If Jerome Harrison Wants Accolades, Sign the Contract

Cleveland Browns running back Jerome Harrison is one of the five unsigned restricted free agents holding out for a better contract.

Harrison was stuck on the bench for most of 2009 while Jamal Lewis got most of the carries, even though Lewis obviously was slower from his first carry in preseason.

It was revealed late in the season Harrison wouldn't go 100 percent in practices, and that became the main reason head coach Eric Mangini became reluctant to use him during games.

A sit-down with the coach helped solve that problem, and after Lewis was injured, Harrison finished the season with three straight breakout games.

Beginning in Week 15, Harrison ran for 286 yards on 34 carries and followed that up the next two weeks with 148 and 127 yards on 39 and 33 carries.

Harrison only lost one fumble in that time period and caught four passes for 32 yards.

While these three games showed what Harrison is capable of, it's a small sampling of the entire season, and to look at it from an ownership standpoint, they have to take the entire season into account when doing their contract negotiations.

It is relatively certain the Browns are factoring in the "turned the corner" aspect of Harrison in the latter part of the season, but the second-round tender they offered him had to take into account the previous 14 weeks of the 2009 season.

Harrison only ran for 301 yards prior to Week 15 with Week 4 being the only other game Harrison ran for more than 100 yards.

The drafting of Montario Hardesty and the trade for Peyton Hillis also keeps the leverage for a new contract firmly in the Browns pocket.

Team president Mike Holmgren said he wanted to "add to the pile" of running backs on the Browns roster, and he did just that. Chris Jennings and James Davis also are under contract with the Browns, and Davis showed a lot of potential in preseason last year before a shoulder injury shut him down after Week 1.

There also is Lawrence Vickers, another unsigned RFA, to consider, but until he signs his contract, it's difficult to predict how he might fit into the Browns 2010 plans.

Harrison began looking like a valuable commodity at the end of 2009, and it's no surprise his agent wants to take advantage of this, but three games does not a career make, and Harrison would serve himself better by signing his tender, blowing the roof off of the place and setting himself up for a huge payday next year.

Unlike Abram Elam, who I discussed here , Harrison has shown he can be a playmaker.

And before anyone tries to accuse me of being an Elam-hater, the Browns drafted TWO safeties in this year's draft, indicating they weren't exactly happy with the performance of ANY of their safeties during the 2009 season.

Mangini proved last year with Joshua Cribbs he will not let any one player's contract situation hold the rest of the team hostage, and Harrison needs to be in the OTAs if he wants to be the team's No. 1 running back in 2010.