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The Tampa Bay Bucs continued to cut into their massive amount of salary cap space today, keeping receiver Michael Clayton on the roster with a five-year, $24 million deal ($10.5 million is guaranteed money). Michael spent some time interviewing with the Lions and Vikings, but cancelled a trip to Seattle when he realized the weather in Tampa was really nice. Actually, the Bucs called him and told him not to get on any plane that wasn’t headed to Tampa. In other words, they gave him what he was looking for financially. Plus, the Bucs appear …read more

National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast
The Tampa Bay Bucs traded the always intriguing “undisclosed draft picks” to the Cleveland Browns for tight end Kellen Winslow today. Kellen’s introductory presser ended just about an hour ago and he said:
“I’m happy to be playing football, happy to have a job. You know, it’s tough. This is just a blessing. Cleveland was great to me (liar). I had a good time in Cleveland (liar) … But, this is a new opportunity.”
In signing with the Bucs, Kellen gets to return to the state of Florida where he spent his college career at the University …read more

National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast
Cleveland Browns tight end Kellen Winslow responded to his recent suspension with his own statement last night:
“First I would like to say that I am disappointed that my organization felt the need to suspend me for speaking out regarding my medical situation with staph. I take responsibility for the fact that there might have been a more constructive way to release this, but when I tried to do so I was discouraged from making the issue public. Regardless of how this was released the information would still remain the same. I contracted staph, again.
“I spoke …read more

National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast
The Cleveland Browns suspended tight end Kellen Winslow for one game without pay for his recent comments that were determined detrimental to the team. Here is the full statement issued by Browns GM Phil Savage today:
“The Cleveland Browns are committed to winning and taking care of our players. We are also committed to protecting the privacy of our players, particularly with regard to medical issues. To that end, following discussions with Kellen Winslow and his representation, the Browns agreed to make every effort to maintain the confidentiality of his recent medical condition.
“As an organization, …read more

National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast
Whenever you hear “undisclosed illness” on an NFL injury report, you might as well go ahead and assume it’s a staph infection. OK, I’m only partially kidding, but such was the case with Cleveland Browns tight end Kellen Winslow last week. His recent “undisclosed illness” was kept quiet because the team has had an alarming number of staph infections over the past few years and they didn’t want the news getting out. This was Kellen’s second infection. His first case came in 2005 after surgery to repair a torn knee ligament in which he was …read more

National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast
Cleveland Browns tight end Kellen Winslow returned to practice today after being hospitalized for several days with an undisclosed illness and missing last week’s Monday Night Football win over the N.Y. Giants. Kellen decided to keep the undisclosed illness undisclosed:
“I’m not going to tell you exactly. It was really the Cleveland Browns decision to keep it undisclosed and I agree with that. Just because I catch a football doesn’t mean I should tell what’s wrong with me or what happened. I’m back and I’m happy to be back. I think I’m good to go. I …read more

Blogcasting the National Football League, Blogcasting the NFL

So miffed is Kellen Winslow that he’s not the highest-paid tight end in football, he decided to skip the Browns’ recent OTAs. Of course, he didn’t actually come out and say that. Most would believe his absence was simply due to his recovery from a fourth knee surgery. But with Indy’s Dallas Clark making $42 million over six years ($27M in the first three years and an average salary close to $7M annually — making him the highest paid player at that position), I would think Kellen is upset. And he has a …read more

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Blogcasting the National Football League, Blogcasting the NFL
The Cleveland Browns are doing more than staying competitive this offseason. The Browns are preparing themselves for a Super Bowl run. First, they locked up QB Derek Anderson for three-years yesterday. Then they got him another weapon on offense — former New England Patriots WR Donte Stallworth. The Browns are wisely building their team around their quarterbacks — Derek and Brady Quinn. GM Phil Savage said:
“Donte’ will be the major addition to our offense this year. He will bring legitimate speed, quickness and playmaking ability to the receiving corps and add a …read more

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I wasn’t the least bit surprised to see Jason Witten grab a record 15 catches (including the game-winner) against the Detroit Lions yesterday, breaking a Cowboys’ single-game reception total and tying the NFL mark among TEs. This kind of outburst has been brewing for some time. Just take a look at his 2007 season so far. He had nine catches against the Bills (10/8) and 10 against the Vikings (10/21). And he had eight more against Washington just before Thanksgiving. Add ‘em all up and through the first 13 games and you get …read more