People around Cleveland have been wondering what's happened to Kellen Winslow the past couple weeks because Romeo Crennel has taken a Bill Belichick approach to sharing player news and thus 'unspecified illness' was listed next to their starting tight end. Turns out, Winslow has been soldiering through a staph infection that has hospitalized him. So why is this significant news? Well, the Browns organization has now had six cases of staph infection over the last few years and according to Winslow, failed to fully make him aware of his illness/injury for fear of the news leaking out.
"I didn't want to be a distraction and I didn't want it to steer us away from our focus, which was on the Washington Redskins. Then I thought about it, and thought about it, and this is the right thing to do to get it out there and let it be known that this is not right.
"They didn't even want me going to the Cleveland Browns' facility because they didn't want me to get re-infected. Something is wrong up there. It needs to be fixed."
"Nobody knew that I had staph on the team because the Browns didn't want it to get out. But it's my teammates' right to know what's going on at the facility to protect them. Their safety is at risk, too, and I didn't agree with the Cleveland Browns, because they are protecting the organization and not the players."
"They didn't even want me going to the Cleveland Browns' facility because they didn't want me to get re-infected. Something is wrong up there. It needs to be fixed."
"Nobody knew that I had staph on the team because the Browns didn't want it to get out. But it's my teammates' right to know what's going on at the facility to protect them. Their safety is at risk, too, and I didn't agree with the Cleveland Browns, because they are protecting the organization and not the players."
Winslow went on to accuse the Browns of treating him like a piece of meat. Uh, hey Kellen. This is the NFL... you basically are just a piece of meat. What, you think you're a soldier or something?
Anyways, the point here is that the Browns organization clearly has some serious issues its handling of injuries and infections. One or two cases of staph infection might be tolerable over the course of a few years, but SIX is not. IT would be wise for general manager Phil Savage to wipe clean his entire medical staff and start anew.
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