Red Dawn (Aponte)

Its all Josh Cribbs all the time today!! This will be brief. We’ve gone on and on here at WFNY about it. You have done so on sports talk radio, and in conversations with your friends and co-workers about it. Its the most obvious thing in Cleveland Browns Football these days – pay Josh Cribbs what he is worth.

We all thought that Eric Mangini’s promise to Cribbs to get him a new contract by the end of the season was just a formality. When Mike Holmgren took over, he all but said that Cribbs will be taken care of. Then the firestorm hit last night and Cribbs and his agents went public. Who could blame them? The supposed $1.4 million offer is a slap in the face. Not to mention, this is now the third regime that was supposed to take care of him and hasn’t.

Cribbs and his agents had enough. They for the most part, kept quiet all year. Cribbs certainly played hard and well (I mean, he is the greatest Special Teams Player since Steve Tasker and perhaps the greatest return man of all time), and waited for his day. The day came, and they offered him HALF the money that Roscoe Parrish and Andre Davis make.

Worst of all, Cribbs, his agents, and Browns fans have to read this unbelievably moronic quote from Browns rep Dawn Aponte on the contract offer – “It’ll be the same offer tomorrow, the same offer in March, and the same offer in September.”

Was that quote real? Did that really come out of Berea? Think that will go over well with Cribbs? Well what about the Browns fans, who LOVE Cribbs like no other player on the roster? If  Holmgren is so busy with finding a GM and figuring out what to do with Eric Mangini, why not say to Josh and his agents “we have to get through the GM/Mangini situation first, then we will take care of you.”

Instead, they seemingly rush through a low-ball offer to Cribbs (I say rush because Holmgren has only been on the job for a week) in the middle of all of this mess; Cribbs is insulted and goes public, and the fans are angry.

Welcome to Cleveland,  Mike!

If Dawn Aponte indeed was not quoted out of context and said what she said, I would fire her today. She is probably on her way out anyways, considering Holmgren will be bringing in his own people. But to make a comment that ill-advised, and ill-timed STUNS me.