Cleveland Browns Rescind Kellen Winslow Suspension After Text Messages Surface

Yesterday, our very own Midnight Writer reported, based on a report from the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, that the official suspension letter from the Cleveland Browns to Kellen Winslow included accusations of verbal abuse to Browns employees by Winslow, as well as attempts by teammates to stop Winslow from talking after the Redskins game. (ProFootballTalk.com alerted us to a Chris Mortensen report from ESPN that Kellen Winslow contracted staph when he cut himself on his car door.)

This morning, Mary-Kay Cabot of the Plain-Dealer is reporting that the Cleveland Browns have decided to rescind Kellen Winslow’s one-game suspension after it came to light that a Browns PR employee had text messaged Winslow and told him to keep quiet about his staph infection. Browns management apparently had not been previously made aware of these text messages. According to the Plain-Dealer:

The text messages urged Winslow not to reveal his staph infection and said General Manager Phil Savage would get involved if he did. Winslow was also told in the texts that revealing staph would touch off a firestorm.

On Saturday, Browns owner Randy Lerner called Kellen Winslow to apologize to the tight end for how the situation had unfolded. Despite the lifting of the suspension, Kellen Winslow will still be required to pay a $25,000 fine for his comments regarding the Cleveland Browns not protection players from staph infections; however, he will not lose his game check for today’s game, nor will he be required to officially apologize to the team.

As to the most important component of all of this for the Browns and the team’s fans, Kellen Winslow still will not play today in the Cleveland Browns game against the Jaguars. He was not allowed to participate in team functions this week and had traveled back home to San Diego on Thursday. The following is a statement from Kellen Winslow in the wake of the Browns lifting his suspension:

“This past week has been trying for all parties involved. As you know, I contracted staph for the second time in my career and was hospitalized for four days. I spoke out on this because I felt it was the right thing to do. This had nothing to do with football. This was and remains a serious health concern.

“I do realize that I am a public person and my words, whether constructively articulated or expressed emotionally, carry a lot of weight in the public arena. My intentions were never meant to be disruptive or distracting to the Browns organization, but rather to voice my concerns about my medical condition. I am confident that the Browns organization has taken the necessary steps to make our facility a healthy working environment.

“I formally reiterate my respect for the Browns organization, my teammates and the city of Cleveland. I look forward to getting back to playing football and being a productive member of this team. It’s now time to focus on winning.”

As more details emerge about this story, it looks less and less favorable for the Browns organization and makes me feel a little sillier for siding mostly with the Browns and not at all with Winslow. As usual, the truth and fault still lies somewhere in the middle, but there is no question that this has been a huge PR nightmare for the team.

According to the Cabot story in the Plain-Dealer, Kellen Winslow had planned on clearing the air about his hospitalization even while in the Cleveland Clinic. Many websites, including Midwest Sports Fans, ran with the varied rumors that sprouted up regarding why Kellen Winslow had been in the hospital. Even if he had a staph infection, the rumors of testicular swelling could still be true — but obviously there was much more to the story than originally met the eye.

Reportedly, Winslow did not disclose the nature of his hospitalization because he and his representatives felt pressure from the public relations staff to keep quiet. This pressure came in the form of the afore mentioned text messages, that Winslow apparently believed had been directed from the organization. The confrontation between Kellen Winslow and Browns GM Phil Savage in the tunnel after the Redskins game, which Savage claimed was not heated, apparently occurred with Winslow under the impression that Savage was “on board” with the directive that Winslow not disclose that he had a staph infection.

In response to a question regarding whether he knew about the text messages, Savage said: “We have settled and are ready to move forward. In 3-plus years, the medical staff has always informed me of a player’s wishes in terms of maintaining confidentiality or releasing his records.”

Part of the settlement Kellen Winslow reached the Browns says that he will never be prevented from making public comments regarding health and safety concerns about the working conditions at the Browns facility.

Obviously, with this story still being hot off the presses, there will be more to come later. I am sure that the Browns would like to sweep this under the rug and not deal with it anymore — but questions still remain. Whether Phil Savage knew about the text messages or not, was there a general organizational directive to pressure players in any way about not revealing the nature of injuries/illnesses if they were staph-related? Was this just a rogue PR person making a misguided attempt to keep the “best interests” of the organization in mind? Can the Browns and Kellen Winslow repair an obviously fractured relationship and truly move forward?

Who knows. We’ll have to see how the next week, the rest of the season, and the offseason play out to get more clarity and closure on this situation. One thing seems certain: to a certain extent, Kellen Winslow has been vindicated in the court of public opinion; and the Cleveland Browns are not left to explain their side of the story and pick up the pieces of this mess. Because of the suspension, the Browns now go into a huge road game against an AFC opponent without one of their best offensive players, when he very easily could have (and should have) been on the field. But the fact that Kellen Winslow is not playing today does give us a chance to answer another pressing question that has been floating around Browns fandom:

Is the team better off without Kellen Winslow anyway?

Today’s game will give the Browns another chance to find out, but based on the reports surfacing this morning, it’s a chance that never should have occurred.

[tags]cleveland browns, kellen winslow, nfl, football, suspension, staph infection[/tags]

---

---

---