The Cleveland Browns have their Pro Bowl free safety under lock and key.
The team announced that Tashaun Gipson signed his one-year, $2.356 million tender agreement on Friday.
Gipson has stayed away from offseason workouts in search of a long-term deal from the organization. The Browns have yet to furnish the fourth-year backstop with an acceptable offer, but the sides have all season to work that out.
Gipson was a valuable member of Cleveland's frisky secondary in 2014, finishing second in the league with six interceptions despite missing the final five games of the year with a torn MCL. Third-year safety Jordan Poyer has taken his place in OTAs, but adding Gipson across from Donte Whitner furnishes the squad with a strong duo at the back-end of last year's eighth-ranked passing defense.
"When he's here, we'll coach the heck out of him,"Browns coach Mike Pettine said Thursday, per The Plain Dealer. "I can't speak for where he is from a frame of mind or what his plans are, but when he's here he'll be welcomed. (I've) been through this in all my time in the NFL -- guys with contract issues. Things very quickly get forgotten once they show up."
With Joe Haden and Tramon Williams at cornerback, along with impressive second-year cover man K'Waun Williams, Cleveland easily has the deepest secondary since their return to the league in 1999. We'll find out soon enough if this defense has what it takes to rattle cages in the AFC North.
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