Wednesday, Apr 2, 2008 7:32 am EDT

Dallas forced Browns to up Anderson's contract offer
Getty Images
General Manager Phil Savage upped the Cleveland Browns' contract offer to Derek Anderson because he feared Dallas would sign the quarterback and trade him to Miami according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

"It didn't matter if I was pretty convinced or just slightly," Savage said Tuesday at NFL league meetings. "The threat of that being there [influenced him to raise the Browns' offer]."

Here's what Savage envisioned if he failed to re-sign Anderson to a multiyear deal and had to give him the one-year contract tender as a restricted free agent: Dallas would have signed Anderson to a big contract and included a "poison pill," which would have made it impossible for the Browns to match the offer. Dallas would have compensated the Browns with first- and third-round picks. They would be the Cowboys' original selections, No. 28 overall in both rounds. Dallas would have traded Anderson and their other first-round pick - No. 22 overall, obtained from the Browns last year - to Miami for the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. The Cowboys then would select Arkansas running back Darren McFadden with that pick.