ARTICLE: Bottom line for No. 9 (Steve McNair): Pay me or release me

[WoodysGirl]

By Mark Howard, Commentary
March 31, 2006

03/31/2006

It made us all look at Stevie and wonder.

A recent ESPN report from NFL insider Chris Mortensen, claiming Steve McNair told the Titans he doesn’t want to tutor a rookie quarterback, might have been the beginning of the end of No. 9 in Tennessee.

As the starter, McNair has made it clear he wants a contract extension beyond the 2006 season. In addition, agent Bus Cook hasn’t minced words while demanding top quarterback money, in the neighborhood of a $16 million bonus, for his client.

Since McNair hasn’t been an elite quarterback since 2003 — and please don’t bring up his by default Pro Bowl in February — and has shown few signs of returning to that level, it should come as no surprise that talks over a new deal have stalled. That leaves McNair with one year left on his current deal and not happy about it.

Which brings us back to Mortensen’s report, which, if true, is a transparent attempt by the leverage-less McNair to try to force Titans General Manager Floyd Reese to release him.

There is little doubt the Titans with go after Vince Young, Matt Leinart or Jay Cutler with their first-round selection in the upcoming draft.

The Titans have many concerns about McNair. Will he rededicate himself to becoming a better practice player and put in the necessary work with his new receiving corps? McNair says he’s willing to do that.

Then there’s his game preparation. It’s no secret McNair is not an avid tape watcher. In his younger days, when he could get out of the pocket and improvise like nobody else, it worked for him. But now McNair’s ad-lib skills have diminished.

While all of that isn’t an ideal environment to nurture a baby quarterback that the Titans have invested their future in, it still doesn’t make McNair a bad guy or a bad quarterback.

There more than a few things that would make you doubt the accuracy of Mortensen’s story, especially if you know anything about McNair. For starters, he’s a genuinely good guy who is popular among his teammates. There’s also the fact that over the years McNair has served as a surrogate father for Young, and it’s hard to imagine him not helping his close friend if the Longhorn standout dons Titans blue.

But there’s an even bigger reason to be skeptical. Several former teammates have detailed over the years of how when McNair came to the Houston Oilers in 1995 as a rookie, he was treated horribly by the team’s then-starting quarterback Chris Chandler. Many insist there were times Chandler, in an effort to sabotage his heir apparent, went out of his way to give McNair the wrong information when asked about a play or a formation. It’s a subject so sensitive McNair still won’t talk about it, even a decade later.

After two straight sub-par seasons, the 33-year-old McNair is still a better-than-average quarterback who can help a lot of teams. But he is not interested in being a one-year stopgap while his successor is groomed. Still, he represents a $23 million cap hit, which the Titans might ultimately decide is too rich for their blood and go with Billy Volek. If a new deal can’t be worked out, McNair still might get cut.

So even if McNair said what ESPN claims, chalk it up as a negotiation play. This is simply a case of a guy who wants to get paid what he thinks he’s worth. McNair figures if it’s not with the Titans, than maybe it will be with somebody else.

LINK

[lkelly]

The Titans should have cut bait with McNair last year and gone in a different direction than drafting "Pac-Man." He's been a wonderful asset to the team, but you knew they would be horrible last season. Why not get started on improving the future instead of riding out one or two more seasons with your beaten up star.

The story about Chandler is horrendous. If the team had found out about that when it was happening, they should have suspended him without pay and had him blackballed out of the league. Where is Chandler these days? Not coaching, I assume.

[dmq]

You'll get nothing and like it.

[DLCassidy]

He wants a 16m signing bonus?

[BARRYRAY]

Well I heard"thru a highly placed source" that he is interested in playing for Dallas", and you know our history of taking on over the hill guys, maybe this is the guy we need to tutor Henson, seriously before anybody flames me I'm just kidding. The thing I recall about McNair is his similarilty to VY and how people say he can't make the tramsition, well VY can make it because others like McNair who was a shotgun guy made it too....

[lkelly]

Originally Posted by DLCassidy

He wants a 16m signing bonus?

More likely he'll land a $1 million gig with another team assuming he'll be willing to tutor a draft pick (i.e. exactly what Tenn would want him to do) or serve in a backup role.

I always wonder about these outrageous salary demands by players at the end of their careers. Is it the result of bady money management and having to get that last payday to sustain an unrealistic lifestyle? Is it a sense of disdain for what the NFL has put them through physically and emotionally over the years, so they feel they are owed one last payday? It is a lot more refreshing to see the players end gracefully without absurd money demands. Marshall Faulk and Curtis Martin seem to be doing it the right way.

[Crown Royal]

Originally Posted by lkelly

I always wonder about these outrageous salary demands by players at the end of their careers. Is it the result of bady money management and having to get that last payday to sustain an unrealistic lifestyle? Is it a sense of disdain for what the NFL has put them through physically and emotionally over the years, so they feel they are owed one last payday? It is a lot more refreshing to see the players end gracefully without absurd money demands. Marshall Faulk and Curtis Martin seem to be doing it the right way.

I heard that CBZ asked for an extra case of DP and an extra bowl of pea soup every week. He also didn't want to show Yeager the proper way to shoot kids with bb guns in the yard.

I chalk it up to senility.

[CrazyCowboy]

I would CUT this guy so fast he may bleed for days......

[WoodysGirl]

Originally Posted by CrazyCowboy

I would CUT this guy so fast he may bleed for days......

Wow CC, a negative post from you...



I'm so proud...

[dbair1967]

McNair needs to retire....nobody is going to pay him the kind of money he thinks he is worth anymore

he was a good QB and a real warrior, but the guy is a broken down shell of his former self now who clearly is damaged goods

David

[WoodysGirl]

Titans | McNair says he just wants to start
Fri, 31 Mar 2006 10:35:44 -0800

Jim Wyatt, of the Tennessean, reports Tennessee Titans QB Steve McNair said he doesn't mind mentoring a quarterback, but he feels he still has two or three years left as a starter. "Anybody who knows me knows that it's not about me not wanting to help a guy. I just want to play, and I want to continue to play with the Titans and I want to be a starter," McNair said. "I know, everybody in Nashville knows, and everybody in the NFL knows they are going to pick a quarterback in the draft. ... I think I still have two, three more years to play and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to continue in that role. I am not at the end of my career. I am not ready to step aside."

[Zippy Speedster]

Very similar to the Brett Farve situation if you ask me. Both recognizably on the decline of their careers, both being asked to tutor their future replacements, though on the right team I don't think you could rule either of them out just yet. Experiance like that is priceless in both cases. But it's gotta be a complete offense they're stepping into, otherwise they'd be best staying put. The Raiders Super Bowl team of a few years back is a perfect example of how this works. As long as these guys are able to just worry about throwing the ball, not carrying the entire team on their backs, a definate future for them in this league.

Virutally the same thing going on here with Bledsoe--considered washedup a few years back first in NE (replaced without choice then run out of town) then again in Buffalo (replaced, not sure but maybe a small window of tutorship offered to him for Lossman or whatever his name is and then run out of town when that wasn't good enough for him), put in the right situation here in Dallas and all of a sudden his career has been revitalized, wala.

For the right team paying a guy like McNair is not a dumb move. In fact could turn out to be known as a quite smart move actually if the right team snatched him up.

[hipfake08]

This is crazy. Asking for 16 mil at the end of the line.
Then he is just asking to be cut.
Why Steve...Why...?????

[ka0tik]

IMO I never really liked Mcnair dont ask why. I just dont like em, i agree cut him.

[Hiero]

wow I never knew McNair was like that. what a crybaby, youre like 35 just move on steve.