continues to do well. I say to myself "well hindsight is 20/20". I won't be hating Phil. Phil would have made a well calculated decision. Sometime..all the time...an element of luck is involved with this stuff.

You act like we are there already...we are having a special season but remember we still have many holes and part of the special is we have had only one significant injury (RG McKinney) and we actually upgraded. But we haven't had to dip into our poor depth. We still have some holes on Defense and we need them fix if we want to be champions.

The safety net of DA as backup or vice versa would be nice...but we don't improve as a team much.

Also the matching of contract will mean less for us to spend in FA to fill our needs. But the draft is the main course for building stars for your team.

With DA or BQ as our Back up we have a late 2nd rounder n 3rd rounder.

With DA tendered and us compensated we have a 1st...our 2nd and our 3rd plus another 3rd. As mentioned I can see us getting a First round pick and two 2nd rounders out of the deal! The impact that we could influence our team with will be far greater and move us to bettering ourselves.

All this is of course hinging on how well BQ truly is. He is taking over or around 20% of the snaps with the starters each week. Its not like the coaches can't see his development. I think they will be assured that they have an Upgrade before letting DA go. And keep in mind the most important thing to all this is our OL and weapons. This is so instrumental for a Young QB to succeed. DA in 07 and BQ in 08...Most important.

JMHO

You're pretty smart for a guy from Long Island.

j/c I think if someone is willing to give up a 1st and a 3rd for Anderson, we almost have to take it. It essentially means we got Quinn for last years 2nd, considering we paid nothing for DA.

If they are happy with the way Quinn is progressing, I think he is the plans to start next year. You have to sell when the market is paying, and DA's stock is as high now as it ever will be.

That being said...would I be disappointed if we kept him? Heck no. He's young and has alot of room to improve.

I'd like to see Jamal get a 2 year deal, he still has that burst, and I think he has 1 more good year in him at least. That gives us another year to build up the D (dline inparticular) and draft a RB in the 08/09 offseason.

Lewis has had what 3 good games all year? He has also sucked in the remainder of games or been absent. I still aint fully sure what you are going to get with Jamal.

He really has improved upon that percentage. I remember it being ~52% at one point. If you look at his games after the Patriots game, hes only been below 60% one time.

It's really quit simple.....

DA takes us to a Super Bowl Win.....He get a long term contract.....

DA takes us to the playoff....We tender him at the end of the season and keep him.

DA falls on his face these next few games we tender him and let him go for draft choices..


Simple

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DA still makes some head scratching throws

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They all do! Not just DA. You watch, if DA goes away and Quinn starts next year, he'll make a few bone headed throws also,,, I guarantee it,

This is DA's first year as a starter.. he's still learning..

I still think a 1st and 3rd isn't good enough compensation for a starting qb who despite what some say, is putting up good numbers and having a very good season.

We gave up more than that for a unproven college qb.

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What if he digresses?

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Savage said he and the coaches are comfortable with playing Quinn during this playoff stretch if needed. Asked how he thinks Quinn would do in the still-developing Rob Chudzinski offense, Savage didn't hesitate.

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You know I've been a supporter of Anderson because of his great performance this season, I'd support any QB that has gotten this far despite our atrocious defense. THough, if Savage believes this, then I'm on board for 1st and 3rd picks if a team wants to give up the money for Anderson. If he has this much confidence in Quinn then he must be doing well at practice and has a pretty good handle on the game. This will go down as either the smartest or dumbest move Savage has made since being hired on as Clevelands GM.