Sargeant Winslow Wants a New Deal
Kellen Winslow had an amazing season, amassing over 1000 yards in receiving. Now he wants to get some of that “new” money, as he called it in an interview on Sirius radio this week. Winslow is one of the most talented tight ends in the league, to be sure, but based on Winslow’s history, this should be very interesting. Winslow has done tons of damage to his body in his career, but the most damage stemmed from his off-field escapades on a crotch rocket that he crashed over a curb in a parking lot and into some bushes. As a result, Winslow plays with tons of pain. He is unable to practice a lot of weeks. He saves it all up and leaves it all out on the field on Sunday. The sad thing is that Winslow probably won’t ever be able to play the game of football pain free ever again.
And that is where the difficulty comes in. While the Browns love their superstar tight end, there is definitely a business risk posed by allocating any more money from the salary cap to a player who battles through so many injuries during the season. They have to sit by every off-season as Winslow gets more and more surgeries to clean things up in that knee. They have to sit there and hope that Winslow will be able to recover one more time to lay it all out again on the field.
Due to the fact that Winslow’s motorcycle accident was off the field and apparently in opposition to some clauses in his contract, the Browns renegotiated him after he had the accident. They had payed him all kinds of bonuses in signing his original deal and rather than asking for money back, they gave him a deal that was more heavily weighted to incentives. Now, apparently, that kind of a deal isn’t good enough for a tight end who has had two solid seasons in a row.
I don’t totally disagree. I am sure there is a happy medium somewhere. Winslow probably deserves a bit more guaranteed money with his health issues. He really does risk a ton every time he steps onto the field and he should be compensated for that. At the same time, it is a huge business risk for the Browns because Winslow has so many miles on that body of his. So, if Winslow is looking to be the highest paid tight end in the league, he can keep dreaming. At the same time, he should be able to get a few more guaranteed dollars out of the Browns in return for the huge risks he takes in getting on the field week in and week out.
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