DBoys
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It's Tuesday, March 14. The fourth day of the 2006 league year.
This means that if the Philadelphia Eagles don't cut Terrell Owens at some point during the course of the day, they'll be on the hook for $7.5 million in bonus money.
And here's a news flash -- we've learned from a league source that the Eagles will not be keeping him.
The Eagles have tried to trade Owens, but have received no serious offers. The problem is that the consummation of a trade would require the Eagles to work out an acceptable compensation package with another team, and the other team would also have to work out an acceptable compensation package with Owens. Besides, just as the Vikings are learning with Daunte Culpepper, no one is willing to give up very much for what amounts to squatting rights on a guy who's otherwise headed for the open market.
If the CBA hadn't been changed to prevent disciplinary deactivations, we think that the Eagles might have been tempted to pay Owens his bonus money and his $770,000 salary -- and to tell him to take the year off. This would have blocked him from signing with any other team (such as the Cowboys), and it likewise would have prevented agent Drew Rosenhaus from earning a penny under the contract that was negotiated by David Joseph, Owens' former agent.
Even before getting the word that he'll be released, we didn't completely rule out the possibility that Eagles president Joe Banner might opt to give Owens the money and hold onto his rights. We thought that there was a very slim chance it would have happened -- five percent at best -- but we know enough about Banner to know that he thought this thing through a thousand different ways, and that he would have loved to find a way to shut Owens down for as long as possible.
But it really is time to move on, and coach Andy Reid surely wants to get it over with. Les Bowen of The Philadelphia Daily News calls Kansas City the most likely destination, and we're somewhat inclined to agree. Although we initially believed that the Chiefs' stated interest in Owens was aimed merely at driving up the price that the Broncos would have to pay, the Chiefs have done nothing at all in free agency. Yet. Their first big splash could be coming soon.
Other possibilities are the Cowboys, Broncos, Bucs, and Dolphins. We also have a funny feeling that a surprise team might spring out of nowhere on this one.
In Seattle, for example, 2006 very well could be the last year of coaching for Mike Holmgren. At a time when they're likely inclined to let guard Steve Hutchinson meander to Minnesota, why not spend the money that was earmarked for Hutch on a guy who can help take the franchise the rest of the way to a Super Bowl title?
In Holmgren's last game with the Packers, he got a first-hand glimpse of what T.O. can do (i.e., "Owens! Owens! He caught it! He caught it!"). Maybe it'd be fitting for the Big Show's last game ever to involve Owens making the difference between a Lombardi and another second-place finish.
This means that if the Philadelphia Eagles don't cut Terrell Owens at some point during the course of the day, they'll be on the hook for $7.5 million in bonus money.
And here's a news flash -- we've learned from a league source that the Eagles will not be keeping him.
The Eagles have tried to trade Owens, but have received no serious offers. The problem is that the consummation of a trade would require the Eagles to work out an acceptable compensation package with another team, and the other team would also have to work out an acceptable compensation package with Owens. Besides, just as the Vikings are learning with Daunte Culpepper, no one is willing to give up very much for what amounts to squatting rights on a guy who's otherwise headed for the open market.
If the CBA hadn't been changed to prevent disciplinary deactivations, we think that the Eagles might have been tempted to pay Owens his bonus money and his $770,000 salary -- and to tell him to take the year off. This would have blocked him from signing with any other team (such as the Cowboys), and it likewise would have prevented agent Drew Rosenhaus from earning a penny under the contract that was negotiated by David Joseph, Owens' former agent.
Even before getting the word that he'll be released, we didn't completely rule out the possibility that Eagles president Joe Banner might opt to give Owens the money and hold onto his rights. We thought that there was a very slim chance it would have happened -- five percent at best -- but we know enough about Banner to know that he thought this thing through a thousand different ways, and that he would have loved to find a way to shut Owens down for as long as possible.
But it really is time to move on, and coach Andy Reid surely wants to get it over with. Les Bowen of The Philadelphia Daily News calls Kansas City the most likely destination, and we're somewhat inclined to agree. Although we initially believed that the Chiefs' stated interest in Owens was aimed merely at driving up the price that the Broncos would have to pay, the Chiefs have done nothing at all in free agency. Yet. Their first big splash could be coming soon.
Other possibilities are the Cowboys, Broncos, Bucs, and Dolphins. We also have a funny feeling that a surprise team might spring out of nowhere on this one.
In Seattle, for example, 2006 very well could be the last year of coaching for Mike Holmgren. At a time when they're likely inclined to let guard Steve Hutchinson meander to Minnesota, why not spend the money that was earmarked for Hutch on a guy who can help take the franchise the rest of the way to a Super Bowl title?
In Holmgren's last game with the Packers, he got a first-hand glimpse of what T.O. can do (i.e., "Owens! Owens! He caught it! He caught it!"). Maybe it'd be fitting for the Big Show's last game ever to involve Owens making the difference between a Lombardi and another second-place finish.