Peyton Hillis

As Tom Heckert said, a lot of stuff last season was blown up in the media. The whole soap-opera Hillis thing was manufactured by old ladies yammering over the fence. Any intel analyst or real journalist recognized it as such instantly. Now some goober comes up with this retiring for the CIA crap...and everybody swallowed it hook/line/sinker.

Now that Hillis finally, at long last, has come out and defended himself, he just confirmed what I've been saying: It's about money, period. I hadn't known that the contract offer he'd refused was so heavily back-loaded. 1.25 mil/year for the first 2-3 years with no guarantees? If that's true, of COURSE he was right to turn it down!

Sure, Hillis might have exhaggerated and/or left some stuff out, but now we have a ballpark estimate. Now he's looking a lot more reasonable/less greedy than we'd been told by the old gossips. He said it wasn't money, but terms. I can offer you, a physical running back who takes a severe pounding, 15 million over 3 years...so long as you collect the bulk of it in the third year...and so long as I can release you out of your hospital bed and not have to pay you another dime. Sound good to you?

I'm not bashing Heckert, either. It's business. It was a first offer. Hillis probably fired his agent for walking out, and assuring Hillis "They'll come around. You'll see. For now we need to wait for another offer and not seem anxious".

The ASS umption by many is that Hillis fired this third agent because he'd advised him not to play a game with severe strep throat, but I really doubt that. I would have advised MYSELF not to infect my team and play like shit, and if Shurmer didn't agree I'd have to advise myself that my coach was insane. I would have fired my agent on the spot if he had advised me to play.

"Intervention" by other players? If a player DID use that word (which I doubt), he wasn't an english major. More likely, two or three of them caught him on the way out and asked him what was up with all this bullcrap they're reading in the PD, and he told them don't believe everything you read.

Ok-ok: Some of them might have been ticked off over his raising his contract before the season, or even skeptical about his hamstring thing, which can't be verified. "C'mon--you doggin' it for the money? That for real? We NEED you, man!"

Intervention--oh puh-leez!

Need him they do. Charlie Casserly recently said that Hillis would recieve little interest in free agency. He's about right, but for the wrong reasons. He was injured last season, he will always take a lot of hits, and he did average 3.6 YPC in his most recent season.

But Casserly added that he only runs between that tackles, so if you force him to bounce outside he's dead. These guys on TV are legit experts, but do almost zero homework. The guys on NFL Radio have to talk to fans of all 32 teams--people who WATCH their teams and players closely. They have to study tapes and interview people so that they know what they're talking about.

Casserly's analysis was knee-jerk and shallow. The only way to force Hillis outside is to stack the line--same as any other big powerful back. That put all the recievers in single coverage, which is one of the reasons why, whenever Hillis was in the game, Colt and Massequoi looked a whole lot better, and the tight ends caught more passes.

Another reason for that is the fact that Hillis would stone blitzers in protection, or take flare outlet passes for big gains against small people. Play-action worked. Screens worked.

Casserly was really only half right about Hillis bouncing outside. Absolutely that's the best way to stop him/he's much less effective that way. So he often only gets one or two yards. OR he stiff-arms somebody and runs over somebody else and gets four ANYWAY. OR he occasionally gets a BIG gain because most of the front seven have charged into every gap to stop him inside and can't get back out! The only guys left to head him off at the pass are speed-bump DB's!

The biggest single reason the Browns sucked last season was the fact that this player was injured. The whole offense is significantly better when this guy is healthy. Check it out: it GLARES at you!

Injuries are a legit concern with Hillis, but that's the ONLY real concern. He will test free agency and get some offers. He will come back and show Heckert what he's been offered. And Heckert will most likely make his final offer, which will include a number of incentives like Jackson's contract did. And I hope Hillis signs.

Trent Richardson is everything everybody says he is, and is the only running back who could replace Hillis and do everything he does as well as he does it. I even admit that Richardson would make more huge, game-changing plays.

But sign Hillis, and #4 can be used for something the Browns need more.

The Cleveland Browns offense with Peyton Hillis gets first downs and touchdowns, on the ground and through the air. Without him, they don't. That's the truth, and the rest is bullcrap.