They say there are two sides to every story. Yesterday, Browns’ NT Shaun Rogers announced that he would prefer the team not pick up his roster bonus, and instead release him as the NFL free agency season approaches. Rogers said he is not happy that new coach Eric Mangini did not acknowledge him in the two times they were in the same room. He is also upset that the Browns want to add a weight clause. It’s kind of odd timing, don’t you think.
Sure, Mangini should have talked to Rogers, who was the Browns’ best defensive player in the 2008 season, and made the Pro Bowl. It’s the right thing to do. The same way former GM Phil Savage should have contacted Kellen Winslow when he was in the hospital with a staph infection. It’s common courtesy, especially when you consider Rogers is one of the Browns’ best players.
The way most football coaches operate is absurd. Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick started this technique of handling players with rudeness, and since they won, other coaches copy the style. However, Tony Dungy is a nice man and he won a Super Bowl. I understand that players should be pleasing the coach, but being uncivilized is not acceptable behavior, even for a football coach.
However, Rogers is blowing this way out of proportion. Does the coach need to cajole his players on a weekly basis? Or is Rogers using his Pro Bowl season to his advantage and angling for a new contract? What he weighs should be a concern to his employer.
Rogers needs to realize he was not the best defensive player on a playoff team; the Browns went 4-12 last season. There are no sacred cows on this team, nor should there be. Granted, at times, Rogers was an unstoppable force on the defensive line, and he played a huge role in one of the team’s four wins, the one at Jacksonville. Still, he was the best player on a defense that gave up gobs and gobs of yardage.
It seems to me that Rogers needs to impress his coach, not the other way around. Mangini might have been aloof with the nose tackle, but he is trying to change the culture of this football team. He has one job right now, to evaluate the talent that played for the 4-12 Browns, and figure out how to improve this squad so that type of season never happens again.
As far as the weight clause goes, since the team is paying him a pretty good amount of money, they are simply protecting their investment. Rogers said his weight wasn’t an issue last season, and he had an excellent year. If he ballooned up to 400 pounds (50 over the teams’ requested limit), perhaps he wouldn’t be as effective. The Browns certainly have the right to request that players be in shape.
Rogers isn’t going anywhere. Releasing him would be a huge hit on the salary cap, and the Browns aren’t going to get fair value in a trade. This seems to me to be a salary ploy by the big man and his agent. He’s trying to cash in on a big year, and is using the I’m disrespected card as his bait. Both parties need to sit down and straighten this out.
As is usual with the Cleveland Browns, a molehill has grown into a mountain. More great leadership from the Randy Lerner regime.
JD
Cleveland Sports Perspective 