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Future disgruntled NFL wide receivers — the Rosenhaus connection
By Anthony Brown | June 12th, 2008
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Terrell Owens. Javon Walker. Anquan Boldin, Chad Johnson, Jeremy Shockey, Plaxico Burress. NFL receivers unhappy with lucrative contracts who pester their team to trade them so they can grab for more lucrative contracts.
Player’s agent Drew Rosenhaus is the common thread running through these stories.
Sometimes the effort works, as Terrell Owens’ over-the-top 2005 campaign to be released by the Eagles proved. Owens endured fan anger, team sanction and an adverse arbitration ruling before ultimate triumph.
Owens signed a three year contract with the Dallas Cowboys in 2006 that paid a $5 million signing bonus and salaries of $5, $8 and $7 million per year over the life of the deal.
Javon Walker pouted his way from Green Bay to Denver and from there to the Oakland Raiders where he signed a six year, $55 million contract with $16 million guaranteed last March.
Chad Johnson seems to be following the Owens playbook to a Tee in his effort to force the Cincinnati Bengals to drive him out.
The get-released-and-make-some-money-plan
The campaigns appear so similar that you would be forgiven for suspecting a common strategy to force a new deal.
Standard tactics: emotional outbursts about the unfairness of the contract, usually signed the preceeding year or two; threats to never play for the team again; skipping voluntary team activities, threats to skip mandatory OTAs and surreptitious inquiries by Rosenhaus to a target team exploring trade possibilities.
Receivers aren’t the only Rosenhaus clients to use the tactic. Former Chicago linebacker Lance Briggs, irate at being tagged with the franchise label, threatened to sit out the 2007 season rather than settle for a $7 million paycheck from the Bears. Briggs vowed never to play for Chicago again, but eventually signed a $36 million contract with the Bears.
The San Francisco 49ers were sanctioned by the NFL for tampering with Chicago’s negotiations with Briggs when the NFL determined that the Niners were in contact with Rosenhaus about Briggs without Chicago’s permission.
There’s something about receivers
But, it’s Rosenhaus’ wide receiver clients making most of the noise. As a public service to fans and team front offices, The NFL Source provides the list of Drew Rosenhaus’ wide receiver clients, as shown on Wikipedia, so there will be no surprises if these tactics are seen again.
Bernard Berrian — Minnesota Vikings
Anquan Boldin — Arizona Cardinals
Plaxico Burris — New York Giants
Jason Hill — San Francisco 49ers
Chad Johnson — Cincinnati Bengals
Santana Moss — Washington Commanders
Sinorice Moss — New York Giants
Greg Olsen, TE — Chicago Bears
Terrell Owens — Dallas Cowboys
Jeremy Shockey, TE — New York Giants
Donte’ Stallworth — Cleveland Browns
Javon Walker — Oakland Raiders
Kellen Winslow, Jr, TE — Cleveland Browns
When the client says “get me outta here,” it’s hard to fault the agent for trying. Somewhere along the way, though, somebody has to say “Enough. A deal is a deal.”
Reverse the tables and a player wouldn’t sit still for a team screaming “renegotiate” after an injury or a bad year. They would be resentful of team efforts to harrass them to quit.
Owens, Johnson and Walker want their team to hold all the contract risks while they keep the flexibility to cut out if their market price rises. It doesn’t work that way. You give up something to get something. In this case, they traded flexibility for a measure of security. In the NFL, “security” is in the form of guarantees and bonus money.
If players want quicker outs, they should ask for shorter — not longer – contracts with higher annual salaries and smaller signing bonuses. Then, after a season or two, they are free to chase those escalating pay scales. Of course, a season-ending injury or poor performance would leave them with little leverage for the next deal.
That’s why Drew Rosenhaus will never go along with this.
Agents get more when their clients get more. When players tell their agents “do something,” the agent must act. Rosenhaus pushes the envelope. He’s the player’s “go to” guy when they want a raise – in the middle of their existing contracts.
The tactics give Drew Rosenhaus as much name recognition as any of his clients.
By Anthony Brown | June 12th, 2008
E-mail | Print | Share
Terrell Owens. Javon Walker. Anquan Boldin, Chad Johnson, Jeremy Shockey, Plaxico Burress. NFL receivers unhappy with lucrative contracts who pester their team to trade them so they can grab for more lucrative contracts.
Player’s agent Drew Rosenhaus is the common thread running through these stories.
Sometimes the effort works, as Terrell Owens’ over-the-top 2005 campaign to be released by the Eagles proved. Owens endured fan anger, team sanction and an adverse arbitration ruling before ultimate triumph.
Owens signed a three year contract with the Dallas Cowboys in 2006 that paid a $5 million signing bonus and salaries of $5, $8 and $7 million per year over the life of the deal.
Javon Walker pouted his way from Green Bay to Denver and from there to the Oakland Raiders where he signed a six year, $55 million contract with $16 million guaranteed last March.
Chad Johnson seems to be following the Owens playbook to a Tee in his effort to force the Cincinnati Bengals to drive him out.
The get-released-and-make-some-money-plan
The campaigns appear so similar that you would be forgiven for suspecting a common strategy to force a new deal.
Standard tactics: emotional outbursts about the unfairness of the contract, usually signed the preceeding year or two; threats to never play for the team again; skipping voluntary team activities, threats to skip mandatory OTAs and surreptitious inquiries by Rosenhaus to a target team exploring trade possibilities.
Receivers aren’t the only Rosenhaus clients to use the tactic. Former Chicago linebacker Lance Briggs, irate at being tagged with the franchise label, threatened to sit out the 2007 season rather than settle for a $7 million paycheck from the Bears. Briggs vowed never to play for Chicago again, but eventually signed a $36 million contract with the Bears.
The San Francisco 49ers were sanctioned by the NFL for tampering with Chicago’s negotiations with Briggs when the NFL determined that the Niners were in contact with Rosenhaus about Briggs without Chicago’s permission.
There’s something about receivers
But, it’s Rosenhaus’ wide receiver clients making most of the noise. As a public service to fans and team front offices, The NFL Source provides the list of Drew Rosenhaus’ wide receiver clients, as shown on Wikipedia, so there will be no surprises if these tactics are seen again.
Bernard Berrian — Minnesota Vikings
Anquan Boldin — Arizona Cardinals
Plaxico Burris — New York Giants
Jason Hill — San Francisco 49ers
Chad Johnson — Cincinnati Bengals
Santana Moss — Washington Commanders
Sinorice Moss — New York Giants
Greg Olsen, TE — Chicago Bears
Terrell Owens — Dallas Cowboys
Jeremy Shockey, TE — New York Giants
Donte’ Stallworth — Cleveland Browns
Javon Walker — Oakland Raiders
Kellen Winslow, Jr, TE — Cleveland Browns
When the client says “get me outta here,” it’s hard to fault the agent for trying. Somewhere along the way, though, somebody has to say “Enough. A deal is a deal.”
Reverse the tables and a player wouldn’t sit still for a team screaming “renegotiate” after an injury or a bad year. They would be resentful of team efforts to harrass them to quit.
Owens, Johnson and Walker want their team to hold all the contract risks while they keep the flexibility to cut out if their market price rises. It doesn’t work that way. You give up something to get something. In this case, they traded flexibility for a measure of security. In the NFL, “security” is in the form of guarantees and bonus money.
If players want quicker outs, they should ask for shorter — not longer – contracts with higher annual salaries and smaller signing bonuses. Then, after a season or two, they are free to chase those escalating pay scales. Of course, a season-ending injury or poor performance would leave them with little leverage for the next deal.
That’s why Drew Rosenhaus will never go along with this.
Agents get more when their clients get more. When players tell their agents “do something,” the agent must act. Rosenhaus pushes the envelope. He’s the player’s “go to” guy when they want a raise – in the middle of their existing contracts.
The tactics give Drew Rosenhaus as much name recognition as any of his clients.
