D'Qwell Jackson threatens to hold out of training camp

Cleveland Browns restricted free agent linebacker D'Qwell Jackson said he will skip a mandatory minicamp next month and is contemplating a training camp holdout.

"I still want to retire as a Cleveland Brown, but I have to be protected,'' Jackson told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "Unfortunately, this is the business side of it and I have to do what I have to do. But on Sundays, I'll still be the same player I've been for the last four years.''

Jackson's agent said he won't sign his restricted tender until the June 15 deadline.

"We'll decide on June 15th how we want to proceed,'' Brian Mackler said. "We might sign the tender by then and we might not. We're in the process of determining how much D'Qwell will participate between now and Sept. 1.''

Citing broken promises of a new deal for Jackson, agent Brian Mackler sounded off earlier this offseason.

"It's utterly ridiculous," Mackler said. "I'm tired of excuses. The team made promises of a new deal it has not kept. What they're doing is wrong. That we're even having this conversation about a tender is utterly ridiculous.''

The disconnect comes from promises made by the former regime of George Kokinis as well as Dawn Aponte, both of whom aren't with the organization anymore.

"It never should've gotten to this point," Mackler said. 

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