Cleveland Browns: Donte Whitner

Cleveland Browns strong safety Donte Whitner was thrilled to join his hometown team two years ago.

(John Kuntz, Cleveland.com)

BEREA, Ohio -- There's no rule or date stating when it's too late for an NFL team to release a veteran player.

Cutting one after Easter isn't a faux pas akin to wearing white after Labor Day. It varies on the situation and circumstance. But the Browns' decision to let go safety Donte Whitner on Saturday, nearly a month after free agency opened, seems poorly timed.

Like a late slide into second base to break up a double play, you know it when you see it.

There's no issue here with the franchise releasing the 30-year-old Whitner, who like many Browns' defenders had a poor 2015 season. The club is undergoing a massive rebuild and his dismissal follows the decision to allow four starters to walk in free agency and cutting ties with Randy Starks, 32, and the productive Karlos Dansby, 34.

There's also no issue here with Whitner taking to social media Saturday night and grousing about waiting so long to make the move -- more than two weeks after the Dansby transaction. It's a matter of respect for a three-time Pro Bowler, who's a Cleveland native. The earlier the release, the better chance a veteran has to maximize his earning power on the open market.

If the club eventually cuts quarterback Josh McCown at least you can argue it didn't sign Robert Griffin III until March 24 and we're still uncertain how the Browns will address the position in the draft. Again, context is everything in these scenarios.

Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio offered several good points about the importance of adding time-sensitive triggers to contracts, forcing teams to make expedient decisions -- i.e., roster bonuses and large portions of a contract becoming fully guaranteed. Whitner did not have them in his deal, according to the report.

I just wish they had common courtesy and would've done it weeks ago when free agency was going on... #25thHour... But I'll bounce back! — DonteHitner31 (@DonteWhitner) April 3, 2016

There's another issue at play, though. Fair or not, the Browns' new regime is being closely scrutinized for its non-traditional construct, an Ivy League front office run by a former baseball executive Paul DePodesta, highly invested in analytics. Whitner even dropped a "Moneyball" reference in his Saturday night tweets.

Some folks naturally resist change and there's a segment of the old guard around the league that want to see the Browns fail and will point to every perceived misstep.

The Browns anticipated blowback for their approach and not re-signing Travis Benjamin, Tashaun Gipson, Alex Mack and Mitchell Schwartz. Sashi Brown, head of football operations, was quick, however, to deny reports the Browns had pulled their offer for Schwartz. He also emphasized the club is not releasing every older veteran. The Browns re-signed Gary Barnidge, 30, and retain seven other 30-somethings on the roster.

"It's not a scorched-earth policy or a policy just making decisions on a guy's age," he said at the owners meetings on March 21. "We want to look at who can contribute to us. Those guys may come in all different packages and all different ages."

Waiting so long to release Whitner is not a great look, though, for the new group unless evidence comes to light the Browns were trying to trade him or that something else happened behind the scenes.

The NFL is filled with agents and executives who have long memories. And while big money often colors a free agent's decision, some players might be reminded next spring of how the Browns hung onto Whitner for nearly a month before cutting him.

What the Browns did wasn't necessarily wrong. When they chose to do it just didn't seem right.