Kellen Winslow Out Sunday | Are Winslow and Drew Rosenhaus Plottting a Move?

(Sunday morning update: The Browns have lifted the suspension of Kellen Winslow after text messages surfaced from a Browns PR employee that pressured Winslow to keep quiet about his staph infection.  Winslow will still not play against the Jaguars.)

As I’m sure you know by now, Kellen Winslow has been suspended by the Cleveland Browns for this Sunday’s game against Jacksonville. In a statement released today, Phil Savage basically said it was due to conduct detrimental to the team and that ever stone has been overturned trying to fix the staph infection problem plaguing the Browns.

Kellen Winslow issued his own statement backing up the validity of what he said that got him suspended, but also taking responsibility, professing his commitment to the Browns, claiming that he remains loyal and wants to be a Brown for a very long time, and saying that his statements Sunday night had nothing to do with football or his contract situation.

I really hope so Kellen. But here is the problem: Kellen’s agent is Drew Rosenhaus, who has proven time and again that he is a Machiavellian puppeteer when it comes to trying to squeeze every last dollar possible out of NFL teams.

Quick — when you think of Drew Rosenhaus’ clients, who are the first two who come to mind? If you said Chad Johnson and Terrell Owens, you are like a vast majority of people I would presume. And why are these two of the most well-known Rosenhaus clients? Because they made complete fools of themselves, damaged their teams, damaged their reputations; and all in the name of getting more money, more money, more money.

Is it possible that Terrell Owens and Chad Johnson are just loose cannons who did push-ups in their driveway and claimed they would never play for the Bengals again all on their own? I guess. I’m not a beat reporter or an NFL Insider, so I don’t know what goes on behind the scenes. But I know what I hear and what I read, and it certainly seems like players’ priorities tend to change the minute Drew Rosenhaus gets ahold of them. He can’t make a dime off of their NFL contract until he negotiates it for them. Hence, when Kellen Winslow picked up Rosenhaus as his agent, many people figured it meant Kellen wanted a new deal sooner rather than later.

Here is what I hope: I hope that Kellen Winslow was sincere in saying that his recent insubordination is a result of his feelings being hurt and thinking that he had an altruistic responsibility to get the truth out. If so, I still think he was wrong because he brought all of this on his team; but I can at least respect his commitment to principle.

If, however, this is all part of a Rosenhausian plot to pave the way for Kellen’s ultimate departure from Cleveland, then I say shame on both of them. I have no reports to link out to that say this is the case, and I hope that my hypothesis is wrong. But the more I read about this situation, the more it smells like Drew Rosenhaus trying to be opportunistic and angle a way out of town for his client, while throwing the Browns under the bus in the process.

Although, make no mistake: the Browns deserve every piece of criticism they get here. I realize they have done everything possible to fix the issue; but until they do in fact solve the staph infection problem, the organization has to maintain accountability for the issue and should do it publicly. They would expect the same from their players.

I think that only time will tell whether Kellen Winslow is currently being manipulated by Niccolo Rosenhaus. If he returns from his suspension humbled, hard-working, and hungry to be somewhat selfless in helping the Browns turn their season around, then I will be gladly wrong. On the other hand, if this current issue is only the tip of the iceberg, then we will have even more circumstantial evidence that the sports agent/ventriloquist named Drew Rosenhaus is in control.

Either way, it’s time to look forward. The 2008 season hangs in the balance this Sunday when the Cleveland Browns take on the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Browns found some magic and rhythm the last time Kellen Winslow was out; perhaps they can find that same magic and rhythm with him out again.

(Since this post was published, Phil Savage has publicly addressed the suspension of Kellen Winslow. Read excerpts, our take, and follow a link to listen to the audio yourself.)

(Photo Art by Midwest Sports Fans — you may click the Photoshopped goodness above but it will not enlarge; the heads in the image are already big enough, don’t you think?)

[tags]kellen winslow, drew rosenhaus, cleveland browns, nfl, football, terrell owens, chad johnson[/tags]

Tags: chad johnson, Cleveland Browns, drew rosenhaus, football, kellen winslow, NFL, Terrell Owens

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