Phil Savage Discusses Kellen Winslow Suspension on WTAM 1100 Radio – Audio

(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.)

Today during his weekly radio spot will Wills and Snyder on The Big One, WTAM 1100 in Cleveland, Browns GM Phil Savage commented publicly on the Kellen Winslow suspension for the first time. (Thanks to our own MidnightWriter and ProFootballTalk.com for the alerting us to the interview.)

You can listen to Phil Savage discuss Kellen Winslow on WTAM 1100 here.

I took a quick listen, and here are the highlights:

As to the reportedly “heated” conversation that Kellen Winslow and Phil Savage had in the tunnel following the Washington game, and prior to Kellen Winslow’s comments, Savage said that their conversation was, in fact, not heated. He said might have been awkward somewhat, with Winslow in a football uniform and Savage in a suit, but that both he and WInslow handled themselves with respect.

As to the suspension, Phil Savage explained that this was something he and Browns ownership and Romeo Crennel discussed all Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning. Savage felt that Kellen Winslow went public with remarks without giving team an opportunity to respond, and in doing so Winslow called into question the integrity of the organization — despite the fact that Browns had stood by Winslow in the aftermath of his motorcycle accident and subsequent rehab. In addition, he reasserted that Browns have done everything to combat staph problem

“It just showed a lack of professional restraint,” Savage said about the comments by Winslow.

Phil Savage then went on, at length, discussing his primary point: that the Cleveland Browns are bigger than one person.

“That’s the bottom line in this situation,” explained Savage. “We couldn’t and won’t allow one person to tear down the organization. So we had to do something.”

Savage also took exception to the notion that he does not care for his players, a response to Winslow’s charge that he felt like “a piece of meat.” Without refuting Winslow’s claim that Savage never called him while he was in the hospital, Savage went on at length about the extent of his duties as GM and how he still makes time to find personal connections and personal time for almost every player. I agree with Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com, that Savage went overboard here, and sounded a little whiny and defensive. But his basic point was that any notion that he does not care about his players is falsely based.

Phil Savage then discussed the Browns organization as a whole, and how the organization’s commitment to winning and to the team (“T-E-A-M” as he spelled out) led to Winslow’s suspension:

“[The Browns] will never ever ever have a group of people who are more committed to winning, and doing things the right way, with character, with integrity, with dignity, from the group that’s over there right now,” explained Savage.

He continued, “I’m not going to sit here and allow for one second all those people and the many, many others in the organization who love this team, as well as lot of the players, almost every single man on that team, who gives everything they have on the field, and off the field for us to be embarrassed by some unnecessary remarks that occurred this week. So for us to be characterized in this way on a national stage is absolutely unacceptable, and that’s why we did what we did.

“The team is the most important thing in the entire structure of this, and we cannot allow one person to disrupt that.”

The conversation then turned to the nature of Winslow’s illness and hospitalization. Savage said that HIPA won’t allow them to reveal the nature of an illness without the individual’s approval. He said, to paraphrase, that It seemed that the people involved “wouldn’t want it out there.” It was all agreed upon that Winslow and the Browns would keep the nature of the illness under wraps, and that agreement was reached the weekend before the Giants game. Savage did say that it was a non-football illness that occurred during the bye week. After the game, Savage explained, the whole thing changed with regard to keeping the situation under wraps.

The question was then posed to Phil Savage, can you go forward with Kellen Winslow?

“Absolutely,” Savage responded. “You know, if he’s willing to do the things that he’s said publicly that he’s willing to do, which is that he wants to be Brown, he wants to be a productive member of the team….certainly we would welcome him back. We’ve gotta do what’s best for the team, and the people that are on this team have to do what’s best for the team and not always necessarily what’s best for themselves.”

Phil Savage did say one thing that seemed to refute other reports I have been hearing regarding the supposedly expedited appeal. He said that, as of late last night, the appeal hearing will be on Tuesday, which would obviously be after the Jacksonville game.

From my perspective, the last thing that Phil Savage said, regarding individuals doing what’s best for the team and not necessarily themselves, was the most interesting. I have had a sneaking suspicion since this situation cropped up that Winslow’s desire for a new contract, and the influence of Drew Rosenhaus, might have as much to do with his actions as anything. While Savage never even hinted in that direction specifically, the general assertion seems to be there that Kellen Winslow’s actions were selfish and in his own best interests, with little regard to the team. How much the contract issue plays into that obviously is not known for certain, my gut feeling remains that it has as much to do with it as anything.

Anyway, we wanted to hear from Phil Savage and now we have. He and the organization felt a suspension was necessary to preserve the integrity of the team. The more I hear about this story, the more I agree with him; but obviously I would like to see this get resolved as quickly as possible, see the Browns pull out a much needed W against Jacksonville this weekend, and then get Kellen Winslow back to being the dynamic, game-changing playmaker that he was last year.

The best interests of the team may be for Kellen Winslow to sit this week’s game out, as much to prove a point as anything else. But we all know that the best interests of the team’s long-term success in 2008 revolves around Kellen Winslow becoming a productive member of this offense once again.

[tags]kellen winslow, phil savage, cleveland browns, nfl, football[/tags]

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