Alex Mack

Alex Mack could opt out of his contract at the end of this season.

(Joshua Gunter, Cleveland.com)

BEREA, Ohio -- Browns center Alex Mack will take his time after the season in deciding whether or not to opt out of his contract and didn't want to talk about it much on Wednesday, but he revealed one big factor in his decision.



"I will say that winning is really important to me,'' he said.

That's not good news for the win-challenged Browns.

Like most of the other players on the Browns roster, Mack -- who will play in his 100th career game on Sunday in Kansas City -- hasn't experienced much winning in his career here.

In seven seasons, Mack has gone 29-70, and has finished with five or fewer victories in six of his seven seasons. If the 3-11 Browns lose their final two games, they'll finish 3-13 -- the worst record in Mack's tenure.

What's more, he's already played for four head coaches and has lived through three firings. He's blocked for 13 different starting quarterbacks since he was drafted in the first round of 2009 out of Cal.

And, as everyone knows, Mack could be blocking for more new quarterbacks in 2016 and Mike Pettine and his staff could be wiped out after the season.

Asked how a fourth possible coaching change might impact his decision, Mack said, "I'm not going to worry about that until I have to and if it happens. What ifs aren't something I'm really eager to entertain. We have the coaching staff we have right now and we have an opponent coming up this weekend and I'm going to focus on that.''

Reminded that his third trip to the Pro Bowl, which was revealed Tuesday, will be a great bargaining tool on the open market, Mack said, "I'm going to wait until after the season to deal with any of that kind of stuff. I'm really honored to have the Pro Bowl selection and I have big thanks to the people I play against and the people I play with."

Undoubtedly, the relationships Mack has formed on the offensive line will play a part. He's close with nine-time Pro Bowler Joe Thomas, right tackle Mitchell Schwartz, and guards John Greco, Joel Bitonio and Cam Erving.

But the truth of the matter is, no one knows if Thomas or Schwartz will be around either. Schwartz is set to become a free agent in March, and Thomas -- the most valuable player on the team and a sure-fire future Hall of Famer -- could become trade bait again before or during the season.

Thomas wants to finish his career here, but if the Browns are desperate to acquire a first-round pick or trade up to draft a quarterback, his name will undoubtedly come up again. As it is, he was nearly traded to the Broncos on Nov. 3 for a first-rounder in 2017 and a second-rounder in 2016.

"I really like the guys I play with,'' said Mack. "The other guys on the o-line are great people. They're awesome friends and really good teammates. Like I said, I owe a lot of thanks to them for helping me be a good player.

Mack, who must make his decision by the start of the league year in March, revealed that he won't share his decision right after the season, which ends Jan. 3 against the Steelers.

"No, I will have just finished the game, worried about the Steelers,'' he said.

Of course, the Browns made the egregious error of placing the transition tag on Mack instead of the franchise tag after the 2013 season, enabling the Jaguars to craft a matchable deal that left Mack holding all the cards and a ton of money. The contract -- five years, $42 million including $26 million guaranteed -- included a no-trade clause and an option to void the final three seasons of the deal.

The contract averages $8 million over the final three seasons, but Mack -- currently the fifth-highest paid center at $8.4 million a year -- could become the first center in NFL history to break the $9 million barrier on the open market, according to cap specialist Joel Corry of nationalfootballpost.com. The current top average is Miami's Mike Pouncey, who earns $8.95 million a year.

Pettine acknowledged the ugly truth that Mack could walk after the season.

"He could,'' said Pettine. "We don't have much control over that. That's his personal decision. It's in his favor that he has that in his contract. We'll react accordingly. Alex Mack is a Cleveland Brown. We'd love to have him here and be a part of what we are doing, but that is a decision that will be made down the road."

The Browns drafted Cam Erving No. 19 overall as an insurance policy, but judging from his struggles this season -- including being benched in favor of left guard Austin Pasztor until right guard John Greco went down with a knee injury Sunday -- Erving would be a significant dropoff at least early on at such a pivotal position.

Mack, who missed the final 11 games of last season with a broken fibula, has rounded back into Pro Bowl form over the past month and is one of the premier best centers in the NFL.

"He has improved,'' said Pettine. "That injury, it occurred in the middle of the year last year. It was more than just a broken ankle. There was ligament damage. There was a lot for him to overcome. In the spring, it was even a matter of - we always talked about some of those guys that practice so hard that you have to save them from themselves a little bit - he had a tough time with that because he wants to go full speed all the time.''

Pettine said it took Mack time to trust the leg again.

"I think we all saw that with Travis (Benjamin coming off an ACL), just to stick the foot in the ground and make a cut, where it is more of a mental block than it is physical,'' said Pettine. "Alex went through the same thing, and he has gotten to the point where it appears to us that he's much more confident in it than he was earlier in the year."

Mack, 30, agrees that he's all the way back now.

"It's been a long road,'' he said. "A lot of work has gone into it. I put in a lot of work and I feel like I have done some good things on the field."

His remarkable comeback hasn't been lost on his close pal and fellow ironman Thomas.

"It's impressive that a guy that comes off of such a bad broken leg, other injuries, is able to come back and he's to the point now where you don't even think about it,'' said Thomas. "You wouldn't even know, except for the scar on his leg, that he had a bad injury last year.''

No one is happier than Thomas that Mack's journey this season will end up in Honolulu for the Pro Bowl Jan. 31st.

"I'm really happy for him,'' said Thomas. "He's obviously one of my best friends on the team. I've been around a long time with him. So it's a lot of fun that he'll be out there joining me and it's good that the work that he's put in coming back from that broken leg is paying off.''

Question is, will they be back on the team together next season?