Alex Mack to opt out Cleveland Browns but it’s not over yet
NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport reported Monday that the All-World center Alex Mack is expected to opt-out of his contract. However, that doesn’t mean he’s automatically leaving the Clevland Browns. Rapoport also reported that a new contract between Mack and the Browns is a “real possibility.”
As Mack has repeated many times in the media, winning is the most important thing to him. He’s entering his eighth season in the NFL and the Browns are 33-79 since Mack has been a Brown. But the Browns just hired Hue Jackson as their head coach and he came out of a meeting with him feeling good about the franchise’s direction.
Mack his feelings on the Browns’ moves that shook up the front office and brought Jackson from Cincinnati to Around The NFL’s Conor Orr at the Pro Bowl, saying, “I think they’ve got good things going in the right places,”
That’s important because if he feels like he has a chance to win in Cleveland soon, he’ll stay. The Browns have plenty of salary-cap space this offseason and Mack will be the first priority with it. Plus there’s no unit that has as close a bonds and where performance depends on each other more than the offensive line.
Left tackle Joe Thomas expressed his desire to keep Mack and the Browns great offensive line together telling Cleveland.com, “I feel like we have a lot of salary cap space [an estimated $40 million] to spend on it. I’m not in the salary cap meetings but I’d certainly like to keep them.
“I think we have the best right tackle and the best center in the NFL and I’d certainly like to keep those guys. You’re not going to make your team better by getting a worse player at those positions.”
The cupboard is not as bare as their record in 2015 would suggest as they had a lot of injuries. All the Browns need to do is get healthy on defense and they have a chance at a franchise quarterback at No. 2 overall in May. That quarterback should be able to give the Browns a shot with the offensive line they’ll have in 2016 if Mack comes back.
It will be interesting to see what happens with Mack and others in the coming weeks.
Stay tuned!