In defense of Stephen in the Gregory negotiation

BlueStar22 said:

Exactly. A lot of fans buy into the FO's bullcrap so much. What was done to Cooper after the season was a smear campaign that worked on a lot of the fanbase. This FO does not care about the fans. I don't know how many more examples there have to be. They are going to it to Zeke next year. We all agree that Zeke has a bad contract and needs to go, but watch the smears against him next year that they will use to justify cutting him when we all know he isn't worth what his cap number is.

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CouchCoach said:

I see some are blaming him for his 11th hour contract verbiage that lost Gregory to Denver but that is a common negotiating tactic and how can he be faulted for trying to protect the club with a player with a spotty history?

I don't like Stephen but in this case, I will defend what he did, not really knowing what the 11th hour terms were but this team does not have a history with that so it had to be to protect the team.

Most refer to it as the "Columbo Close" and the timing of it is crucial. It is named for his "oh, one more thing" which was the real thing all along. It must be used when the buyer is already amenable to the close, objections have all been addressed and they want to do this.

I had it used against me many times and grew to expect it because it speaks to you are already in agreement and have just about taken ownership, you won't back out now. However, it does not allow for previous options being in place...like Denver with a matching offer on the table. I think that one caught them off guard.

You can bet this wasn't some last minute item they'd forgotten about, this was in the plan all along but it had to be played at the right moment. Do you think it was lost on them than in the last game of his contract year he behaved as he did on the field? His history with a tearful admission that he'd let his Mom down only to repeat that over and over again?

Think shades of Terrell Owens on his best behavior with one year renewable contracts until he got his three year deal. Say hello to the real Owens.

And this is a player that blew a drug test the week of the draft after being considered a top 15 pick. They had ample warning and the media would have been merciless with the cap situation and working it out to keep this guy should he go off the rails again. And something about Gregory made them nervous.

I really think Stephen did the right thing in this instance and if this 11th hour verbiage was behavior related and Gregory balked at that, that's all I need to know. He might be good in Denver but he had already proven what he could be in Dallas.

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Rogerthat12 said:

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CouchCoach said:

I see some are blaming him for his 11th hour contract verbiage that lost Gregory to Denver but that is a common negotiating tactic and how can he be faulted for trying to protect the club with a player with a spotty history?

I don't like Stephen but in this case, I will defend what he did, not really knowing what the 11th hour terms were but this team does not have a history with that so it had to be to protect the team.

Most refer to it as the "Columbo Close" and the timing of it is crucial. It is named for his "oh, one more thing" which was the real thing all along. It must be used when the buyer is already amenable to the close, objections have all been addressed and they want to do this.

I had it used against me many times and grew to expect it because it speaks to you are already in agreement and have just about taken ownership, you won't back out now. However, it does not allow for previous options being in place...like Denver with a matching offer on the table. I think that one caught them off guard.

You can bet this wasn't some last minute item they'd forgotten about, this was in the plan all along but it had to be played at the right moment. Do you think it was lost on them than in the last game of his contract year he behaved as he did on the field? His history with a tearful admission that he'd let his Mom down only to repeat that over and over again?

Think shades of Terrell Owens on his best behavior with one year renewable contracts until he got his three year deal. Say hello to the real Owens.

And this is a player that blew a drug test the week of the draft after being considered a top 15 pick. They had ample warning and the media would have been merciless with the cap situation and working it out to keep this guy should he go off the rails again. And something about Gregory made them nervous.

I really think Stephen did the right thing in this instance and if this 11th hour verbiage was behavior related and Gregory balked at that, that's all I need to know. He might be good in Denver but he had already proven what he could be in Dallas.

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stiletto said:

I mean they could've ASKED/TOLD him about it instead of walking into the room with it added. This is the type thing a car dealer does when you buy a car. Have the out the door deal negotiated then suddenly they come back into the room with new dealer fee's added you've never seen. You don't do business with people like that EITHER!

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