Alexander
What's it going to be then, eh?
- Messages
- 62,511
- Reaction score
- 67,319
Way too long to parse, but very good.
http://www.nfl.com/labs/sidelines/gil-brandt/gil-brandt
This is a snippet about how Brandt approached contracts:
After some small talk, Brandt got down to business.
Henderson and Brandt didn't always see eye to eye, but the two were able to keep business separate from their personal relationship. (Associated Press)
"Abner Haynes is your agent, that right? Abner and I are good friends. I'll be in touch and we can get together and get your contract straightened out. You don't think we'll have any problems signing it, do you?"
"I knew a hustle when I heard one, this was just like pool. I told him, 'I don't know, man. I just know that the No. 1 draft choice gets a lot of money, doesn't he?' "
Later in his book, Henderson describes a visit he made to Brandt’s office, telling the team negotiator he had outgrown his second contract and wanted a new deal commensurate with what Steelers All-Pro linebacker Jack Lambert was making. Brandt told Henderson that he was making more than most linebackers in the league, then offered him Lambert’s contract.
"You really want that contract? I'll draw it up. You really want that contract?"
Without the aid of an agent or the public knowledge of player salaries that exist today, Henderson declined. He said he later found out what Lambert was making and should have called Brandt's bluff.
"He faked me out. Gil Brandt is a damn good general manager … if you call screwing people (doing) a good job."
On a yearly basis, Everson Walls thought he was being screwed. The cornerback Brandt signed as an undrafted free agent out of Grambling State in 1981 outplayed his contract annually, and each time he did he asked for his contract to be re-done. Seven times in all. The denied requests often led to public threats of walkouts and retirements and were accompanied by team fines handed out by Brandt.
It got so contentious that Walls considered the unthinkable.
"Someone once asked Everson how it was to negotiate with me," Brandt recalled. "He said, 'If I could have found one, I would have hired a hitman to take Gil out.' "
http://www.nfl.com/labs/sidelines/gil-brandt/gil-brandt
This is a snippet about how Brandt approached contracts:
After some small talk, Brandt got down to business.
Henderson and Brandt didn't always see eye to eye, but the two were able to keep business separate from their personal relationship. (Associated Press)
"Abner Haynes is your agent, that right? Abner and I are good friends. I'll be in touch and we can get together and get your contract straightened out. You don't think we'll have any problems signing it, do you?"
"I knew a hustle when I heard one, this was just like pool. I told him, 'I don't know, man. I just know that the No. 1 draft choice gets a lot of money, doesn't he?' "
Later in his book, Henderson describes a visit he made to Brandt’s office, telling the team negotiator he had outgrown his second contract and wanted a new deal commensurate with what Steelers All-Pro linebacker Jack Lambert was making. Brandt told Henderson that he was making more than most linebackers in the league, then offered him Lambert’s contract.
"You really want that contract? I'll draw it up. You really want that contract?"
Without the aid of an agent or the public knowledge of player salaries that exist today, Henderson declined. He said he later found out what Lambert was making and should have called Brandt's bluff.
"He faked me out. Gil Brandt is a damn good general manager … if you call screwing people (doing) a good job."
On a yearly basis, Everson Walls thought he was being screwed. The cornerback Brandt signed as an undrafted free agent out of Grambling State in 1981 outplayed his contract annually, and each time he did he asked for his contract to be re-done. Seven times in all. The denied requests often led to public threats of walkouts and retirements and were accompanied by team fines handed out by Brandt.
It got so contentious that Walls considered the unthinkable.
"Someone once asked Everson how it was to negotiate with me," Brandt recalled. "He said, 'If I could have found one, I would have hired a hitman to take Gil out.' "
