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Cowboys smoke out Anderson deal

Possibility of losing QB for mediocre draft picks forces Browns to improve offer at the last minute

By Patrick McManamon
Beacon Journal columnist

Published on Wednesday, Apr 02, 2008


PALM BEACH, FLA.: Intrigue and innuendo sometimes surround NFL personnel decisions.

So it was when the Browns re-signed quarterback Derek Anderson to a three-year contract only a few hours after free agency had started in February.

The intrigue came from some smoke the Browns were seeing — smoke they believed led to a fire. When deciphered, the signals were read this way:

 

Anderson, a restricted free agent, would sign a deal with the Dallas Cowboys that the Browns could not match. The Browns would receive the Cowboys' first- and third-round draft picks, which would have given the Browns the 28th selection in the first round.

The Cowboys then would trade Anderson, and perhaps a future draft pick, to the Miami Dolphins for the first overall pick in this year's draft. The Cowboys would select Arkansas running back Darren McFadden.

The Dolphins would wind up with Anderson, and perhaps more, and the Browns would see their quarterback flitter away for a late first-round draft pick and a third-round pick.

Nobody has verified this was going to happen, but that doesn't really matter. What matters is the Browns thought it could happen.

''There was enough there to put some doubt in your mind, that it was a possibility,'' General Manager Phil Savage said Tuesday at the NFL's spring meetings.

This kind of move would have taken some creativity. Dallas, for instance, would not have given Anderson a signing bonus, but would have put a large roster bonus into his contract that Miami would have paid.

To the Browns, it all made sense.

The team had heard that Bill Parcells, who now runs the Dolphins' football operations, liked Anderson. They knew that when Phil Simms broadcast the second Browns-Steelers game, he promoted Anderson. They knew that Simms played for Parcells.

And they knew that if the Dolphins traded for Anderson, they would have acquired a quarterback with $12 million or $13 million in guaranteed money. A year ago, the Oakland Raiders
gave JaMarcus Russell $30 million in guaranteed money when he was taken first overall.

''It didn't matter if I was pretty convinced or just slightly,'' Savage said. ''The threat of that being there . . . ''

He didn't finish, but clearly the threat was enough to entice the Browns to improve their three-year offer from $22 million prior at the start of free agency to $24 million a few hours after free agency started.

Other fascinating tidbits enter into the thinking.

The Cowboys thought they might have gotten a top 10 pick from the Browns when they traded last year's No. 1, which turned out to be Brady Quinn, for this year's pick. The Browns wound up better than expected, and sticking the Browns with a low first-round pick would have been payback.

Too, Savage said that when the clock hits midnight to signal the start of free agency, a team can call another and always get someone on the phone.

''There were a couple teams in those realms — 20 to 30 (in the first round) and in the top 10 — that would not answer their phones,'' Savage said. ''Then all of a sudden at 5:30 in the morning I got texts saying, 'Oh, I didn't know you were trying to get in touch with me.' ''

Those text messages arrived, though, after the Browns had signed Anderson.

Among other Browns-related developments at the meetings:

• Savage threw some ice water on the possibility of the Browns trading up into the first day of the NFL Draft. The Browns do not have first-, second- or third-round picks as a result of trades for Quinn and defensive tackles Corey Williams and Shaun Rogers.

''At least in my mind, I think we've operated that we've kind of shut the door on the first day of the draft,'' Savage said.

The most exciting thing the Browns would do, he said, is move up in the fourth round.

''I have no thoughts in my mind that we even have the wherewithal to (move into rounds one, two or three),'' Savage said. ''Sitting here today, I don't envision a scenario.''

Savage's track record does not totally dismiss the possibility of making a deal. He acts aggressively when he sees a chance to improve the team.

• Savage and coach Romeo Crennel both said the quarterback job is Anderson's to lose.

''Derek has played over 1,000 snaps and there are people who still have doubts about him outside our building,'' Savage said. ''Brady has played 10 snaps and there are people who are convinced he's the guy.

''It's kind of illogical, but a lot of it depends on where you're picked.''

As he often does, Savage used golf analogies when talking about Anderson, saying his scorecard is posted in the clubhouse.

''I don't think people really realize what he represents,'' Savage said.

That would be a 24-year-old quarterback starting for the first time and throwing 29 touchdowns passes.

''It was worth the investment for us to see if he can go further with what he did last year,'' Savage said.

• Quinn can win the job, but he enters the season as the backup. Yes, Savage and Crennel both used the ''every job has competition'' line, but the team signed Anderson to a three-year, $24 million deal.

''You don't go give a guy $8 million a year whose last game was in Hawaii (the Pro Bowl) and say, 'By the way, you're in an open competition,' '' Savage said. ''I don't think that works. I don't think that's the right message.''

 

Anderson basically would have to play himself out of the starting job.

• Many eyebrows were raised when the Browns tore up Rogers' old contract and extended it — with $20 million in guaranteed money.

Savage said the Browns had no choice.

''That trade isn't going to occur unless you do something with the contract,'' Savage said.

The Browns guaranteed what was left in the final three years of Rogers' deal, then extended it three years.

• Savage said the Browns would vote against the re-seeding of playoff teams because it would diminish the value of winning the division. Savage said if the league did re-seed teams, it should eliminate divisions and take the top six from the AFC and NFC.

• Rogers has not been present for the team's offseason conditioning program. When a Detroit writer asked Crennel about a report that Rogers weighed 405 pounds, Crennel replied: ''He weighed about 50 pounds less than that.''

• Owner Randy Lerner said finalizing a contract extension with Savage is a matter of the two sitting down in a room together. It should happen soon.

• Final words, from Savage: ''When you think about it, Derek Anderson going to the Pro Bowl, for all that to be in the same sentence, that's a pretty amazing story.'' And: ''If you look at our team and our best players, you would assume that '08, '09 and 2010 could be pretty good years for us.''

 

Patrick McManamon can be reached at pmcmanamon@thebeaconjournal.com.

 


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