azdad1978
Championship!!!!
Notebook: Big checkbooks are killing small-market teams
March 25, 2004
By Pete Prisco
SportsLine.com Senior Writer
Tell Pete your opinion!
Insider | Notes
They just couldn't help themselves, these NFL owners with the big checkbooks and the even bigger egos that somehow lead them to spend.
The lure of a Super Bowl can sometimes be deadly to a team -- cap troubles surely to follow those that spend money like a rap star from MTV's Cribs.
Dan Snyder's big spending is sending shockwaves around the league.(Getty Images)
After a couple of years of fiscal restraint, seemingly smacking these supposedly wise businessmen back to reality, we've had Boys Gone Wild during this free agency period, an orgy of free spending that seems like a chapter out of the Enron debacle.
"Can you believe some of those signing bonuses?" said one NFC coach. "It's unbelievable. Try and figure out how much signing bonus money has been paid out so far. It's ridiculous."
The Washington Redskins, and their does-he-print-money owner Dan Snyder, lead the league in signing bonus monies spent so far. Snyder has doled out over $60 million in bonus money.
But he is not alone. Free spending is an epidemic.
And this does not include the signing bonus money given to players for restructured deals that are done simply for cap reasons. Instead, this is just new money to players who were free, either as an unrestricted free agent or a restricted free agent.
Re-do deals, such as the $6.65 million Miami paid to linebacker Zach Thomas to give them some cap relief, do not count. That money would have been paid anyway in the form of salary. That's just bookkeeping, although the team does have to come off the hip for that bonus money all at once, instead of paying it weekly in salary.
Doling out $11.5 million signing bonus money to running back Clinton Portis, which the Redskins did after getting him in a trade, is the kind of money that does count.
"Signing bonus is king," said Indianapolis Colts owner Jimmy Irsay. "It's not the cap. It's cash over cap."
The Colts have paid out $40 million in signing bonuses, but $34.05 of that goes to quarterback Peyton Manning as part of his $98-million deal.
Denver has paid out about $34 million, followed by Seattle at $28 million, Philadelphia at $24 million and Detroit at $22 million. All four of those teams have something in common with the Redskins: New stadiums that generate big-time revenues in terms of luxury seating.
Irsay and some of the other small-market owners can't compete with that. Irsay's stadium in Indianapolis, the outdated RCA Dome, simply does not allow him to generate the same kind of revenues as Snyder's stadium in Washington or Paul Allen's in Seattle.
Even small-market teams like the Cincinnati Bengals that do have a new revenue-generating stadium can't compete from a cash standpoint with the Redskins because they can't charge as much for suites and club seats.
So, in essence, the NFL motto of sharing revenues in an attempt to keep things on equal footing is slipping away. The NFL Trust, which refers to the agreement among teams to have the league serve as the licensing agent for club trademarks and logos, is set to expire at the end of the month. It will be discussed next week at the winter meetings in Palm Beach, Fla., and there is talk that a few individual teams might want to handle their licensing in-house, which would again create a disparity in revenues. Power teams like the Cowboys, who market to an entire country, could make a lot more than a small-market team like the Colts or Bengals in that scenario.
Expect suite revenues to be another topic broached next week, according to Irsay.
The league may say the cap is the great equalizer, but cash reserves, which are helped big time by the sales of club seats and luxury suites, make that less a reality. Those revenues either go to reduce stadium debt or go into the pockets of the teams. Unlike regular ticket sales, they are not shared.
"We have 53,000 sellable seats and suites that sell for $70,000 where some teams are selling theirs for $200,000," said Irsay. "We have the lowest-revenue stadium in the league. That makes it very difficult. I don't think the founding fathers would have wanted the suite money not to be a part of the shared revenues. That's where the revenue sharing went awry. That money should be shared, but it isn't. Something needs to be done about that."
Irsay said that he has discussed that topic with some other small-market owners, and they are in agreement that the time to discuss it is now.
"Not only is it unbalanced in free agency, but in trying to keep your own players, too," said Irsay. "It's not just about cap room."
Irsay wouldn't admit to the number, but he will be forced to pay some of the Manning signing bonus -- it's all due by next March -- out of his own pocket. That, according to some team officials, isn't uncommon for some small-market owners.
"There's only one Paul Allen," said Irsay. "We all can do it, but for how long? And I can tell you we're not going to keep doing it. I want to win a Super Bowl, but you can't keep dipping into your own pockets."
That's why Irsay is so passionate about his desire for a new stadium. It's why Saints owner Tom Benson also wants a new stadium, and why the Arizona Cardinals are finally getting theirs.
Luxury-suite revenue streams are vital to paying out signing bonuses that can compete with the big-market teams. And even when teams have those revenue streams, it's not the same as playing in a New York or a Washington, D.C., area.
As it stands now, owners like Dan Snyder have a decided edge in luring free agents.
Cap room is important, but this is becoming a game of cash, and the NFL has to be careful. It doesn't want to start becoming like Major League Baseball, with its big-market, small-market inequity that makes the Yankees and George Steinbrenner the World Series favorites every spring.
The great thing about the NFL is that every summer when camp opens 20 teams can win it all. If that number shrinks because of cash reasons, the league is going to lose the one thing Pete Rozelle preached when he built this game, and that's parity.
"There's no question that Mike Brown and I and some other small-market team owners have had some discussions about what we can do to make it a better system," said Irsay. "We're going to work on it and let the other owners know that it's a major concern."
The NFL can't become a league of haves and have-nots. If it does, the foundation of the league will be in big, big trouble and Super Bowl titles may actually be up for bid, much like in Major League Baseball.
Around the League
After the high school and college organizations each wrote letters to the NFL about sportsmanship issues -- clean it up, please -- the league's competition committee is proposing a 15-yard penalty for "planned acts" of celebration and taunting. In the past, players could be fined for these celebrations but penalties were not called, unless it was a blatant taunting, such as when the Saints Joe Horn pulled out his cell phone after scoring a touchdown last season. Now the players will be fined and penalized if the league has its way. Here we go again with taking the fun out of the game. Taunting should be penalized and should be fined. That can lead to fighting. But celebrations, whether it's one or two or five players, should not be penalized. It takes the emotion out of the game. What happens if six Packers all jump into the stands for the Lambeau Leap? Penalty or not? The Leap itself isn't a penalty, according to Rich McKay, the Falcons general manager and a co-chairman of the league's competition committee. But if there are more than two players involved, it could be a penalty. "Don't start writing it's the No Fun League," McKay said Wednesday on an NFL conference call. OK, we won't. It's the No Funk League. Don't you get the impression the NFL would love to have robots playing the game? As for the high school and colleges, it's up to the individual coaches to make sure their players don't get penalized for copying the antics of NFL players. They do still have discipline, right? And then there's the Pop Warner parents who complain their kids are emulating NFL players, seeing too much celebrating. Isn't that like saying your kid will be a bank robber because he sees one on TV? Lighten up, NFL. It's all right for you to promote some foolish street football video game, an absurd thought at that, yet not allow your players to dance and act the fool when they do something special? It's no wonder kids love the WWF and probably prefer video football to the real thing.
The agent for Dolphins defensive end Adewale Ogunleye, who had 15 sacks last year, is squawking that his client may hold out this summer if the Dolphins do not give Ogunleye a long-term contract. He is a restricted free agent and the team made a $1.84 qualifying tender to him, but agent Drew Rosenhaus has indicated Ogunleye has no plans to sign it. The hope is that the Dolphins trade him to another team because any team that would sign him now to an offer sheet would have to give the Dolphins first- and a third-round picks. That's not going to happen. If Miami would take a second-round pick, then maybe it could get done. If a trade can't be worked out, Ogunleye has no choice but to play, no matter what Rosenahus is saying. Who would he be hurting most by sitting out? Himself. If he doesn't get a new long-term deal, he should sign the tender, put up 15 more sacks next season and then go into the market as an unrestricted free agent. If the Dolphins use a franchise tag on him in that scenario, then so be it. It would mean he was being paid the average of the top five at his position. Ogunleye, is too smart to sit out and not play. Remember, he has come back from a torn ACL suffered as a senior in college to be a Pro Bowl player. That sure doesn't sound like a player who would be unappreciative of his current lot in life. These things have a way of working out, and this one will. If the Dolphins can't get a fair price in a trade -- and the team trading for him obviously would want a long-term contract before making a deal -- then Ogunleye will be the Dolphins left end again in 2004.
Word around the NFL is that safety John Lynch, who signed with the Broncos this week after being released by the Bucs, was surprised by the amount of money he got paid. Lynch is 31 years old, coming off a bad season in which he didn't tackle well because of a neck injury and he doesn't run well. Yet Denver gave him a three-year deal that averages $3.09 million and includes a $2.5 million signing bonus. Lynch just might be the classiest player in the league, the kind of guy that if you had 22 just like him you'd be a happy coach. But he was never a safety who ran well, and he's slowed down some. Slow safeties have problems with the many spread offenses being used these days. This is another signing that could come back to bite Mike Shanahan, just as the signings of Daryl Gardener, Dale Carter and Lionel Dalton did. It's time Shanahan won a playoff game, something he hasn't done since 1999, the year John Elway retired. Or that Teflon Coach stuff might start to fade away.
In the past, the Tennessee Titans have gotten big respect for having capable players to replace guys they lose. That's especially true at defensive tackle where they've been able to handle the free-agent losses of Gary Walker, Jason Fisk and John Thornton the past couple of years. Now they'll have to do it again with the loss of Robaire Smith to the Texans in free agency. The hope is that Rien Long, a fourth-round pick last year, can step in and be a quality starter. He played some as a rookie last season, showing better than some scouts had expected. History says the Titans will have him ready this year to take over for Smith because that's the Titans way and a big reason they've been one of the league's best teams the past five years.
The Colts are excited about second-year corner Donald Strickland. He played mostly safety last year as a rookie, but they hope he takes over as the starting corner opposite Nick Harper this year. Strickland played well as a safety for the injured Idrees Bashir, but the Colts think he's an even better corner. He is a physical player who will be able to handle the bigger receivers. Joseph Jefferson, who missed most of the past two years with injuries, is also another prospect the team is high on at corner. He just has to stay healthy. The one position of concern on the defense right now is the loss of Marcus Washington since the potential replacements, Jim Nelson and Cato June, aren't exciting many. This is where the draft will be key. D.J. Williams of Miami would be a perfect player for the Colts in the first round or Teddy Lehman of Oklahoma in the second round.
The receiver pool for this year's draft seems to get better and better as the workouts continue around the country. Last week the talk was about the blistering 4.36 time that LSU's Devery Henderson ran. There is a chance now that he could go even before teammate Michael Clayton, who ran a 4.54 at LSU's Pro Day. Clayton shouldn't drop because of that time, but teams have a tendency to do that sometimes. He plays fast. Henderson is proving he's a burner. Another receiver who impressed with his Pro Day workout was USC's Keary Colbert. He was clocked at 4.41, although some watches had him under 4.4. For a player who some scouts said was slow, that's going to change the perception of him. He's already a crisp route runner, but that speed could move him up in the early part of the second round -- maybe higher. While Colbert's stock is rising, the stock of teammate Mike Williams is falling. Williams, who is in this draft after just two years at USC, did not take part in the Trojans workout Thursday. He has his own workout scheduled of April 8, which is Good Friday, in Tampa. Williams didn't even attend the Trojans Pro Day workout, which surprised several of the coaches in attendance. "He should have at least come over and talked to some of us," said one coach. "He's hurting himself in a big way. He's getting bad advice from his representation." Some of the teams drafting in the top 10 say they have to sort their draft board, almost making a decision before Williams works out. "It's way too late," said the coach. The thing about Williams is that there is great concern about his 40 time. Some scouts insist he is no better than a 4.7 guy, which is slow by NFL standards. If he runs that slow, he could fall to the bottom of the first round, despite what he did at USC. Will Colbert go before him? Won't happen. But the distance between them is getting smaller by the day.
The Jaguars signing of Falcons cornerback Juran Bolden opened some eyes this week because the Jaguars have preached that, following the R.J. Soward debacle, they would no longer pursue players with off-field problems. Bolden, a big, physical corner who was getting play from other teams as well, was charged last month with felony counts of driving a stolen vehicle and possession of marijuana. The Jaguars did an extensive background check on Bolden and the incident and came away feeling that it was a major misunderstanding. It seems Bolden thought he was getting a great deal on a sports utility vehicle and gave a an acquaintance $10,000, without knowing the vehicle was stolen or had marijuana in it. "What it was is a case of a naïve kid getting taken," said one Jaguars source. "He really is a good kid who doesn't have any history of this type of thing." The Jaguars are hopeful that the charges will be dropped, and several league personnel confirmed that Bolden was just a victim of circumstances. "He isn't in the league's substance program, he never has been, and everybody talks about what a great kid he is," said one NFC coach. "This isn't an on-going problem. It was just a case of a kid making a dumb decision." At 6-2, 210, Bolden will team with second-year player Rashean Mathis to give the Jaguars a big, physical pair of corners, which could keep them from having to draft one in the first two rounds of next month's draft. In Bolden and Mathis, the Jaguars pair will vie with Green Bay's Al Harris and Mike McKenzie for the longest dread-locked corner duo. The Jaguars corners will team with free safety Deon Grant and strong safety Donovin Darius, although the Jaguars are upset that Darius is not taking part in the team's off-season workouts. Darius signed the team's franchise tender for $4.1 million, but he is said to still be unhappy he didn't get a long-term deal. If he doesn't watch out, the team could still trade him and opt to play Deke Cooper at strong safety. Cooper played free safety last year, but will go to the bench if Darius is on the roster.
The contract the Raiders gave to the Warren Sapp was reported to include a $7 million signing bonus. The reality is that Sapp got a $4.5 million signing bonus plus a $1.5 roster bonus that is due next year. The contract also includes a $1 million option bonus payable in two years. Sapp's cap figure for 2004 is a reasonable $1.45 million, but it goes to $4.450 million in 2005 and then $5.550 in 2006.
March 25, 2004
By Pete Prisco
SportsLine.com Senior Writer
Tell Pete your opinion!
Insider | Notes
They just couldn't help themselves, these NFL owners with the big checkbooks and the even bigger egos that somehow lead them to spend.
The lure of a Super Bowl can sometimes be deadly to a team -- cap troubles surely to follow those that spend money like a rap star from MTV's Cribs.
Dan Snyder's big spending is sending shockwaves around the league.(Getty Images)
After a couple of years of fiscal restraint, seemingly smacking these supposedly wise businessmen back to reality, we've had Boys Gone Wild during this free agency period, an orgy of free spending that seems like a chapter out of the Enron debacle.
"Can you believe some of those signing bonuses?" said one NFC coach. "It's unbelievable. Try and figure out how much signing bonus money has been paid out so far. It's ridiculous."
The Washington Redskins, and their does-he-print-money owner Dan Snyder, lead the league in signing bonus monies spent so far. Snyder has doled out over $60 million in bonus money.
But he is not alone. Free spending is an epidemic.
And this does not include the signing bonus money given to players for restructured deals that are done simply for cap reasons. Instead, this is just new money to players who were free, either as an unrestricted free agent or a restricted free agent.
Re-do deals, such as the $6.65 million Miami paid to linebacker Zach Thomas to give them some cap relief, do not count. That money would have been paid anyway in the form of salary. That's just bookkeeping, although the team does have to come off the hip for that bonus money all at once, instead of paying it weekly in salary.
Doling out $11.5 million signing bonus money to running back Clinton Portis, which the Redskins did after getting him in a trade, is the kind of money that does count.
"Signing bonus is king," said Indianapolis Colts owner Jimmy Irsay. "It's not the cap. It's cash over cap."
The Colts have paid out $40 million in signing bonuses, but $34.05 of that goes to quarterback Peyton Manning as part of his $98-million deal.
Denver has paid out about $34 million, followed by Seattle at $28 million, Philadelphia at $24 million and Detroit at $22 million. All four of those teams have something in common with the Redskins: New stadiums that generate big-time revenues in terms of luxury seating.
Irsay and some of the other small-market owners can't compete with that. Irsay's stadium in Indianapolis, the outdated RCA Dome, simply does not allow him to generate the same kind of revenues as Snyder's stadium in Washington or Paul Allen's in Seattle.
Even small-market teams like the Cincinnati Bengals that do have a new revenue-generating stadium can't compete from a cash standpoint with the Redskins because they can't charge as much for suites and club seats.
So, in essence, the NFL motto of sharing revenues in an attempt to keep things on equal footing is slipping away. The NFL Trust, which refers to the agreement among teams to have the league serve as the licensing agent for club trademarks and logos, is set to expire at the end of the month. It will be discussed next week at the winter meetings in Palm Beach, Fla., and there is talk that a few individual teams might want to handle their licensing in-house, which would again create a disparity in revenues. Power teams like the Cowboys, who market to an entire country, could make a lot more than a small-market team like the Colts or Bengals in that scenario.
Expect suite revenues to be another topic broached next week, according to Irsay.
The league may say the cap is the great equalizer, but cash reserves, which are helped big time by the sales of club seats and luxury suites, make that less a reality. Those revenues either go to reduce stadium debt or go into the pockets of the teams. Unlike regular ticket sales, they are not shared.
"We have 53,000 sellable seats and suites that sell for $70,000 where some teams are selling theirs for $200,000," said Irsay. "We have the lowest-revenue stadium in the league. That makes it very difficult. I don't think the founding fathers would have wanted the suite money not to be a part of the shared revenues. That's where the revenue sharing went awry. That money should be shared, but it isn't. Something needs to be done about that."
Irsay said that he has discussed that topic with some other small-market owners, and they are in agreement that the time to discuss it is now.
"Not only is it unbalanced in free agency, but in trying to keep your own players, too," said Irsay. "It's not just about cap room."
Irsay wouldn't admit to the number, but he will be forced to pay some of the Manning signing bonus -- it's all due by next March -- out of his own pocket. That, according to some team officials, isn't uncommon for some small-market owners.
"There's only one Paul Allen," said Irsay. "We all can do it, but for how long? And I can tell you we're not going to keep doing it. I want to win a Super Bowl, but you can't keep dipping into your own pockets."
That's why Irsay is so passionate about his desire for a new stadium. It's why Saints owner Tom Benson also wants a new stadium, and why the Arizona Cardinals are finally getting theirs.
Luxury-suite revenue streams are vital to paying out signing bonuses that can compete with the big-market teams. And even when teams have those revenue streams, it's not the same as playing in a New York or a Washington, D.C., area.
As it stands now, owners like Dan Snyder have a decided edge in luring free agents.
Cap room is important, but this is becoming a game of cash, and the NFL has to be careful. It doesn't want to start becoming like Major League Baseball, with its big-market, small-market inequity that makes the Yankees and George Steinbrenner the World Series favorites every spring.
The great thing about the NFL is that every summer when camp opens 20 teams can win it all. If that number shrinks because of cash reasons, the league is going to lose the one thing Pete Rozelle preached when he built this game, and that's parity.
"There's no question that Mike Brown and I and some other small-market team owners have had some discussions about what we can do to make it a better system," said Irsay. "We're going to work on it and let the other owners know that it's a major concern."
The NFL can't become a league of haves and have-nots. If it does, the foundation of the league will be in big, big trouble and Super Bowl titles may actually be up for bid, much like in Major League Baseball.
Around the League
After the high school and college organizations each wrote letters to the NFL about sportsmanship issues -- clean it up, please -- the league's competition committee is proposing a 15-yard penalty for "planned acts" of celebration and taunting. In the past, players could be fined for these celebrations but penalties were not called, unless it was a blatant taunting, such as when the Saints Joe Horn pulled out his cell phone after scoring a touchdown last season. Now the players will be fined and penalized if the league has its way. Here we go again with taking the fun out of the game. Taunting should be penalized and should be fined. That can lead to fighting. But celebrations, whether it's one or two or five players, should not be penalized. It takes the emotion out of the game. What happens if six Packers all jump into the stands for the Lambeau Leap? Penalty or not? The Leap itself isn't a penalty, according to Rich McKay, the Falcons general manager and a co-chairman of the league's competition committee. But if there are more than two players involved, it could be a penalty. "Don't start writing it's the No Fun League," McKay said Wednesday on an NFL conference call. OK, we won't. It's the No Funk League. Don't you get the impression the NFL would love to have robots playing the game? As for the high school and colleges, it's up to the individual coaches to make sure their players don't get penalized for copying the antics of NFL players. They do still have discipline, right? And then there's the Pop Warner parents who complain their kids are emulating NFL players, seeing too much celebrating. Isn't that like saying your kid will be a bank robber because he sees one on TV? Lighten up, NFL. It's all right for you to promote some foolish street football video game, an absurd thought at that, yet not allow your players to dance and act the fool when they do something special? It's no wonder kids love the WWF and probably prefer video football to the real thing.
The agent for Dolphins defensive end Adewale Ogunleye, who had 15 sacks last year, is squawking that his client may hold out this summer if the Dolphins do not give Ogunleye a long-term contract. He is a restricted free agent and the team made a $1.84 qualifying tender to him, but agent Drew Rosenhaus has indicated Ogunleye has no plans to sign it. The hope is that the Dolphins trade him to another team because any team that would sign him now to an offer sheet would have to give the Dolphins first- and a third-round picks. That's not going to happen. If Miami would take a second-round pick, then maybe it could get done. If a trade can't be worked out, Ogunleye has no choice but to play, no matter what Rosenahus is saying. Who would he be hurting most by sitting out? Himself. If he doesn't get a new long-term deal, he should sign the tender, put up 15 more sacks next season and then go into the market as an unrestricted free agent. If the Dolphins use a franchise tag on him in that scenario, then so be it. It would mean he was being paid the average of the top five at his position. Ogunleye, is too smart to sit out and not play. Remember, he has come back from a torn ACL suffered as a senior in college to be a Pro Bowl player. That sure doesn't sound like a player who would be unappreciative of his current lot in life. These things have a way of working out, and this one will. If the Dolphins can't get a fair price in a trade -- and the team trading for him obviously would want a long-term contract before making a deal -- then Ogunleye will be the Dolphins left end again in 2004.
Word around the NFL is that safety John Lynch, who signed with the Broncos this week after being released by the Bucs, was surprised by the amount of money he got paid. Lynch is 31 years old, coming off a bad season in which he didn't tackle well because of a neck injury and he doesn't run well. Yet Denver gave him a three-year deal that averages $3.09 million and includes a $2.5 million signing bonus. Lynch just might be the classiest player in the league, the kind of guy that if you had 22 just like him you'd be a happy coach. But he was never a safety who ran well, and he's slowed down some. Slow safeties have problems with the many spread offenses being used these days. This is another signing that could come back to bite Mike Shanahan, just as the signings of Daryl Gardener, Dale Carter and Lionel Dalton did. It's time Shanahan won a playoff game, something he hasn't done since 1999, the year John Elway retired. Or that Teflon Coach stuff might start to fade away.
In the past, the Tennessee Titans have gotten big respect for having capable players to replace guys they lose. That's especially true at defensive tackle where they've been able to handle the free-agent losses of Gary Walker, Jason Fisk and John Thornton the past couple of years. Now they'll have to do it again with the loss of Robaire Smith to the Texans in free agency. The hope is that Rien Long, a fourth-round pick last year, can step in and be a quality starter. He played some as a rookie last season, showing better than some scouts had expected. History says the Titans will have him ready this year to take over for Smith because that's the Titans way and a big reason they've been one of the league's best teams the past five years.
The Colts are excited about second-year corner Donald Strickland. He played mostly safety last year as a rookie, but they hope he takes over as the starting corner opposite Nick Harper this year. Strickland played well as a safety for the injured Idrees Bashir, but the Colts think he's an even better corner. He is a physical player who will be able to handle the bigger receivers. Joseph Jefferson, who missed most of the past two years with injuries, is also another prospect the team is high on at corner. He just has to stay healthy. The one position of concern on the defense right now is the loss of Marcus Washington since the potential replacements, Jim Nelson and Cato June, aren't exciting many. This is where the draft will be key. D.J. Williams of Miami would be a perfect player for the Colts in the first round or Teddy Lehman of Oklahoma in the second round.
The receiver pool for this year's draft seems to get better and better as the workouts continue around the country. Last week the talk was about the blistering 4.36 time that LSU's Devery Henderson ran. There is a chance now that he could go even before teammate Michael Clayton, who ran a 4.54 at LSU's Pro Day. Clayton shouldn't drop because of that time, but teams have a tendency to do that sometimes. He plays fast. Henderson is proving he's a burner. Another receiver who impressed with his Pro Day workout was USC's Keary Colbert. He was clocked at 4.41, although some watches had him under 4.4. For a player who some scouts said was slow, that's going to change the perception of him. He's already a crisp route runner, but that speed could move him up in the early part of the second round -- maybe higher. While Colbert's stock is rising, the stock of teammate Mike Williams is falling. Williams, who is in this draft after just two years at USC, did not take part in the Trojans workout Thursday. He has his own workout scheduled of April 8, which is Good Friday, in Tampa. Williams didn't even attend the Trojans Pro Day workout, which surprised several of the coaches in attendance. "He should have at least come over and talked to some of us," said one coach. "He's hurting himself in a big way. He's getting bad advice from his representation." Some of the teams drafting in the top 10 say they have to sort their draft board, almost making a decision before Williams works out. "It's way too late," said the coach. The thing about Williams is that there is great concern about his 40 time. Some scouts insist he is no better than a 4.7 guy, which is slow by NFL standards. If he runs that slow, he could fall to the bottom of the first round, despite what he did at USC. Will Colbert go before him? Won't happen. But the distance between them is getting smaller by the day.
The Jaguars signing of Falcons cornerback Juran Bolden opened some eyes this week because the Jaguars have preached that, following the R.J. Soward debacle, they would no longer pursue players with off-field problems. Bolden, a big, physical corner who was getting play from other teams as well, was charged last month with felony counts of driving a stolen vehicle and possession of marijuana. The Jaguars did an extensive background check on Bolden and the incident and came away feeling that it was a major misunderstanding. It seems Bolden thought he was getting a great deal on a sports utility vehicle and gave a an acquaintance $10,000, without knowing the vehicle was stolen or had marijuana in it. "What it was is a case of a naïve kid getting taken," said one Jaguars source. "He really is a good kid who doesn't have any history of this type of thing." The Jaguars are hopeful that the charges will be dropped, and several league personnel confirmed that Bolden was just a victim of circumstances. "He isn't in the league's substance program, he never has been, and everybody talks about what a great kid he is," said one NFC coach. "This isn't an on-going problem. It was just a case of a kid making a dumb decision." At 6-2, 210, Bolden will team with second-year player Rashean Mathis to give the Jaguars a big, physical pair of corners, which could keep them from having to draft one in the first two rounds of next month's draft. In Bolden and Mathis, the Jaguars pair will vie with Green Bay's Al Harris and Mike McKenzie for the longest dread-locked corner duo. The Jaguars corners will team with free safety Deon Grant and strong safety Donovin Darius, although the Jaguars are upset that Darius is not taking part in the team's off-season workouts. Darius signed the team's franchise tender for $4.1 million, but he is said to still be unhappy he didn't get a long-term deal. If he doesn't watch out, the team could still trade him and opt to play Deke Cooper at strong safety. Cooper played free safety last year, but will go to the bench if Darius is on the roster.
The contract the Raiders gave to the Warren Sapp was reported to include a $7 million signing bonus. The reality is that Sapp got a $4.5 million signing bonus plus a $1.5 roster bonus that is due next year. The contract also includes a $1 million option bonus payable in two years. Sapp's cap figure for 2004 is a reasonable $1.45 million, but it goes to $4.450 million in 2005 and then $5.550 in 2006.
