Jamal Lewis to the Cleveland Browns: "No Mas, No Mas!"

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Now they’re jumping ship.

Following his team’s latest drubbing, a 30-6 debacle at the hands of the Chicago Bears, Cleveland’s Jamal Lewis announced that he would retire at the end of the season.

Lewis sidestepped his way to the Browns in 2007 after six solid seasons in Baltimore (excluding 2001, when missed the entire season due to injury). He ran for almost 8,000 yards and earned a Super Bowl ring with the Ravens.

Often under-appreciated in Cleveland, Lewis rushed for 1,304 and 1,002 yards, respectively, in his first two seasons with the Browns. The only other Browns back to top 1,000 yards since the team's return in 1999 was Reuben Droughns, in 2005. That Lewis did it twice in two seasons never seemed to be quite good enough for Cleveland fans.

This year, he's rushed for 349 yards in six games, having sat out two with injury. Lewis now has 10,456 yards in his career, good for 22nd on the all-time list. He should crack the top 20 before the end of the season.

This is Lewis’s 10th NFL campaign. Perhaps he’d made up his mind before the season began that it would be his last. Or perhaps, like everyone else in Cleveland, he’s tired of the mediocrity that is the hallmark of the current Browns organization.

Lewis is a proud man and a legendary runner. He set what was then an NFL single-game rushing record of 295 yards for Baltimore against the Browns in 2003. He amassed 2,066 yards on the season—making him one of five players in league history to top the 2,000-yard mark—and was named the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year by the Associated Press.

Though unlikely to top 1,000 yards this year, he did so in seven of the first eight seasons he was active. The Hall of Fame beckons down the road.

That Lewis is retiring is not a surprise. He’s clearly slowed in recent years and is not the dominant runner he once was. He also plays for one of the most inept offenses in the league.

What’s surprising is that he announced it midseason. The not-so-subtle message? The team is in shambles, and it’s just not worth the trouble any longer.

Last season, after one particularly dismal performance, Lewis and return specialist Josh Cribbs both suggested that some players on the Browns simply quit. Then-coach Romeo Crennel denied it, as he had to, but coming from two of the team’s toughest players, it had a ring of truth to it.

Lewis must be embarrassed by what’s passing for pro football in Cleveland these days and surely wants no part of it any longer. Give him credit for sticking out the rest of the season, and give him his due. In his prime, he was one of the most feared runners in football. But in his twilight years, he ended up stuck on a team that most players would simply fear being a part of.

That a likely Hall of Famer no longer wants to strap on the orange and brown is another sad commentary on how far this once-storied franchise has fallen.

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