TheDailyBlitz.com

According to Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, Browns receiver/returner Josh Cribbs will request a trade if the team is unwilling to re-negotiate his contract.

Cribbs wasn't at the first day of the team's voluntary mini-camp on Tuesday and Cribbs' agent says "substantial talks" are required for him to show.

"We exchanged emails Monday night, but there were no proposals made or numbers discussed,'' said [Cribbs' agent J.R.] Rickert. "We need to have some substantial talks for Josh to show up.''

With four more years left on his six-year extension signed in November of 2006, Cribbs won't earn a base salary greater than $790,000 in any of the next four years.

Chicago Bears receiver/returner Devin Hester signed a four-year, $40 million contract. Per Cabot, that is the starting point for what Cribbs is seeking.

Granted, Cribbs is under-paid if you look at his value and what he is scheduled to earn. You could certainly argue that if Hester and Cribbs were both free agents, Cribbs would land a contract in the same range as Hester.

However, Cribbs didn't have to sign a six-year extension in 2006. It's frustrating when players sign long-term contracts and then whine about being under-paid the next year or two.

With Rickert saying he has phone records confirming Browns owner Randy Lerner made promises of re-working Cribbs' deal and Lerner denying it, this has the potential to get really interesting.