Cleveland Browns: Time's Up for Running Back Peyton Hillis

The Cleveland Browns are not going to put the franchise tag on running back Peyton Hillis. Considering the reports released today about his comments to the team's coaching staff throughout the season, he won't likely be getting a new deal either.

Hillis, who drew the ire of his teammates throughout the season by appearing distracted by the fact the Browns did not offer him a long-term deal, has made a number of questionable decisions since his breakout 2010 season, in which he rushed 270 times for 1,177 yards and 11 touchdowns.

He's blown through three agents in a year's time, his most recent being Kennard McGuire, who told Hillis to stay off the field when he had strep throat. Hillis fired McGuire yesterday.

Hillis also ran to Arkansas to get married in October. While it was on a team day off, it further raised questions about his overall commitment to football.

Apparently, Hillis told Browns coaches at the end of the season that he was thinking of retiring from the game entirely, instead wanting to pursue a career with the CIA (as in, the Central Intelligence Agency, not the culinary academy).

Clearly, the Browns had no reason to keep Hillis around after he made such comments, even if he did change his mind afterward and decide to continue on in the NFL.

No team—not the Browns nor any other squad—would want to have someone prone to vacillations of will as their starting running back. How can the Browns or any team know just how much of Hillis' heart and mind is in the game at any given time?

Now Hillis will test the free-agent market once he is able to, on March 13. With this latest report, there's little chance that he will get the money he was looking for from the Browns at the start of the 2011 season, let alone whatever the team had considered giving him in recent weeks.

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