On Monday, the Browns added six players who previously had tried out for jobs during a rookie minicamp. One was kicker Leigh Tiffin.
A day later, Tiffin has been given the boot. (“I see what you did there,” Florio Jr. says.)
The Browns have dumped Tiffin in favor of Shaun Suisham. The upgrade possibly is the result of Phil Dawson’s decision not to report for voluntary Organized Team Activities.
There have been rumblings for a while that Dawson isn’t pleased with his contract. Last year, he boycotted offseason drills while entering the final two years of a contract that pays base salaries of $1 million in 2009 and $1 million of 2010. He eventually attended mandatory minicamp and all of training camp.
This time around, the market for kickers has spiked to a maximum of $4 million per year, thanks to the contract the Raiders gave to Sebastian Janikowski. Dawson, who joined the team as a free agent in 1999, is the last remaining original member of the reconstituted Browns.
Frankly, kickers like Dawson shouldn’t be overly influenced by the Raiders’ splurge. Apart from holder and long snapper, kicker and punter are the most fungible jobs in all of football. And few teams will pay a premium when the difference between the very best and the very good kickers depends more on whether they kick in a dome or not than things like leg strength and accuracy.
