The Casual Fan’s Guide to Hating the 2014-15 Boston Celtics
April 20, 2015Indians Series Summary No. 4: L-W-L and gratitude for picture-in-picture
April 20, 2015While Pro Bowl safety Tashaun Gipson awaits a much-deserved contract extension from the Cleveland Browns, the restricted free agent will not be joining the rest of his teammates for their short offseason program in Berea this week. With negotiations of a contract not going as planned earlier this spring, the Browns offered Gipson a second-round tender which would pay him $2.4 million in the event a long-term deal is not agreed to. Alas, Gipson, who is not technically under contract, will train on his own while awaiting a call from his agent.
From Mary Kay Cabot:
Gipson, who’s not technically under contract and has made it known he wasn’t thrilled to receive the second-round tender, is opting to work out at home instead of joining the rest of his teammates at the Browns facility in Berea, league sources have told Northeast Ohio Media Group.
Teams have until Friday to make Gipson an offer, and he’ll likely stay home at least until that period is over — and possibly longer. The choice to stay home is Gipson’s, the source said.
Gipson entered the league as an undrafted free agent out of Wyoming, and has hauled in nine interceptions in his last 14 games dating back to 2013. He played in just 11 games in 2014 after a knee injury shortened his season, but the free safety still managed to finish among the best in the NFL, earning himself a trip to Glendale Arizona for the Pro Bowl.
Pro Football Focus ranked Gipson its fourth-best coverage safety of 2014. The 24-year old was among the league’s best with six interceptions (second only to Detroit’s Glover Quin), returning one for a touchdown. Gipson added 52 tackles, eight passes defense (while allowing just 12 receptions on the season), and a forced fumble.
With the contract deadline looming, Cabot adds that the benchmark for any Gipson extension will be New England’s Devin McCourty who inked a five- year, $47.5 million deal which included a $15 million signing bonus and $28.5 million guaranteed. McCourty has three interceptions the past two seasons, while Gipson has 11, ranking second only to Seattle’s Richard Sherman.
28 Comments
Not surprising, as he has been salty toward the situation for a while now on social media, from what I’ve seen. Hopefully we lock him in soon–the last thing we need is more holes when we have talent already here on the roster.
Everything is fine!
Good for Tashaun. Rarely is an undrafted guy guaranteed anything. If he significantly hurt himself off-season the team would drop him in a hot minute.
You’ve earned your leverage, brother. Use it.
Go ahead and add Safety to the draft needs list.
I don’t blame him one bit the guy has worked and deserved better then a second round tender. And people wonder why no players want to come here.
I’m ok with the tender, as the team knows that others are unlikely to give up even a second for a safety, so tender him at the lower level and potentially save cash that way if you can’t work out a long-term deal. That said, I’d like to see him locked in for longer term soon, otherwise what are we doing with all this cap space?
Not to dwell on the issue, but my first thought upon seeing that picture is ‘man, the old uniforms were attractive.’ The new ones still seem garish by comparison
http://cdn-jpg.si.com/sites/default/files/styles/si_gallery_slide/public/images/45626_268352_01a_Nike_FB_Cleveland_Barkevious_Mingo_Soldiers_0032_16X9_original.jpg
They low balled him when as you pointed out they had the money. It doesn’t speak well to treat a guy who has worked and improved and become a Pro Bowler that when the time comes to deal you low ball him right out of the gate. They should have learned something from Alex Mack.
Lombanner didn’t low ball Mack. They zero balled him.
I get that money is ALWAYS a consideration in the NFL, but you’re right: the kid has earned a raise. The only thing I can see from the team’s side is using this season to make sure he’s back and ready to roll. If so, lock him up.
Beauty and eye of the beholder and whatnot.
News at 11: sports are cutthroat.
Both sides are just playing the game. The sky is still firmly in place. Step away from the edge.
Completely. He’s done everything right. Use the system set up to use you.
He won me over with his play I thought he deserved to be paid, period. Instead they chose a path which could potentially alienate Gipson. When you have so few players who make an impact the last thing I’d want to do is lose them. Worse yet risk losing them by not giving them an offer that lets them as well as other players know on and off your team that you are willing to pay to keep quality players.
This organization can’t afford to play games that’s the point. Well they can technically afford it they just for some reason don’t want to spend when the time comes for spending. They’d rather draft flunkies and fire people yet still have to pay them anyways.
He’s a tendered player; negotiation essentially begins once the tender date has passed while they wait and see if another team makes an offer/gives up a draft pick. Not being able to agree on terms before they tendered TG doesn’t mean either side “failed.” It means they had a difference of opinion about a player’s value. Negotiation is at its core about two sides with differing opinions reaching a compromise. Allowing that process to play out is not a sign that somehow, “They’d rather draft flunkies and fire people yet still have to pay them anyways.”
If no one else offers up a second round draft choice then apparently 31 other teams agree with the Brown’s assessment. Doesn’t mean they don’t respect the guy. This is a business.
Well we’ll see what happens I stick by my original viewpoint.
yeah, not sure why people are lumping this situation with the Mack one. He had a decent year followed by a very good/injury year. No one has implied the Browns low-balled him, but it takes two sides to agree. It could be Gipson’s agent, not Farmer, that has prevented a long-term deal. And he might want to sign an offer sheet with a clause like Mack’s that give him an early escape if he doesn’t like what’s going on here. A clause like that will only come from another team hoping it’s a poison pill.
Yeah, I suppose that could be evoked in response to any blog comment section discussion ever.
But I do think there are some important points of comparison that deserve scrutiny in the wake of the dazzling corporate event. For instance:
1) Why did the shade of orange have to change? What was wrong with the previous tone and why was a more reddish hue considered superior?
2) Why do the stripes on the shoulder extend towards the middle of the jersey?
3) Does the gaudy “Browns” lettering down the pant leg keep with the commitment to “respecting the past”
4) Where did the iconic stripes on the socks go? Why were they elided?
5) Generally, how were fans consulted in these changes? What were the emergent themes and how did Nike factor them into the redesign?
1. Aesthetic choice.
2. Aesthetic choice.
3. Corporate speak. Every corporation/business everywhere does this. Not exactly surprising that this one did as well.
4. Stripes are iconic but lettering is problematic?
5. Any answer would be more corporate speak. You’re looking for more?
You seem to believe it is unreasonable to want to know why certain aesthetic choices were made
I don’t think it’s unreasonable to want it but I do think it’s unreasonable to expect an intensely image based corporate-speak based entity to provide you with a non-corporate speak based answer. Your responses make me think you would find as much frustration with those as you do with the changes.
You are likely correct. However, hearing the reasoning behind the changes might actually make me (and others who haven’t initially warmed to the uniform reboot) less skeptical about the whole ordeal. In the absence of explanation, I project cynical motivations onto the whole ordeal
Gotcha. Kinda hard to be a long time Brown’s fan and not “project cynical motivations” at some facet of this organization. 😉
#3 – I saw this Browns logo circa ’86 on a classmate’s Trapper Keeper. I guess that respecting the past isn’t necessarily respecting the Jim Brown era. The pant logo is hideous.
Uptick for astute Trapper Keeper reference