Quote:Or Cleveland was way too generous with what they were willing to match.   As I recall, our offer was to make him the highest paid center in league history, by a huge margin.  

 

Yes, it is a shame, but Cleveland backed themselves into a corner with all their talk about how they would match anything.   We offered the moon, and they matched it.  

 

AND: If they had not matched, people would all be whining about how we overpaid.  

 

I wouldn't say we offered "the moon". We offered Mack a deal that just about put him in (atop) the highest paid Center category. (pretty much right at market value) Given that he is one of the top Centers in the league and that I've seen much worse players (giver their perceived rank at their position) get top money (at their position) in previous years. Look at the money Andy Dalton got. That has to rank him as one of the highest paid QB in the league, yet he's nowhere near that as far as real-time QB rankings go. 

 

I would have rather taken some of that money that we paid to a guy whose not worth his contract (Beadles) and given it to Mack. 

---