Bad business in Cleveland

The Cleveland Browns apparently are desperate for a winner. Last year they overpaid first pick Braylon Edwards and this week they did it again with top choice Wisconsin offensive tackle Joe Thomas.

And the impact is considerable. Cleveland’s two deals probably mean a long holdout for receiver Calvin Johnson and the Detroit Lions. Johnson, considered by many as the best player in the draft, wants a huge raise over those Cleveland numbers, plus agent Bus Cook has to find out what the Raiders pay No. 1 pick JaMarcus Russell. The word is it may take less than a week for the Raiders to sign Russell.

But the other issue is quarterback Brady Quinn. The Browns may want to slot him, but agent Tom Condon has no incentive to sign Quinn to anything less than what a top rookie quarterback gets. And despite Quinn’s happiness with potentially being a Brown, he’s in no hurry to sign anything. The Ohio media can rip him all they want; Quinn is immune from criticism based on his free-fall in April’s draft. The Notre Dame quarterback heard enough negative stuff about his delivery, accuracy and ability to last a lifetime.

In fact, the Browns might have goofed by not striking some contract parameters with Condon/Quinn during the draft. When GM Phil Savage was positioning himself to make a trade with the Dallas Cowboys, he should have started negotiating a contract with Condon, too. Why waste next year’s first-round draft pick if Quinn is a long holdout and therefore isn’t prepared fully to play this season?

Condon and Quinn are holding all the cards in these Cleveland negotiations. If the Browns don’t meet their price, it makes sense for Quinn to sit out the season and enter next year’s draft. It can’t go any worse for him in 2008 as it did this season.

Lombardi with Broncos

Mike Lombardi, the Raiders’ top personnel executive for many years who was fired and seemingly blamed for everything that went wrong in Oakland the last couple of seasons even if it wasn’t all his fault, is now working for the Denver Broncos and Coach Mike Shanahan. It is a good move for both men. Lombardi knows everything about Oakland’s personnel — and we all know how much Shanahan detests Al Davis — and it’s a good move for Lombardi, who now resides in the same AFC West division and can further prove to Davis that he’s a solid personnel man.

The move had been rumored for months, but Lombardi just started work on Friday.

Where will Rice land?

The Bucs were definitely worried about pass rusher Simeon Rice’s surgical shoulder, enough that they didn’t want to be responsible for his $7 million salary this season. That’s why they opted to not place Rice on PUP (physically unable to perform) and save a roster spot for him like say the Patriots did with Richard Seymour earlier in the week.

The inside word is that Rice is more than a month away from testing the shoulder. Is he still worth $7 million? I don’t think so.

The obvious place is Detroit, where former Tampa Bay line coach Rod Marinelli is the head coach. Supposedly, GM Matt Millen has some interest, but Marinelli is not pushing any deal. The Washington Redskins are a likely candidate and possibly any 3-4 teams who may need a situational pass rusher on third downs. Rice doesn’t really make sense for the New York Giants, who are facing the possibility of being without Michael Strahan. When healthy, Strahan is one of the game’s most complete defensive ends whereas Rice has evolved into a rush specialist.

But it’s real possible that Rice, if he does play this season, could be looking at a $2 million payday, including a slight bonus.

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