Interesting

Josh Cribbs is insulted by his small raise offer by the Browns and insists he'll leave.

Cribbs is widely considered the best player on the lowly, but improving Browns team. Last year he made 900,000. They offered to bump him up to 1.4 mil.

In the scheme of professional sports, I'm pretty amazed at the relatively small amount Cribbs makes. Fact is, NFL dudes really don't make all that much money. Granted, it is a lot by the standards of regular folks, but consider this: an average NFL career is around 4 years. Even the top guys play 10-15 years. Their "work experience" doesn't really prepare them for much else other than possibly coaching. They will have medical bills in the future, you and I can barely imagine.

Cribbs is right now in his prime. He needs to earn enough in the next few years to secure himself and his family for life. He is also a popular, explosive player who makes big plays. In the NFL today, big plays are the difference between top teams and mediocre teams. Then again, his primary function is a kick returner and therefore is only on the field for a minority of offensive plays (although they did incorporate him into the wildcat offense and use him as a receiver).

I actually find this situation pretty fascinating. The 49ers let go of a good return man Alan Rossem in order to make space for Crabtree on their roster. Their new return guys were terrible and I think, cost them the Seattle game by changing the momentum via a botched trick punt return reverse. I guess NFL teams seem to think return guys are replaceable or not important. Often, if a player is good, teams don't use them to return kicks for fear of injury. They view return people as part of "special teams," and special teams are always overlooked. But why not view return men as part of the offense? Their yards count the same as other yards. Field position is such a huge component these days, it amazes me the return guys aren't viewed as being more valuable.

A smart, cost-conscious team would take advantage.