Report: Concerned Members of Browns Held Intervention For Peyton Hillis
Cleveland Browns running back Peyton Hillis expressed his frustration on Friday by slamming his helmet and football to the ground after re-aggravating a hamstring injury that’s been bothering him for most of the season. While his status for Sunday’s game against the Houston Texans is up in the air, it appears Hillis may have bigger issues to worry about–like earning respect from his teammates.
According to Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports, about eight veterans on the Browns held an “intervention-style meeting” with Hillis on Wednesday as the fourth-year running back has been dealing with plenty of frustration over the first half of the season. Hillis broke out last season as one of the most unstoppable running backs in the NFL after rushing for 1,177 yards to go along with 11 touchdowns, but 2011 has been nothing but frustrating for Hillis for numerous reasons.
The contract situation. The constant hamstring injuries. The disappointing statistics (211 rushing yards and two touchdowns in four games).
If these factors weren’t already enough, Hillis also has been dealing with the unexpected pressure of avoiding the Madden Curse after receiving the honors to appear on the cover of this year’s hit video game. When taking all of this into consideration, it’s clearly been a season to forget for Hillis and the frustration has built up to a point where members of the team are starting to become concerned with their teammate.
From Silver’s article:
By Wednesday, a group of about eight Browns veterans had summoned Hillis into a meeting room for an intervention-style, air-clearing session designed to restore his focus. After a breakout season in 2010 that vaulted him to national prominence, including a spot on the “Madden NFL ’12” cover, the 25-year-old back’s consuming desire for a new contract has become a locker room distraction that numerous teammates regard as an impediment to cohesion and collective success.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” says one Browns veteran. “Last year, Peyton was such a positive, inspirational force on our team – but now he’s like a different guy. It’s like he’s in a funk that he can’t get out of, and it’s killing us, because we really need him. And we’ve told him that. But we’re at the point where we just don’t know what to do.”
Hillis is in the final year of his rookie contract and is only making $600,000 this season–so it’s understandable why he’s feeling frustrated about his contract situation considering the type of numbers displayed in 2010. However, the Browns were hesitant towards giving Hillis a new deal for numerous reasons and with the way things have worked out so far this season, it looks like they were smart not to give in and hold off on giving him a new deal.
If anything, Hillis looks more like a one-hit wonder than an elite running back and it looks like he’ll have to wait even longer to earn that long-term deal he desperately wants.
Dan Parzych is the Lead NFL Content Editor for RantSports.com/NFL, where he writes and edits NFL content for RantSports.com.
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