DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Browns veteran kicker Dawson wants new contract

Sources: Browns veteran kicker Dawson wants new contract
By James Walker
ESPN.com
Updated: September 12, 2008, 5:21 PM ET


Add another Cleveland Brown to the list of players unhappy with their current contract.

Dawson

According to multiple sources, Browns kicker Phil Dawson is seeking a new deal with the team and his representation recently approached Cleveland's front office and general manager Phil Savage about restructuring his contract. When contacted by ESPN.com Friday afternoon, agent Neil Cornrich would neither confirm nor deny Dawson's stance with the team.

Dawson signed a five-year, $7.1 million contract extension in 2005 that runs through 2010. He will make $950,000 this season and $1 million in each of the final two years. But Dawson, the longest-tenured Brown on the roster, is coming off a career year in 2007 where he converted 26-of-30 field goals and 42-of-43 extra points.

The 10-year veteran joins a growing list of players in Cleveland who feel they are underpaid. Before the start of the regular season, Pro Bowl tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. and Pro Bowl kick returner Joshua Cribbs expressed unhappiness with their contracts.

Savage said in recent weeks that the team is currently at its "budget," indicating that Cleveland doesn't intend to rework any contracts with players until after the 2008 season. The Browns had a busy offseason in re-signing quarterback Derek Anderson and tailback Jamal Lewis. They also lured receiver Donte' Stallworth and defensive linemen Corey Williams and Shaun Rogers to Cleveland with big contracts.

The Browns (0-1) host the Pittsburgh Steelers (1-0) Sunday night at 8:15 p.m. in a big AFC North division game for both teams.

Link

This has to be a joke.

I knew that 56 yarder in preseason would come back to haunt us.

The Bears just signed Gould to a contact worth 14 mil with a 4.25 signing bonus.

1 Million a year to be in a game about 5 minutes a week for 20 weeks? Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

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He has suffered thru some truly horrible years and never made a peep

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True,but that's not a bad payday for no more than a kicker does.Plus he very seldom ever gets his uniform dirty.

He's gonna have to wait in line...

BUT DEFINITELY... Give it to the man. He deserves it.

Hopefully this season doesn't go South while these guys are counting all the money they don't have. I love how they wait until the season starts to start pulling this crap.

Sure seems like their minds are elsewhere doesn't it? Add dawson to the list of malcontents.....wow, this year is sure shaping up to be a season full of issues other than football.

Man, the timing is kind of odd.

Everyone wants to cash in on the success.

If they don't watch it, there'll be nothing left to cash in on.

dont get me wrong, I love phil and if we have the money available, give it to him; that being said i'd put KW2, Cribbs, and Jones ahead in contracts. Reda impressed me in pre-season and there are plenty of good kickers out there looking for work.

I wish Phil would stay a brown forever, but if worst came to worse; he is replaceable

Dawson and his agent have a keen sense of timing. Why not wait until he's kicked a 50 yarder to win a game to go after the bigger bucks. Coming off a demoralizing loss, with three important division games on the horizon seems like a screwy time to have this conversation.

But I guess if you're an agent, there is no bad timing when it comes to renegotiation. UGH!!

can't think of anyone on the team who deserves it more

cribbs hasn't been consistently good for us for nearly as long

I think kicking a game winner as time runs out is a game changer too.

I honestly think kickers are some of the most neglected players in the league. They touch the ball every single game, and often the game is decided on their leg. If you look at points on the board for dollars spent, kickers are a great bargain.

That being said, Dawsons gonna have to get in the back of the queu for contract redo's. If we can, sure throw him a some juice. I love the guy, but his contract is NOT a priority right now.

Thats because the Bears have no offense or at least were not suppose too...

New kicker next year.....mark it down.

POST DELETED AS THIS IS THE PURE FOOTBALL FORUM AND NOT THE COMEDY CLUB

Maybe I am missing something here, but have any of our players REALLY done anything to warrant renegotiating contracts?
I know it is the nature of the beast, but get in the playoffs, win a playoff game, THEN, say I need more bucks.
Crap, any college player could get their clock cleaned by the Cowboys, why do they deserve a bigger paycheck.
Beat the Stoolers consistantly for goodness sake.
That would warrant more money.
DO SOMETHING THAT IS DESERVING OF MORE MONEY.
I know we have some good to very good players, but can they play together as a team consistantly.
GEESH! Give me a frekin' break.

Just another perspective to offer here...


As we all know, all to often contracts are structured to have roster bonuses and such that are generally so large that they will never be paid, meaning that the 5 year contract may raelly be in essence a 3 year contract. I'm not saying that this is in fact the case, but it is a possibility. It could simply be that looking ahead to the state of his deal next year and beyong, they may just be trying to avoid reaching a point where he is released because he is due some silly bonus. Get the deal re-done and he is here for a long time to come.


Just another possibility....

I will be concerned about this only when Dawson has a press conference at the end of his drive-way where he is doing sit-ups.

He is a kicker with like 3 years left on his deal. Suck it up.

You don't do new deals unless the guy is clearly playing beyond his contract or if he is near the end of his contract.

Ask Baltimore if Phil is a game changer.

Can't figure out if you're rippin' Phil or praisin' him here. Either way, Baltimore was hardly gonna stop Phil from becoming a GM even if they could.

Pretty sure he was talking about Phil Dawson and his game-winning, rule-changing kick last year.

cribbs is definitely a game changer, but so is phil dawson. remember the blizzard in buffalo? phil dawson came through in a HUGE way. he also was a game changer against baltimore. those are just 2 examples from just the last season, he's been doing it since he's been here.

kickers are very under appreciated and in cleveland we are spoiled to have one of the most accurate kickers to ever play in the NFL. i'm willing to bet we'd all be singing a different tune around here if we had some kickers that some other NFL teams are stuck with. come to think of it, when was the last time we had a kicker who wasn't top notch? we have been very spoiled if you ask me.

otto... I think you missed Flap's point... but it wasn't lost on me.


At ANY team position, consistent clutch performances merit attention... and monetary compensation. In that regard, NOBODY ON THIS TEAM has been more "clutch" than Phil Dawson.

The "Dawson Bar" game was Flap's example of just how clutch PhillyD has been for us since he's been here.

** He was instrumental in our very first win over Pittsburgh in our first year back as an expansion team.
** He's been among the league's elite at his position, stats-wise for HIS ENTIRE CAREER.
** He was the leading points producer on our team for almost all of those dismal years we've endured since The Return.... and he did it in "ones" and "threes"... not "sixes." That's production, Dawg.

Such production merits a reward.
("Good boy, good boy.... here's a chewie!")


My take... Phil needs to make promises that he will actually keep... table the negotiation talk until the end of the season, challenge Phil to 'make his case' on the field this year, and then PAY THE MAN -with bigass bones.

Browns are looking at a schedule that could easily see them going 6-10 or 10-6.... with Phil being the deciding factor. If PhillyD tips the scales toward the latter, with no signs of slacking off (or losing game), he's worth every cent of a restructured contract.

jmh .02

totally agree.

the guy deserves to be paid. if the budget is spent for the year, then he gets it next year. it would be a shame to lose him.

I disagree.

I get tired of guys signing a contract, then wanting a new one. You signed it, you honor it. If you perform well enough, then you'll be rewarded at the end of it, or have it redone later on down the line.

JMO.

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I disagree.

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no you don't... not really.

If you read my post (which Hooter agreed to), you'll note that I said:

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"...table the negotiation talk until the end of the season, challenge Phil to 'make his case' on the field this year, and then PAY THE MAN -with bigass bones."

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How is that any different than you're saying:

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If you perform well enough, then you'll be rewarded at the end of it, or have it redone later on down the line.

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????

Not to answer for 017, but "at the end of it or later on down the line" means at the end of the contract or later than 2 years into a 5 year deal to me at least.

Phil Dawson has been clutch and through all the crap since his arrival here with the re-birth, and there has been no one on this board who has been a stauncher supporter than I have. With that being said, he is in year 3 of a 5 year deal that he just signed and should not be asking for a restructure right now. At the end of the season would be more appropriate. (still early, but more appropriate than now)

However, I somewhat understand his (agent that is) line of thinking. Phil is 33 years old and will be 34 years old come January. It is not uncommon for players to look for that last great payday when they are soon to be headed for the door.

Who knows, Dawson may be kicking for us for another 5 years.....but with the state of the league right now and at his age he wants some more compensation. Hell, I want a raise too for bustin' my ass at work. But there's a time and a place for everything, and this aint it.

No, I didn't miss his point. My point was that I don't think they'll re-do his contract. I think they'll get another kicker before they re-do it.

Phil D. has done a fine job. But I just don't see Phil S. re-doing a kicker's contract. Hell, we have an extra kicker or two in camp every year. I don't think that's just so PD's leg doesn't get tired.

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Hell, we have an extra kicker or two in camp every year. I don't think that's just so PD's leg doesn't get tired.

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Actually it is......all teams do that.

One of the top 5 K in the league is not gonna get competition thrown against him in camp.....they do it to keep his leg fresh. When a true competitor for the job is brought in, it will be easily discernible.

He is signed through 2010. Do I want Dawson here and do I think he should be rewarded monetarily??? Most definitely.

But there should be no rush on this. I think a very important variable is what, if any, new CBA will be at hand that will govern the teams with parameters of salary towards players??? There will be something agreed upon. Either total freedom (gosh I hope not this will empower agents in that case god help the NFL - Not For Long )

Or again some structured parameters of financial expenditures of the teams. Before we go re-structure anyones contract that don't need to for a couple of seasons - we must be sure with what we are dealing with.

Definitely after that comes about...hopefully next off-season we can then give Dawson a 3-5 year extension and reward him for being the most consistent and solid Brown since 1999 and let him end his career here.

He should have another solid 5 years in that leg.

But one other note. If there are tight constraints on salaries...many a better kickers have been let go. We will survive. Actually that kid Randa??? in our camp this year was not bad at all.

I think ever since Florida State lost a couple of championships due to their kicking the college ranks have paid more attention to the kicking game. There are more and more excellent kickers coming from the ranks of colleges that if we have a need and do our studies...there are Alex Hall types with remarkable legs all over Division I AA on down if you look hard enough.

I remember a kid who was a bench warmer in Soccer turned to football his Senior year. Freakin unbelievable...He hit 45 yarders in pressure games like it was nothing. As I talked with his parents at the Varsity Dinner - I asked if their son got a scholarship to a Univ. They looked at me in wonderment and said - What? Really he had a shot. I said that he could walk onto any big time College Program and win the kicking job and eventually get a full scholarship...thats how good he was.

Nobody ever suggested that to him....Well the kid ended up being an All Everything Kicker for a Div. III program. This is one kicker in one little town of 30,000 people.

How many of these situations are out there. We are not talking about such a skill set that narrow down just a select few...We are talking about a kicker...where, Speed, Size have no bearing on the WHO...just some leg stength and PRACTICE!

My point. I think Dawson should be rewarded as a BROWN. But if financially that becomes impossible or we have to choose on who can be rewarded and who not. Then I think if we put our Scouts to task we will come up with another kicker to do the job.

JMHO