Sources: Browns Prepared To Let Hillis Go After Season

[Big Bid'Ness]

From:realgm

Cleveland Plain-Dealer - The Browns are getting tired of the drama surrounding Peyton Hillis and they are prepared to let him walk in free agency after the 2011 season, according to sources.

At this point it would take a dramatic turnaround in behavior and production for Cleveland to re-sign him when he hits the open market in March.

"It's one thing after another, and what's been out there isn't even the half of it," one source said.

Hillis is expected to miss at least a couple of more games after re-injuring his hamstring in practice Friday afternoon.

From:NFL.com

Browns veterans stage intervention to confront a spiraling Hillis


Maybe Peyton Hillis is right. Maybe there's no such thing as the "Madden Curse."

Its existence is the stuff of debate, but for Hillis -- mired in one of the strangest NFL seasons in memory -- the rush of fanfare he bathed in after being named the cover boy of a simple video game has come with a price.

Mike Silver of Yahoo! Sports on Friday painted a stark portrait of Hillis' crumbling circle of support in the Browns' locker room, with about eight veterans roping the running back this week "into a meeting room for an intervention-style" face-to-face to discuss his state of mind during a campaign discolored by stalled contract talks and questions about his desire to play through injury.

"A few guys tried to talk to him, to make him understand the best way to go about things is to put your head down and do the best you possibly can," said offensive tackle Joe Thomas. "Because if the Browns aren't going to pay you, some team will break the bank -- and either way you need to play hard."

Linebacker Scott Fujita acknowledged the drama around Hillis has dissolved into a sideshow: "The fact that everyone has to get asked about (Hillis' situation) by the local beat writers every day, it's started to create a distraction, and it's a shame that it has to be that way. I'm never gonna be in a position to question a player’s toughness. I just want him to be healthy and in the right frame of mind to help the team. More than anything else, that's what our conversation with him was about."

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Players were piqued to see Hillis, sidelined with a hamstring injury, toying around with third-string quarterback Thaddeus Lewis in a passing contest to hit the crossbar at Candlestick Park before last Sunday's loss, with one player telling Silver, "It was a bad look, and it did not sit well with any of us."

"I've never seen anything like it," one veteran said. "Last year, Peyton was such a positive, inspirational force on our team -- but now he's like a different guy. It's like he's in a funk that he can't get out of, and it's killing us, because we really need him. And we've told him that. But we're at the point where we just don't know what to do."

Neither do Cleveland's fans. Starved to see their Browns become something more than a decade-long train wreck, the city fell hard for Hillis last season, viewing his battering-ram style and salt-of-the-earth persona as an extension of a city that's been burned one too many times, but apparently never enough.

Peyton about to take his talents elsewhere lol

 

[DJT]

Man crazy stuff. He had a real good year there, now nothing.

Wonder where he will go.

 

[Elite]

Come to the Jets, this guy is exactly what Rex wants when he talks about ground and pound. Fuck Shonn Greene if he doesn't turn it around in the second half this year.

 

[elcheato]

Well then sign a good back up, because he was fighting through injuries constantly last year as well.

 

[DJT]

Hmmm Rex would love him I bet.

I can't really see him in the green and white though.

 

[RipCity32]

 

[bestkeptsecret13]

Madden Curse...

Fuckers should've voted Aaron Rodgers on that shit.

 

[WHO-DEY-BENGALS_18]

Madden Curse...

Fuckers should've voted Aaron Rodgers on that shit.

I'm believing in the Madden Curse more and more all the time.. lol

 

[bestkeptsecret13]

I'm believing in the Madden Curse more and more all the time.. lol

We need to vote Aaron Rodgers on the cover if they give us a chance next year.

 

[WHO-DEY-BENGALS_18]

We need to vote Aaron Rodgers on the cover if they give us a chance next year.

Very well could happen with the way they are going and the way he is playing..

 

[Shady_McCoy25]

I'm believing in the Madden Curse more and more all the time.. lol

Im really glad Vick didn't get on the cover. lol

 

[.infamous]

lol I'm not voting Aaron Rodgers for the cover next year. Even though he is in the NFC North, I don't want to see the dude get hurt or some shit.

 

[Elite]

lol I'm not voting Aaron Rodgers for the cover next year. Even though he is in the NFC North, I don't want to see the dude get hurt or some shit.

Good, vote for Brady.

 

[RipCity32]

Rodgers should have won it in the first place. IDK how Hillis managed to beat him out.

 

[Giantmetfan07]

Hillis has always had injury problems. It's why Denver traded him without hesitation.

Noone's gonna give this guy more than 3 years unless he sucks it up and plays out the rest of the season.

 

[jonathanlambert33]

I'm believing in the Madden Curse more and more all the time.. lol

It's funny because the Madden curse doesn't exist till the guy gets hurt lol