Report: Cleveland Browns, Travis Benjamin break off contract talks
By Thomas Moore
The Cleveland Browns may have another free agent fire to put out as talks with wide receiver Travis Benjamin on a new deal have reportedly stalled.
The Cleveland Browns and wide receiver Travis Benjamin have reportedly broken off talks on a new deal that would keep Benjamin off the free agent market.
The news was reported by Rand Getlin of the NFL Network, who cited Benjamin’s agent, Ron Butler, as the source:
Contract discussions between WR Travis Benjamin and the #Browns have broken down, per his agent @NewButler1. Benjamin will hit the market.
— Rand Getlin (@RandGetlin) February 23, 2016
Getlin’s report comes just a day after Tony Grossi of ESPN Cleveland said the Browns and Benjamin were “close” on a new contract:
Benjamin is close. https://t.co/a5qrUalcT1
— Tony Grossi (@TonyGrossi) February 22, 2016
If Getlin is correct, it adds another in a growing list of issues facing the Browns, who are also facing the prospect of losing center Alex Mack, right tackle Mitchell Schwartz and safety Tashaun Gipson if the team and the players cannot agree on new deals.
It was just a few weeks ago that Butler said that he was “optimistic” that he could reach a deal with the Browns to keep Benjamin in Cleveland.
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“I’m optimistic that something will get something done in the near future,” Butler told cleveland.com. “We’ve been in contact with the organization here in the last couple of weeks and we’re still trying to figure out how we can get this thing done where both sides agree to a fair offer. But Cleveland has made strides in terms of getting him back in a Browns uniform.
“Travis knows what his value is. It’s just a matter of coming up with something both sides are comfortable with.”
The fact that Benjamin and the Browns seemed so close to a new deal makes us wonder how much Butler’s latest comments are real and how much they are a negotiating ploy to get the Browns to up their offer.
Benjamin is coming off a career year that saw him finish with 68 receptions, 966 yards and five touchdown receptions. Benjamin also rediscovered his game as a punt returner, averaging 11.6 yards per return (third best in the league) and adding his third career punt return touchdown.
If he does hit free agency, the Browns will face competition for Benjamin as he is the fourth-best wide receiver in a thin class, according to Pro Football Focus:
"Of the 2015 unrestricted free agent wide receivers, the only one to top 900 yards in 2015 was Travis Benjamin. The one area Benjamin is most helpful is as a deep threat. He had 363 receiving yards on deep passes, which was 16th-most in the NFL. Four of his eight deep catches went for touchdowns. His one drawback is that he drops too many passes, with six dropped passes over the second half of last year. In every other way he has been an average receiver. No team had worse play from their quarterbacks than the Browns, so a new setting with a new QB could help Benjamin break out as a very good receiver."
In four years with the Browns since being drafted out of the University of Miami, Benjamin has totaled 109 receptions for 1,683 yards and 10 touchdowns.