Cleveland Browns Josh Cribbs not talking to other teams per agent

The Cleveland Browns and star returner Josh Cribbs have been constantly in talks about getting a deal done, even though NFL.com- among others- has stated that the Browns are not expected to keep Cribbs due to his desire to receive a $2 million deal. The Browns reportedly don’t want to give that much money to a player who is pretty much restricted to returns.

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There is also the issue of tampering, but Cribbs’s agent told the Cleveland Plain Dealer today that he and Cribbs are only speaking with the Browns organization. This is in response to this comment Cribbs made to ESPN Cleveland yesterday, “My agent has been meeting with several different teams. There is a lot of interest. There are already numbers brought to the table. Things are happening. Wheels are turning behind closed doors.”

Now here is what his agent told Mary Kay Cabot of the Plain Dealer, “Our conversations to this point have been exclusively with the Browns.”

The way I see it, if there is any tampering going on, it is most likely insignificant and the Browns won’t be charging anyone with tampering. The team is still expected to move in a different direction than Cribbs at this juncture, because the 29-year-old is likely asking for too much money. Cribbs and his camp keep reiterating that there is a strong free agent market for the returner, but it is possible that they are just trying to gain leverage and trump up the idea that Cribbs is receiving considerable interest. That may be the reason why Cribbs made that strong comment on ESPN Cleveland, and why his agent rushed to deny anything dealing with tampering.

Cribbs had a fantastic 1,178 return yardage on kick-offs and added 457 more on punts, but he also had just 105 yards of total offense in the receiving and rushing game.

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