Browns Commit Future to Couch

Cleveland committed itself to Tim Couch on Friday when the Browns gave him an $8.7 million bonus rather than allow him to become a restricted free agent.

“Now is the time to make the move. Everyone was in total agreement. Not only is he our quarterback of the present. He is our quarterback of the future,” Brown President Carmen Policy said.

The team announced the move less than a week after Couch had one of the best games of his career, a 41-38 come-from-behind victory over Tennessee. Couch set a career high with 336 yards passing and matched his previous career best with three touchdown passes.

The Browns signed Couch as the first pick in the 1999 draft to a seven-year, $48-million contract. The contract had a clause allowing the Browns to buy Couch out after three years. Instead, the team chose to exercise its option for the remaining four years, which aren’t necessarily guaranteed.

Couch’s salary will escalate from $325,000 this year to $4.4 million next year. He gets $6.2 million in 2003, $7.6 million in 2004 and $8 million in 2005.

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Tired of hearing his coach’s name dragged through the rumor mill, Jacksonville Jaguar owner Wayne Weaver said he will start working on a contract extension for Tom Coughlin next week.

“Tom is going to be our coach,” Weaver said. “We have talked. We’ll sit down after the season, and an extension is on the agenda.”

Coughlin’s current deal is through 2003 and pays $2.4 million a year. Weaver did not say how big a contract extension Coughlin would get.

The coaching issue resurfaced when Steve Spurrier suddenly resigned from the University of Florida. Spurrier has a beach house near Jacksonville, and has often been thought to be a perfect fit for the Jaguars.

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Tampa Bay Buccaneer Coach Tony Dungy, whose mother died this week, will not miss Sunday night’s regular-season finale against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Dungy was unavailable for comment after Friday’s practice, but General Manager Rich McKay said the coach will be on the sideline against Philadelphia.

Cleo Dungy, 81, died Thursday at her home in Jackson, Mich.

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Jim Fassel warned the New York Giants about having a letdown in their regular-season finale Sunday against the Green Bay Packers.

An unhappy Fassel talked to the team after Friday’s final practice ended with a few miscues.

“One thing I told these guys this week is, ‘I’m going to find out who wants to fight when we’re down and out,”’ Fassel said. “I’m not going to assume anything. Every game is different. If you think I’m going to stop coaching these guys the last day we’re out here, you’ve got the wrong guy.”