JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Tight end Kellen Winslow is slated to rejoin the team and report to Browns headquarters this morning. But the relationship between him and the organization remains strained.
Winslow’s one-game suspension was rescinded Saturday night in a settlement with the team. He talked with general manager Phil Savage and they agreed to move on and put the past week behind them.
But in a hallway outside a joyous locker room Sunday following the Browns’ 23-17 victory over the Jaguars, Savage defended himself and the organization and once again suggested there was more to Winslow’s illness than the staph infection disclosed by Winslow.
“If there’s going to be disclosure, there’s got to be full disclosure,” Savage said. “We were trying to do the right thing by him and his family.”
When Savage was asked why Winslow was hospitalized, he turned to spokesman Bill Bonsiewicz and asked if that had been disclosed. Bonsiewicz shook his head no.
“I think it’s all in a gray area right now,” Savage said. “You can ask him.”
Denise White, Winslow’s publicist, quickly responded to an e-mail asking why Winslow was hospitalized.
“For a staph infection. Plain and simple,” she said.
White earlier said that Winslow felt vindicated by the repeal of the suspension. Winslow didn’t play Sunday, but didn’t have to forfeit a game check worth $235,294. He will have to pay a $25,000 fine.
According to a Plain Dealer report, Winslow also avoided losing another $1 million due to a clause in his contract that stipulates he would lose that amount if he engaged in conduct detrimental to the team — the reason given for the suspension.
Winslow criticized the organization after last week’s loss to the Redskins for covering up the infection. The team responded by suspending him for comments “unwarranted, inappropriate and unnecessarily disparaging.”
“To intimate that we have done nothing about staph infections here, when I guarantee we’ve probably spent more time and more energy to try to combat the issue, it was not a good assessment of what really has gone on behind the scenes here,” Savage said Sunday. “Romeo Crennel and I, much less the owner, would never interfere with a player’s decision of whether he wants to keep something private or make it available to the media or the public.”
On Saturday, owner Randy Lerner and Savage learned of text messages from a public relations official to Winslow telling him to keep quiet the staph infection. Savage denied the text messages played a big part in the agreement, saying he and agent Drew Rosenhaus had begun talks Thursday.
Despite the hard feelings, Savage and Winslow say they’re ready to move on and finish the season together as the Browns try to make a playoff push.
“I look forward to getting back to playing football and being a productive member of this team,” Winslow said in the statement. “It’s now time to focus on winning.”
“He’s ensured us that he’s coming back and wants to win and focus on the team and winning,” Savage said. “Let’s take him for what he said. We said we’d welcome him back, so it’s a mutual agreement here.”
Contact Scott Petrak at 329-7253 or spetrak@chroniclet.com.

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