Cleveland Browns: Jarvis Landry $20 million ask laughable

The Cleveland Browns released Jarvis Landry due to an overpriced $16 million per season contract. Now reports claim he is asking for $20 million.

The Cleveland Browns wanted to keep Jarvis Landry. But his $16 million per year contract was a hindrance. They tried to renegotiate the contract, but when that failed, they released Landry rather than pay him that amount.

Now, Mike Florio reported on Pro Football Talk that Jarvis was seeking $20 million dollars per season in his new contract on the free-agent market.

When his market did not materialize, he decided to fire his agent Damarius Bilbo of Klutch Sports and hire Roosevelt Barnes and Jovan Barnes.

This debacle stems from two misconceptions occurring simultaneously.

First, the negative reputation the Browns have might have led Bilbo to believe Cleveland was run by the 3 Stooges. They obviously do not know how to evaluate players. Wrong.

The Browns have always evaluated players correctly. In some cases, they were too eager to stick to their evaluation instead of working with the market. Just ask offensive tackle Mitchell Schwartz or wide receiver Terrelle Pryor about overvaluing one’s market. They passed up more money from the Browns to hit the open market.

They both got less in the end.

Second, Jarvis Landry bought into the idea that he is a leader and culture changer. He felt he deserved to be paid like it. Who can blame him? When everyone around you, even your own agent, believes you are worth more than what your play on the field merits, why not believe them? Wrong.

Reality hit Jarvis hard. He is not worth $20 million per year. Honestly, to even ask for $20 million per year is laughable.

Even before coming to Cleveland, it was known that if you need eight yards for a first down, Jarvis will get you seven. This continued in Cleveland. If you need a receiver who could beat press coverage, Jarvis was not your guy. This continued in Cleveland.

He even added to his issues in Cleveland. Every time the guy catches the ball, it is a 50/50 chance he gets an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for taunting. He was even featured in a video sent to NFL officials on how to identify the penalty.

In 2021, Jarvis complained he was not getting the ball. He was correct, he was not being targeted. The question is why wasn’t he targeted? We saw Odell Beckham Jr.’s dad blame quarterback Baker Mayfield publicly. But Landry did just as much complaining about Baker. Only Jarvis did it passive-aggressively.

Did Landry own that he cannot beat man coverage? Did he work harder to get better? Did he recognize he was dropping the ball in key situations? What did he do to fix that?

Instead, he blamed all of his problems on his quarterback. Sure there was blame to be had at that position. But there were issues that fell at Jarvis Landry’s feet he refused to address. Instead of addressing them, he blamed others. Some culture changer.

And now he thinks he is worth $20 million? Laughable.

If you buy Jarvis at $20 million, I have some oceanfront property in Arizona I would like to sell you. But you are a Browns fan, you are smarter than that. You know the first time you saw he was asking for $20 million, you laughed. You laughed because it was ridiculous.