Drew Rosenhaus vs. Tom Heckert: The Duel in Cleveland

Super agent Drew Rosenhaus is known for driving hard bargains and being a royal pain in the neck to general managers and front offices everywhere.

So it should come as no surprise that Rosenhaus-represented clients like Cleveland Browns safety Abram Elam, Matt Roth and others are holding out of offseason activities and refusing to sign their tenders.

Roth demanded a trade on Monday, to which Browns general manager Tom Heckert flatly shot down.

"That's not going to happen," Heckert was quoted as saying.

Rosenhaus got where he is by maneuvering his clients into a position of strength in which to negotiate for more money.

Heckert knows Rosenhaus is holding a gun with no ammunition at the moment. The Browns have all the leverage and Rosenhaus is risking his clients a lot of money with this pointless posturing.

OTAs, admittedly, aren't really that important in the larger scheme of things, but given how much these players are paid, it's not really asking too much of these guys to show up.

Not having a contract is a valid excuse for not showing up, but if it's because an agent like Rosenhaus is giving his clients bad advice, it becomes a problem.

I have a lot to say about the current crop of holdouts, and with the exception of Phil Dawson, none of these guys are worth what they are insisting to Heckert and to the fans.

But Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer beat me to the punch here when it comes to reasons why these guys don't get a big contract and Joshua Cribbs did.  I couldn't have said it any better, but let me highlight this quote.

"Tell them to make Pro Bowls like Cribbs," said Pluto. "Tell them to play with the passion of Cribbs, and be one of the most respected Browns in the community like Cribbs. Show them tapes of Cribbs and say, 'When you play like this, come back and we'll talk.'"

For all the talk players like D'Qwell Jackson and Matt Roth and Elam are spouting right now, they certainly don't have a lot to show to make any front office want to throw bags of money at them.

Jerome Harrison's holdout makes some sense in the context of his age, 27, but that's his own fault for dogging practices under Eric Mangini last year. If he wants that big contract before he's 30, he's running out of time fast.

Jackson has been an above average linebacker, but how many other teams in this league would he really be a starting linebacker for.

Roth was claimed off of waivers in the middle of the season and Elam wouldn't be a starter on just about any other team than Cleveland.

All of these guys were offered second-round tenders and 31 other teams passed. That tells you all you need to know.

So if Rosenhaus is whispering in his clients' ears right now they're worth more money, these guys need to ask themselves who Rosenhaus is working for.

Heckert knows who he's working for, he knows what the team's record was last year, and he knows exactly how much each of these players contributed.

As OTAs progress into the June minicamp, it will be interesting to see how much Rosenhaus is willing to budge when it comes to his Cleveland Browns clients because we may end up asking Rosenhaus the question he hates being asked, "What have you done for your client other than get him kicked off the team?"

Next question!