Memo to Mike Holmgren: Do Not Renegotiate With Josh Cribbs

TO: Mike Holmgren, President, Cleveland Browns

It has come to our attention that you plan to continue discussions with Mr. Joshua Cribbs with the intent of renegotiating his employment contract with the Browns. Please be advised that it is best at this time not to do so.

As you are aware, Mr. Cribbs willingly signed a six-year, $6.7 million contract extension in November 2006. That contract still has three years remaining.

It is true that Mr. Cribbs has been a model employee. However, a contract is a contract. Mr. Cribbs knew what he was doing when he signed on the dotted line. It is reasonable to expect a person to live up to his word.

Therefore, we recommend that you not renegotiate at this time.

Unless…

…you recognize, as knowledgeable Cleveland fans do, that Mr. Cribbs is the embodiment of everything that ever made Browns football great. He went to college in nearby Kent and embraced the chance to continue his career in Northeast Ohio. Undrafted, unheralded, and undaunted, his talent is exceeded only by his heart. That plays well in our blue-collar neck of the woods.

…you want to make your best player happy. Would that our best player was a quarterback, or a running back, or a linebacker. But this is Cleveland, and our best player is a kick returner and special teams wunderkind. So be it. No one else compares.

…you value players who put the team first. Mr. Cribbs set aside his contract concerns last fall and turned in a breathtaking Pro Bowl campaign—then took eight of his teammates with him to Miami this week. In a sports world where the phrase “anything I can do to help the team” has too often been mouthed with total insincerity, Mr. Cribbs has shown, by his actions, that he means it.

…you’re willing to admit that the 11 years since the Browns returned have been a vast and desolate wasteland. We had our hearts ripped out in 1995, and the NFL stood by and watched. We’re still angry about it. We need you to acknowledge that, and then send a clear and consistent message that the days of mediocrity are over and that players like Mr. Cribbs are valued enough to keep here.

…you understand, as all great executives do, that players’ egos are more important than your own. You’ve won championships. You’ve basked in the accolades. But this is about Cribbs, not you, and not even the organization—a fact that seems to have been lost on your addled predecessors in the front office.

…you are prepared to send a message to the rest of the league that the Browns value talent and will do what it takes to attract it, cultivate it, and keep it. Premier free agents stopped signing here. That needs to change.

…you want players to be role models. Last October, without fanfare, Mr. Cribbs stepped in for a former coach who died of cancer and walked the man’s son onto his high school football field for Senior Night. This week he announced that he’s donating his Pro Bowl paycheck to the relief efforts in Haiti. In a professional sports world teeming with guns, steroids, and sex scandals, Mr. Cribbs quietly behaves like a hero.

…you want to send a message to Browns fans that this is, once again, their team. You think Packers fans are something? Put on your seat belt and visit BrownsBacker.com . There are more than 90,000 members in 306 chapters, located in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. There are another dozen international clubs, from London to Taipei to Australia.

There is a deep and enduring connection between this team, this town, and these fans. And the one thing they all have in common right now is they love Josh Cribbs, and they want him to trot onto the football field next fall—and for many more after that—wearing the familiar orange and brown.

So, Mr. Holmgren, unless the above points apply, we advise you not to renegotiate with Mr. Cribbs at this time.

Of course, if they do apply, then please proceed with contract talks.

Oh, and, while you’re at it, feel free to settle into your office. Chances are you’ll be around for quite some time.