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 Cleveland's decision Browns reach deal with QB Couch, will make him top pick
Posted: Saturday April 17, 1999 9:30 AM
NEW YORK (CNN/SI) -- It's official. After agreeing to a contract less than four hours before today's NFL Draft, Kentucky quarterback Tim Couch will be the Cleveland Browns' top pick, CNNSI.com has learned. Couch's agent, Tom Condon, and Browns negotiator Lal Heneghan finished a whirlwind 24 hours of talks at 8:25 this morning on a seven-year $48-million deal, sources close to the negotiations told me. The contract contains a $12.25-million signing bonus payable in 1999, and, in the recent tradition of high-draft-choice contracts that void with minimal performance achievement, will pay Couch $8.75 million after the third year (2001) if he reaches even one of these minimum standards. If the Browns play football the way they negotiated this deal, they just might contend for the playoffs in their maiden season. Their strategy was perfect: Identify two players atop the draft that they liked -- Couch and Oregon quarterback Akili Smith -- and negotiate with both. While the Browns preferred Couch in the wake of an impressive workout last Sunday in Lexington, Ky., coach Chris Palmer privately made it clear he felt Smith could also be a franchise player. And so Friday night just before 11, Leigh Steinberg, the agent for Smith, reached a tentative contract agreement with the Browns, pending their talks with Condon for Couch. With that agreement in hand, Heneghan was able to go to Condon with significant leverage. If Condon didn't reach a deal by this morning, the Browns were fully prepared to pick Smith. Would they have done it, pass on their preferred player just because their second choice was already signed? The Browns hinted strongly that they would. But now we'll never know. The contract is a win-win for the Browns and Condon. Although last year's top draft choice, quarterback Peyton Manning, is widely regarded as a better player than Couch, Condon gets $21 million in guaranteed money (the combination of the $12.25-million signing bonus and $7.5 million voidable bonus); Manning got a combined $20-million bonus. But the Browns got an extra year on the contract. Last year Manning signed for six years, potentially giving him a chance at a lucrative second contract a year earlier than Couch could. Now the draft is expected to unfold at the top fairly predictably. Philadelphia will take Syracuse quarterback Donovan McNabb with the second choice. Then Cincinnati, at three, will pick Smith. Indianapolis, barring a last-minute ransom by the Saints to move up for Texas running back Ricky Williams, will pick Williams at four. And Washington, picking fifth, is likely to take Georgia cornerback Champ Bailey.
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