Delivered

Winslow signs the contract today. The deal is for the same dollars as the original "best offer," only much more guaranteed money. And the Browns can realistically claim they didn't move much from that best offer. It's probably a win-win sort of deal. I am really impressed with the way Collins handled this.

As a side note, it is funny how wrong the emerging conventional wisdom of a few days ago was wrong. As last as last eventing John Clayton was predicting gloom + doom and Winslow wouldn't sign until the regular season. People in the BerniesInsiders bulleting boards were raging about how Collins had screwed up the negotiations by "going public" and turning things confrontational. But none of that was true. The move did exactly what I was hoping it did -- apply a little pressure, putting the burden of movement on the Postons where it belonged, and drew a financial line that was unlikely to be crossed. Heck, even Len Pasquarelli said, "The move was an intriguing bit of gamesmanship, one in which the team seized some of the public momentum away from the agents, whose history is rife with long holdouts and contentious bargaining." How things change!

And it apparently worked, because none of the worst fears about the Postons seeking Monopoly money came true. All the rumored demands were just that. The Postons did got more guaranteed money, the Browns stay right around the dollar amounts they had previously discussed. It was by no means easy and the Browns still paid more for Winslow than for another #6 pick. But otherwise this wasn't too unlike any of the Browns other first round negotiations, except perhaps that the team played more aggressively.