If Eric Mangini wants to help the Browns author a Falcons- or Dolphins-like turnaround in 2009, he surely knows that he needs his most talented players on board with his program. Browns fans certainly realize this, and unfortunately one of those talented players has already decided to skip the Browns’ first voluntary minicamp this week.

Josh Cribbs, special teams extraordinaire and team spark plug, has announced that he will not be attending this week’s voluntary full-team minicamp. As reported by John Taylor of the Orange and Brown Report, talks between Josh Cribbs and the Cleveland Browns “have gone nowhere.”

Here is an excerpt from John Taylor’s post at the OBR regarding Josh Cribbs skipping Browns minicamp this week:

One Browns source stated that “the team is having a hard time figuring out a value to place on what Josh brings to the team. He’s obviously a tremendous football player, a tremendous asset to the team and to the city, but we all just have to find some type of way to gauge financially what is acceptable in relation to what he does and to the [salary] cap.”

Cribbs is still playing under the contract he signed before his incredible 2007 season in which he always seemed to be involved in every big run of Browns momentum, whether it be from a punt return, a kickoff return, or a yardage saving tackle as a gunner. From 2009 through 2012 Cribbs’ salaries are $620K, $635K, $650K, and $790K with “up to $400K” escalators built into each remaining year.

According to Taylor, “Cribbs is not necessarily looking for a new deal right now; he is, however, looking for some type of meaningful progress in the talks.” Taylor also says that Cribbs is believed to be okay with a deal that includes lots of incentives based on his offensive participation. The root of his displeasure apparently is the fact that he was promised by Randy Lerner, Romeo Crennel, and Phil Savage that he would have his contract situation resolved and be taken care of after the 2008 season.

Obviously with Crennel and Savage now gone, replaced by Eric Mangini and George Kokinis, Cribbs still expects such an organizational promise to hold true. Personally, I cannot say that I blame him one iota. And as Mike Florio astutely points out over at ProFootballTalk, this is not the first time that Eric Mangini has encountered trouble with promises made by previous regimes. Citing the same report from the OBR, here is what Florio had to say about Josh Cribbs skipping the Browns voluntary full-team minicamp:

During Mangini’s three years with the Jets, three different players made similar claims: guard Pete Kendall, receiver Laveranues Coles, and tight end Chris Baker.

Taylor reports that, after the arrival of the Magini-Kokinis regime, Cribbs was told that the team would focus on fixing his contract after the 2009 draft. Three weeks later, no progress has been made.

I have a really hard time believing that Eric Mangini and George Kokinis would really have trouble figuring out the value of Josh Cribbs. If you want an example from 2007, you can pretty much just watch the tape of any Browns game. Josh Cribbs was electric and was either the source of a momentum shift or a momentum hammer time and again. An opposing would score, and Cribbs would immediately reverse the field position and get the Browns going, or he would make a big play when the Browns were on a roll and suck the life out of the opposition.

Considering his potential versatility in a Wildcat formation, or his potential if effectively and judiciously used as a third-down slot receiver, Cribbs is worthy of a new deal. He plays hard every down, he is a high character leader in the locker room, and he is the kind of person and player that you build winning organizations around. Unless his contract demands are just outrageous, which it does not sound like they are, what is the upside to pissing him off and forcing him to dig in his heels and stay away this week?

And getting back to my point above, if Mangini and Kokinis need more help figuring out Cribbs’ value to the team, why not look at Mangini’s very own Jets from last year. Leon Washington offered incredible value as one of the Jets’ primary weapons. I know that special teamers sometimes get looked upon as replaceable parts, but certain guys deserve to be paid, with Washington and Cribbs being two of these guys.

Not to mention, Cribbs is absolutely beloved by all Browns fans. If Mangini and Kokinis are looking to win over the fans (which they seem to care little about), they will get Josh Cribbs taken care of it. More importantly, if they are looking to ultimately win over the fans by winning games (which they do seem to care a lot about), they still should get Josh Cribbs taken care of. We all know that one of the Browns’ biggest problems is a dearth of playmakers on both sides of the ball. Josh Cribbs, however, can be a playmaker on both offense and special teams. Unless there is something I don’t know (which, granted, could be the case) I do not see any reason not to reward Cribbs for his contributions thus far to the organization and to make him a long-term, happy piece of Browns’ foundation moving forward.

Let’s just hope this ultimately gets resolved and Cribbs gets into camp. I don’t want to sit through the painful dreck of 2008 once again in 2009, and it’s hard for me to envision anything else without Josh Cribbs on the field playing like Josh Cribbs.

Update: Good news? Since posting this, PFT has posted regarding the fact that there is still an outside shot Cribbs could report to Browns minicamp tomorrow if “the team demonstrates today sufficient interest in adjusting Cribbs’ contract to reflect his performance over the two seasons since he signed it…” Let’s hope such interest is shown, and soon.

Update #2: Yet another update on the Josh Cribbs story over at PFT. It seems that the Browns front office is taking issue with Josh Cribbs’ stated recollection that Owner Randy Lerner promised Cribbs that his contract situation would be handled, even after Phil Savage and Romeo Crennel were let go. This is decidedly not the response that I was hoping the Browns would have to this situation. Fan-f***ing-tastic.