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Despite his arrest earlier this month for misdemeanor assault, defensive tackle Perrion Winfrey is taking part in the Cleveland Browns offseason program, according to ESPN Cleveland’s Brad Stainbrook.
Perrion Winfrey is With the Team in Berea, Ohio
The Cleveland Browns returned to Berea, Ohio, this week to begin their offseason program, which involves eight weeks of meetings and workouts. Per ClevelandBrowns.com, the players are back at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus to start phase one, which is “limited to strength and rehabilitation training and meetings” and lasts for two weeks before they move into phase two, which is on-field drills without live contact and also rookie minicamp.
Stainbrook reported that a source told him that Browns defensive tackle Perrion Winfrey “is with the team in Cleveland following his arrest for misdemeanor assault last week.”
Winfrey was arrested in Texas on April 10 on a misdemeanor assault charge, according to Cleveland.com. TMZ further reported that court documents said that Winfrey and his girlfriend got into an argument over “a dog and keys to a rental car” and it became physical and bystanders had to intervene, according to the documents. The court documents also say that the woman said this was not the first time Winfrey assaulted her.
There was speculation from Cleveland.com reporters Dan Labbe and Mary Kay Cabot that the Browns would perhaps part ways with the defensive lineman after the arrest, which was the latest in a string of incidents involving Winfrey.
“For their part, the Browns are gathering more information. They’re going to have to talk to Perrion themselves, someone in the organization will speak with him about this, they’ll talk to the authorities about this and they’ll find out as much information as they can and if they’re comfortable with what they find out, then they’ll move forward with Perrion.
“If they’re not comfortable with what they find out, then there is a chance, I suppose, that they could start to think about parting ways with him. One of the reasons why they even might consider that is this is just sort of the latest in a line of incidents where Perrion Winfrey maybe hasn’t always been in the right place at the right time doing the right thing,” said Cabot.
Labbe added, “At some point, it does come down to there’s just always something with certain guys and this was a fourth-round pick … it’s not gonna cost too much money to move on from him at all, we’re talking hundreds of thousands. This is a fourth-round pick contract, it’s not that big.”
Some Browns Fans Think the Organization Should Cut Him
In the replies to Stainbrook’s tweet, several Browns fans are calling for the organization to be done with Winfrey.
“Cut him,” wrote one fan, and another echoed those sentiments and also took a jab at Stainbrook, writing, “They should cut both you and him.”
A third fan wrote, “Did nothing on the field anyways, cut him.”
“This damn team creates so much bad karma. It’s just another footnote in their pitiful existence since ’99,” wrote a fourth fan, and a fifth fan joked about it as being “eighth chance is a charm.”
A couple of fans hope that maybe Winfrey can turn things around, with one writing, “If he gets another chance, hopefully he grows from it and becomes a better player and person going forward,” and a second fan wrote, “Hope he can take some time to grow and reflect on what’s he’s done. I know he can be a beast in the league but he needs to stay out of trouble.”
Head coach Kevin Stefanski was asked about Winfrey during his press conference to start the offseason program this week and he declined to comment specifically about Winfrey, saying, “I won’t get into who’s here on a day-to-day basis, that type of thing. It’s a voluntary program. With any of our players, I want them to be safe when they’re not in this building. I want them to be making sure they’re following all rules out outside of this building and making sure they’re being safe in the community. In this particular instance, we’ll gather all the information we need to and monitor it. I’m not ready to go past that, other than to tell you, taking all this in as we go.”
But when asked directly if Winfrey was still a member of the team, Stefanski said yes.