Browns Cut Best Receiver
Published November 12, 2003
If he doesn't get along with the coach I don't have a problem with that. If the coach wants to get rid of him, I don't have a problem with that. What do I have a problem with? I have a problem with a bad business move. Cutting the guy while you still owe him money without spending another off-season trying to trade him seems really stupid to me.
He would be a tough player to trade because he does have a good contract, but it seems to me that this cut would be better made during training camp next year when the Browns have had a chance to reload. I figure you owe a guy his money this season. He is going to cost over $2 million on your cap next year due to the signing bonus from the last contract that he signed last year. Cutting him after your ninth game in the 2003-2004 season doesn't make much sense.
Kevin Johnson is a fan favorite. That is not a good reason to keep a guy in the National Football League. But the reason Johnson was a fan favorite is because he has been the sole bright spot for the Cleveland Browns since they came back in 1999. He showed loyalty to this team by playing his heart out in the painful first couple years. He showed character by helping the Browns make the playoffs last year. When he had a bad game against San Diego this year, he came out and said how badly he played. He didn't blame the QB. He didn't blame the Offensive Line. He didn't blame the referees. That is how classy guys operate. This is proven true today, because today Browns fans... Kevin Johnson has been turned into a scapegoat for Butch Davis.
Craig Lyndall rants, raves and writes other stuff at FilteringCraig.com and at The Cleveland Sports Curse
- Browns Cut Best Receiver
- Published: November 12, 2003
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- Section: Sports
- Writer: Craig Lyndall
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Comments on this articleComments
It is starting to look bleek, but I want to see how they spin this today. How can the Browns possibly spin this move?
"it's best for all concerned"
"he wasn't happy in a reduced role"
"now we can all move on"
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Craig, don't you get it? They cut Johnson because they just don't need him. If my beloved Browns are going to lose, the running game will handle matters nicely. This is so typical of the New Browns.
When the Browns came back from the dead I actively rooted for them to suck because every losing season meant another top draft pick. I worked on the assumption that such a strategy would someday pay dividends. But now we're long past that honeymoon phase, and I'm starting to settle in for a long haul of lowered expectations.
Kind of like being a Cubs fan, lovable loserness is attractive. And kind of like being a Red Sox fan (which I am), self-flagellation is good recreation. The Browns make it easy to have it both ways. So anymore when a draft pick fails to pan out, or the Browns send their best players away, I can't work up much outrage. It's all typical of the team's self-defeating management style. At this point I would hardly be shocked if the Browns traded Couch and Holcomb for Kordell Stewart, brought Ryan Leaf out of oblivion as backup, sent their entire recieving corps to Pittsburgh in exchange for a kicker, and sold the team to the Heinz corporation.
It's not that a Superbowl bid would be unwelcome; I would probably have to be sedated for weeks. But man, the Browns organization are making it hard on the true believers.