BEREA, Ohio -- Now that the Browns have secured left tackle Joe Thomas with a new contract for seven years, next up for a long-term deal could be running back Peyton Hillis. 
A league source said the wheels have begun turning for talks about a new contract for Hillis. Browns GM Tom Heckert has said he intends to invest in "players we like and want to be here." The club has more than $18 million in salary cap room, according to latest figures reported by NFL.com, eighth-most in the league.
Heckert declined to be interviewed for this story.
Hillis recently changed agents for the second time in five months. He is in the last year of his original rookie contract and is scheduled to earn the NFL four-year minimum of $555,000. By comparison, the Browns gave running back Brandon Jackson a two-year deal for $4.5 million in free agency. Jackson was earmarked to be a role player and currently is sidelined with a toe in a cast. His return is indefinite.
Hillis obliterated the parameters of his existing contract last year when he saved the team's running back situation and burst out for 1,177 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground, and 61 catches for two TDs.
Hillis accounted for 71.5 percent of the team's rushing yardage, 36 percent of the team's total yards from scrimmage, and 50 percent of its offensive touchdowns. Along the way, Hillis' fearless, downhill running style gave last year's Browns a much-needed identity and endeared him to a blue-collar city starving for a football hero. Fans expressed their gratitude by helping Hillis become the cover boy of the ultra-popular Madden 12 video game in a nationwide vote.
Hillis was drafted in the seventh round by the Denver Broncos in 2008, and then was underused for three years by two coaches. He was practically an afterthought in the 2010 trade that sent quarterback Brady Quinn to the Broncos. Six weeks later, the Browns traded up in the second round to select running back Montario Hardesty.
Hillis came to his first Browns camp as a backup fullback. Now he is the undisputed centerpiece of the running game and one of the most popular athletes in Cleveland. Hillis said he believes he has finally found his professional home.
"Most definitely. I think this team, this city, even the colors, represent who I am. As an individual, as a person and as a player," Hillis said Tuesday. "So I would love to be here as long the Browns want me here."
The only question perhaps about a new deal -- how big -- depended on Hillis' fit in the West Coast offense implemented by new coach Pat Shurmur. For four months while the owners locked out players in a labor dispute, all Shurmur had to go on was game video of Hillis blasting through -- and sometimes leaping over -- defenders.
"It doesn't take many snaps to see that he's a terrific runner," Shurmur said. "He's also a physical blocker just by his sheer physique. I think he does a good job of catching the ball. It didn't take long. He's one of the guys last year that got a lot of touches, so it was easy to see him perform."
Hillis shrugged, "Just because he says that doesn't mean anything to us. I know me and the O-line are really focusing on this running game. We always got to. We're in the toughest division in the NFL."
Hillis has carried the ball only eight times for 34 yards in three preseason games as Shurmur has devoted the games to polishing his timing-based passing attack. Although Hillis probably will not play in the practice game finale Thursday in Chicago, there is little doubt in his mind that the team will preserve its smash-mouth mentality in the running game.
"Especially with the guys that we have," he said. "You can always try different things, but what you're good at is what you're good at. You eventually come back around to that. There's no doubt we have to pass the ball. And we have the guys to do that. We're working on that and getting slowly better at that."
Hillis said he doesn't intend to rest on his laurels and is not overly concerned about a new contract.
"Whenever's my time, whenever the Browns feel like they want to take care of me, they will," he said. "I'm going to do my best, try to prove myself to them. This is a business and you still have to produce every day, every year. That's going to be my outlook from here on out."
Source:
http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2011/08/cleveland_browns_pondering_new.html
No comments:
Post a Comment