Cribbs frustrated with Browns

BEREA (AP) — While his teammates laughed and shouted around him, Josh Cribbs sat quietly by his locker on Friday, reading e-mails and sending replies on his cell phone.

His message? He’s not happy.

Cribbs is stuck in a contract dispute with the Cleveland Browns. He wants a new deal, but Browns coach Eric Mangini has been unwilling to renegotiate or add an extension to the current pact, which runs through 2012.

Mangini said on Friday that Cribbs is not being shopped, leaving the special teams star caught in a bind if he is not traded and cannot get a new deal in Cleveland.

“I’m gonna be stuck,” Cribbs said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do right now. It will tremendously disappoint me if nothing gets done. That’s no secret. I’m going to be very disappointed.”

Mangini wouldn’t offer a timeline for when, or if, he would look at giving Cribbs a new deal. But he made it clear he has no intention of trading Cribbs, who leads the NFL with 522 kick return yards and a 16.3-yard average on punt returns.

At least five teams have inquired about Cribbs, according to published reports. The trade deadline is Tuesday, but Cribbs has not asked the team for a trade. He said on Friday he doesn’t want to be traded.

“No interest in moving Josh Cribbs,” Mangini said. “Josh is going to be a Cleveland Brown. ... [The contract] is not something that we’re focusing on. In terms of a timetable, it’s an organizational thing we’ll look at. Josh and I are trying to get ready for the game on Sunday.”

Cribbs’ agent, J.R. Rickert, said he doesn’t intend on asking the Browns for a trade before Tuesday’s deadline because “that isn’t what Josh wants. Joshua wants to stay in Cleveland.”

However, Rickerts also said he is frustrated with the lack of direction he is receiving from the Browns, and hasn’t received a clear answer to whether they are open to giving Cribbs an extension.

“If you have no intention of extending him,” Rickert said, “it’s only right to tell us.”

Cribbs’ deal was negotiated by his previous agent and with the Browns’ previous regime. Rickert believes that since all parties are new, it is fair to ask for a new extension that will keep Cribbs in Cleveland for the rest of his career.

“With a new GM, a new coach and a new agent, let’s put our collective heads together and put something together,” Rickert said. “I don’t think that position is too unreasonable to take. If the Browns reject that kind of thinking from one of their leaders, then what kind of message are they sending to the rest of the league? That’s not a good situation.”

The Browns travel to Pittsburgh to face the defending Super Bowl champions, a team Cribbs has gashed with kick returns. He’s had touchdown returns of 92 and 100 yards against the Steelers in two of the last three years.