Cleveland Browns team president Mike Holmgren spoke with the media at the NFL Combine. One of the issues discussed was the contract status of RB Jerome Harrison. Harrison is a restricted free agent, but based on his performance last season, there isn't much doubt that the team wants him back.
When asked if the team would tender Harrison, he replied, "We will tender him a contract that will make it very difficult for some team to sign him." According to the National Football Post, that likely means the team will either give him a first-round tender ($2.521 million) or a first- and third-round tender ($3.186 million). What did Holmgren say about which other players the team would tender?
"We will [tender contracts], but I won’t tell who’ll will tender," stated Holmgren. One of the players who will probably receive a tender is LB D'Qwell Jackson. Jackson stated that he anticipated being with the team in 2010, but was uncertain of his long-term future with the team. Jackson would likely require a first-round tender as well. Holmgren also stated that the team wants to get a running back in the draft to have some insurance behind the undersized Harrison.
Regarding the team's quarterback situation, Holmgren has given the impression that a decision will be made soon regarding the quarterbacks, according to the OBR:
Holmgren said he will bring in the ‘new’ guys, including himself and adviser Gil Haskell, along with general manager Tom Heckert and compare their notes with the ‘old’ guys, including Eric Mangini and his coaching staff and come to a conclusion.
"We have to make a final decision on the quarterback," Holmgren said. "That is a huge decision. I think it is the most important decision on a football team."
Holmgren called it a ‘long shot’ that both Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn would be back for 2010. Anderson is due a roster bonus of around $2 million on March 19. Holmgren indicated the Browns would explore trades and free agency in considering their options starting March 5.
I don't see any way that Anderson could even attempt to convince the coaches that he deserves the roster bonus. If the Browns give him the bonus, they'd almost be committing to him as the starter for it to make any sense. If Anderson is wise, he's probably packed his bags already and will be ready to see if any of the four-win-or-less teams in the league make him an offer in free agency. Here's one more note from Holmgren at the combine, when asked what he likes to see from quarterbacks:
"He has to have an innate ability to throw the football. Accuracy, rhythm and how he delivers the football. The second thing is his movement in the pocket. The third thing is how the young man can handle pressure."
0 recs | 70 comments
i finished the article, and the only thing on my mind:
cool, sounds good mike.
i put my trust in him
brownsMania - February 26, 2010
Harrison ofrecido….. Tire el perro un hueso!! El lo merece. Holmgren sabe que el es nuestro hombre. Ahora vaya a bosquejar una tardía ronda grande RB para ayudar.
Brownie's Year - February 27, 2010
Flag
TheRealSlimShady - February 27, 2010
Watch out! Lasercat is on the loose!
Brownie's Year - February 27, 2010
For what?
rufio - February 27, 2010
Espanol no esta permitido aquí. Ustedes, los de Ohio, son racistas. :o.
hahaha
Brownie's Year - February 27, 2010
Actually, TRSS no es de Ohio. If I did that right. Es de Kentucky.
rufio - February 27, 2010
fixed
Just trying to help, not be a jerk.
Chief WaDrew - February 27, 2010
I’m in French, haha
TheRealSlimShady - February 27, 2010
I took a year of French before I realized that it wouldn’t do me any good here in America. My sister took 3 years of German, never had to use it, and it faded away. Plus being a ditz doesn’t help her either.
I’m not saying to stop learning. French is pretty cool.
Brownie's Year - February 27, 2010
I had 4 years a French, two of Spanish.
So, I speak Enrenish.
SpecialBrownie - February 27, 2010
I was a French guy in HS. Good lookin out.
rufio - February 27, 2010
It’s those two being verbs. Crazy Spaniards.
Chief WaDrew - February 27, 2010
lol, I’m lost.
Chris Pokorny - February 27, 2010 via mobile
Sorry. We’re forced to take foreign language classes in school here and I speak a lot of it at work. I was just messing around. Won’t happen again, maybe.
Brownie's Year - February 27, 2010
As usual Chris, nice write up.
everything else,,, Huh?
or how do I say ‘huh’ in spanish :-)
doggrad87 - February 27, 2010
que
North Coast Flea - February 27, 2010
I’m in AP Spanish V and I don’t even understand half of that. That’s how bad I am at Spanish haha.
emily522 - February 27, 2010
No worries kido.
Speaking Spanish is pretty much a requirement here in Cal. A lot of people can’t even get jobs because they don’t speak the language. Which is fucking stupid.
Brownie's Year - February 27, 2010
Speak in a language that not everyone here can read, then call people “kido” who can only come close. I like how you operate.
joeee - February 28, 2010
i think the kido is because emily is younger, not saying it’s cool, just saying
Villeslgr - February 28, 2010
Yes, I only said it because she’s younger. I wasn’t trying to be a jerk or superior.
Brownie's Year - March 1, 2010
Do you think they´ll slap the franchise tag on Jerome Harrison?
Eric Steinbach played 16 full games, and so did Abe Elam. That suffices for consideration, don´t be stupid.
mooncamping - February 27, 2010
We’ve never done it before. But with Holmgrem behind the trigger, it wouldn’t surprise me if he tagged and bagged someone.
Brownie's Year - February 27, 2010
Doubtful. We’d be overpaying for his usefulness.
gahnki - February 27, 2010
moon, I am not sure you know how the franchise tag works. It isn’t simply to designate someone as a “franchise player”. It is a contract thing. When players’ contracts are up, teams must re-sign them to another contract (the players have to agree to a contract that the team offers or they don’t re-sign), or the team can let the player test the market in Free Agency.
The franchise tag is a special thing the team can use when a player is about to leave in Free Agency. They can place the franchise tag on a player, and it essentially forces them to sign a 1-year contract, all guaranteed money, for top-5 pay at their position. The player doesn’t have a choice to sign or not like with a normal contract.
So essentially, the franchise tag is used to keep players from leaving the team, thus buying the team more time to come to terms on a longer deal.
Steinbach is not up for free agency, so he really isn’t a candidate for the franchise tag, regardless of how many games he played. As for Elam, he’s a RFA, so we could sign him for a lot less than the franchise tag.
rufio - February 27, 2010
Nice recap.
I´d like to say though, that “franchise”-tag to some of the older football fans comes from a quality designation standpoint, we used to say “this guy is a franchise player”. Usually it denoted “the guy”. You know, the undisputed champ in regards to carrying a franchise. A perception that the leaders of a franchise and fans shared. A no-brainer, so to speak.
That´s the origin.
On a losing team, I think team MVP suffices, as an exception to the rule, especially if it extends to only one year. The problem would be, that the rule limits us to designated free agents.
I also believe in tendering an “honest amount”, even if it seems exorbitant, if (!!!) you have done your own evaluation and estimation of a players value to the team, over a hopefully extended time period. This is how you establish classiness.
mooncamping - February 28, 2010
Yes, but everyone here follows football closely enough to differentiate the colloquial term from the business one.
gahnki - February 28, 2010
Well, yeah. But lets assume that the rules become regulations again, when an assumed wicked financial market and recession conformity taper off.
Can we dumb it down again, allowing for lessons learned?
Depending on how you see a thing, we may tend to the colloquial term.
mooncamping - March 1, 2010
gahnki - March 1, 2010
Anyways, I basically said Harrison deserves a new contract and let’s get a bigger back to help him out.
It seems that Mangini and Holmgren both agree that Harrison IS our new starter. AWESOME
Brownie's Year - February 27, 2010
I can’t wait to send DA packing. I’m so sick of him.
emily522 - February 27, 2010
Seriously, GTFO.
danvail - February 27, 2010
This got rec’d? Haha.
emily522 - February 27, 2010
I think any comment made on this site about getting rid of DA will get recced.
Buckeye Brad - February 27, 2010
DA Blows. Leave.
TheRealSlimShady - February 27, 2010
i think the overall rec standards are low.
rolub - February 27, 2010
Haha true.
emily522 - February 27, 2010
Holmgren's standard
DA
Accuracy: nope
Rhythm: nope
Pocket movement: haha
Handles pressure: blitz or mental, nope and nope
Receives bonus in mid March: nope
L Train - February 27, 2010
Not a DA apologist here, but let’s point that:
a) We’ve had MUCH worse than him; hello, Kelly Holcomb & Tim Couch
b) Brady Quinn didn’t show jack all year as well, aside from a game against the Lions where any QB could’ve put up numbers; coincidentally, the only time DA looked good all year was in his preseason start… against the Lions
I’d welcome dumping both Quinn and DA, personally. They’ve both been unmitigated disasters. Before the Quinn lovers come out and say “he did better in his second go-around,” go pull up his numbers over the last 5 games, then tell me he did well. Alex Smith from the 49ers had better numbers.
“Deciding on a quarterback” means who are we going to target in free agency. My guesses would be Kevin Kolb or Jason Campbell. Let’s face facts, folks. We’re a bad team. Bad teams have to find lightning in a bottle at the QB position b/c no UFA QB worth a damn is going to come here, so it’s find a starter-quality guy who’s currently a back up in the league (like the Texans did when they grabbed Matt Schaub from the Falcons) or hope for a miracle in the draft (like the Falcons got with Matt Ryan).
We can’t pick a marginal game manager like a Mark Sanchez or a Joe Flacco b/c our running game and defense aren’t strong enough to protect him and we can’t pick a project QB for obvious reasons.
I agree with Holmgren saying this is the most important decision they have to make. It has to be right and it has to pay dividends immediately. Thus, no DA or Quinn.
I’m not hating on the DA bashing, but I’m quite shocked Quinn’s been given such a free ride on this site. How many of you actually WATCHED his play the last two seasons?
Michael Jay - February 27, 2010
Nobody on this site is giving Quinn a free ride. Plenty of people think he’s not the answer at QB, either, and want the Browns to bring in someone else to start. But there’s a good chance that Quinn will still be back next season, though maybe as a backup, because he’s still young and his contract isn’t too expensive. Anderson has to be gone because of the big roster bonus that he’s due.
Also, Kolb is not a free agent.
Buckeye Brad - February 27, 2010
Did you actually WATCH Tim Couch and Kelly Holcomb play? Tim Couch was a decent quarterback with the misfortune of playing behind the offensive line from hell. I’d rather have someone of Tim Couch’s or Kelly Holcomb’s skill level than DA. Tim Couch had consistent quarterback ratings in the 70s. Derek Anderson posted up a 42.1 this year. 42.1. Were you WATCHING him do that?
Calling Quinn an unmitigated disaster after a total of 14 NFL games over three seasons is really pretty premature. Quinn’s QB rating – 67.2.
Did you actually WATCH the Browns run at the end of the year? If you had, I have a hard time thinking that you would say that our running game isn’t good enough to protect a mediocre quarterback.
What makes you think that Cleveland would not be an attractive destination for any UFA QB? Why wouldn’t a QB want to play for Holmgren?
woodsmeister - February 27, 2010
I never, at any point, said DA was any good. He sucked this year (and last year).
Openly admitted that. The point is DA’s another in a long line of mediocrity. Tim Couch had one winning season (9-7) in 2000 and we only made the playoffs after the THIRD tiebreaker.
Holcomb? When was that prime? When he replaced Tim Couch and threw more picks than TDs as the starter or when he got replaced by friggin’ Jeff Garcia?
I just think it’s funny that DA suddenly seems to be heralded as the worse QB to ever play.
Yes, I was watching at the end of the year. I watched us play a Steelers team that couldn’t stop the run all year, the Chiefs, the Raiders, and the Jaguars. Only one of those four had a winning record and none of them made the playoffs. And let’s be clear, our defense beat the Steelers.
Just like the 2007 season, we were beating BAD teams. We got crushed against every team worth a damn we faced.
Bottom line is we were a bad team last year (and the year before that) and historically, good UFA QBs don’t go to bad teams.
Michael Jay - February 28, 2010
We are a bad team. We certainly don’t need a really freakin’ bad QB getting a bonus from us either.
skipkirk - February 28, 2010
I really don’t understand the point of your statement. You agree that DA is terrible. We all know that the Browns have been bad this decade. What’s the point in rehashing all of that? What are you trying to say?
Drew Brees signed with the Saints when they were terrible. That seemed to work out pretty well. If there is anything we’ve learned from free agency — in any sport — is that players will sign where the money is. They don’t always go to good teams.
Buckeye Brad - February 28, 2010
This. 1000X This.
woodsmeister - March 1, 2010
Bernie19Kosar - March 1, 2010
in other news, the sky is falling. why so negative? if you can’t feel better about the team coming off of a 4 game winning streak, what can you feel better about?
Dawg Nuts - March 2, 2010
I would take Couch or Holcomb in their primes over DA.
rufio - February 27, 2010
Dawg Nuts - March 2, 2010
You also didn’t mention QUinns good game against the Chargers.
TheRealSlimShady - February 27, 2010
I completely disagree with everything you said.
Good job Mikey. I’m no longer the idiot on DBN. HAHAHA
Brownie's Year - February 27, 2010
Thanks for replying with a pointless insult. That’s the spirit of open debate! :-)
Michael Jay - February 28, 2010
You said DA is better than Holcomb. That’s wrong on many levels
You said we’re gunna gun for Kolb. He just resigned.
Our team sucked last year. Everyone and their mother knows that.
Do some research before you bust out essays on here.
Brownie's Year - February 28, 2010
He hasn’t.
skipkirk - February 28, 2010
Oh, sweet sweet irony.
SpecialBrownie - February 28, 2010
I purposely jumped the gun by saying that.
The Eagles aren’t going to let him go.
That’s better.
Brownie's Year - February 28, 2010
I am seriously tired of people downing Couch he had zero talent around him and still managed to win a few games. He never had an O-line, WR’s, RB’s, TE’s. IMO he was easily the best QB we’e had since coming back to the league. And I already know I’m in the minority there, no one needs to point it out, it’s just my opinion. Put DA behind Center on any team Couch played for and I’d bet we’d have been the 1st team to 0-16.
North Coast Flea - February 28, 2010
It really wouldn’t be hard to be our best QB since coming back.
rufio - March 1, 2010
I know, saying he’s the best we’ve had since returning isn’t saying much when you look at the long list of inept QB’s but had Butch Davis never came to Cleveland I think that ouch had the potential to be at least a decent starting QB, sadly we’ll never know. Wouldn’t it be funny if he made a comeback though? Like Vinny did with the Jets.
North Coast Flea - March 1, 2010
*Couch, ouch was a funny and poetic typo
North Coast Flea - March 1, 2010
I thought it was on purpose.
rufio - March 1, 2010
I agree with the majority of your post here so I’ll rec this as well. I am ready to move on from both QBs.
Roger Dorn - March 1, 2010
Heckert: We like Massaquoi and Robiskie; those guys can be good enough that we don’t need to add a veteran WR
Heckert: We haven’t made any final QB decisions. We’ll see the guys here, who’s available in free agency and we’ll evaluate our options.
Heckert: We’re not shutting the door on anything, moving up or moving back. It’s early but we’ve talked to other teams about doing both
All here
Villeslgr - February 27, 2010
I’m glad there’s confidence in Robiskie. Alternatively, it could just be recycled GM talk.
skipkirk - March 1, 2010
Anything can be GM talk this time of year.
rufio - March 1, 2010
Yeah, i was just quoting it because i was bored, but also to get a taste of the flavor of our new leaderships GM talk.
Villeslgr - March 1, 2010
Long gone are the days of the silent Kokinis huh?
skipkirk - March 2, 2010
It’s certainly nice to hear, that’s for sure. It’s so comforting to have people in charge who sound like they know what they’re doing.
Buckeye Brad - March 2, 2010
DA is better than Quinn. The only reason people liked Quinn is because of his ND Connection. When DA guided us to a 10-6 record out of nowhere, it showed that he had the ability to make plays, especially during Crunchtime. The next year DA came back and tried to reprise that roll only to watch the Browns implode,,, starting with Braylon edwards repeatly dropping perfectly throw, game-changing balls, his way. Couple that with the non-existent play from Donte Stallworth, The constant whining of K2, and the depreciation of the offensive line play and DA was thrown into a ditch not of his own making. Holmgren was coaching Seattle when DA picked apart his team like so many others, except Arizona, in 07’ and he ad the opportunity to see what DA was all about.
Quinn has had 2 good games as a Brown, and that’s all.
Sometimes, I think we just need a new QB, who can throw the ball and play at least 15 games of the season. That does not seem to be the strong suit of any of our existing QB’s.
dasho - March 6, 2010
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