Statement From Josh Cribbs

[Editor’s note: The following statement from Browns receiver Josh Cribbs was sent to us Wednesday night by Cribbs’ agents.] I humbly and respectfully come to Browns’ fans and the Browns letting all know that I have given my all to this team, on and off the field for 4 complete years selflessly without regard to myself and my own family. I have sat by while good players came and went, either due to contracts or injury. I have witnessed a lot of families uprooted from their stable homes and forced to move wherever the money came in from. I realize that this is not a fair sport for the players, it is a business and we are products. Contracts are one-sided in favor of the team, yet we as players are told to honor our contracts without the team honoring them. We are not doctors and lawyers, we don’t get paid for 25 years of work. If we are lucky, we get 10 years at best to make all the money we can to last the rest of our life. We sacrifice our bodies and our health to make our owners wealthy. I am not asking for nothing that I have not already earned and will continue to earn. This is not personal, but I have to be a man and take care of my family for not just a year or two, but for as long as I am walking this earth. I have always given the Browns’ team and its fans respect and my loyalty. I have stepped into many different roles for the betterment of my team and have brought honor to Cleveland, in the way that I play on the field, and serve in the community. I have been blessed with this opportunity to be somebody and ask that I be treated and compensated on the level of my peers, fairly, according to my work completed, and on the promise that my future will brightly upheld in a manner gracious of this team and its fans. I want nothing more but to wear the Browns’ logo on my chest until my career has come to an end, and I am deeply disappointed that the team I put my hard work, blood, sweat and tears in will just write me off as though I am collateral damage. I maintain that this is not personal to Coach Mangini, Mr. Kokinis, or Mr. Lerner, for this is a situation that I could not keep in any longer.”