JonCJG
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POSTED 1:25 p.m. EDT; UPDATED 1:37 p.m. EDT, June 7, 2006
TITANS FINALLY SHIP McNAIR TO BALTIMORE
Profootballtalk.com has learned that the Tennessee Titans finally have reached an agreement with the Baltimore Ravens to trade quarterback Steve McNair, NFL co-MVP in 2003.
The Ravens get McNair, and the Titans get Baltimore's fourth-round pick in 2007.
We received initial word regarding the trade from an anonymous tipster, and we confirmed it by tapping into our ever-growing network of league sources. We anticipate that, very soon, every other news organization will be running with the story, and we figure no one will mention that it was first reported right here.
But like getting ball deep in a hot bath, we're used to it.
The trade brings to a conclusion weeks of rancor between the Titans and McNair, which have included a decision by the team to bar McNair from the facility, a grievance resulting in a ruling that he can't be barred, and a looming battle regarding the team's failure to comply with the outcome of the arbitration.
At its core, the fight was about McNair's contract. The team wasn't going to pay him $9 million in salary in 2006, and McNair wasn't going to reduce his total compensation to $6 million, as the team had requested.
Instead, he'll earn $12 million this year in Baltimore, where he presumably becomes the starting quarterback, relegating former first-rounder Kyle Boller to No. 2 on the depth chart. The other quarterbacks
under contract are Brian St. Pierre and Drew Olson.
Meanwhile, the Titans will carry more than $14 million in dead money this year as a result of past payments made to McNair. He'll be off of the books in 2007.
The move gives the Titans $9 million in cap room, which will allow them to sign their draft picks and either add some free agents or extend the contracts of some of their younger players.
TITANS FINALLY SHIP McNAIR TO BALTIMORE
Profootballtalk.com has learned that the Tennessee Titans finally have reached an agreement with the Baltimore Ravens to trade quarterback Steve McNair, NFL co-MVP in 2003.
The Ravens get McNair, and the Titans get Baltimore's fourth-round pick in 2007.
We received initial word regarding the trade from an anonymous tipster, and we confirmed it by tapping into our ever-growing network of league sources. We anticipate that, very soon, every other news organization will be running with the story, and we figure no one will mention that it was first reported right here.
But like getting ball deep in a hot bath, we're used to it.
The trade brings to a conclusion weeks of rancor between the Titans and McNair, which have included a decision by the team to bar McNair from the facility, a grievance resulting in a ruling that he can't be barred, and a looming battle regarding the team's failure to comply with the outcome of the arbitration.
At its core, the fight was about McNair's contract. The team wasn't going to pay him $9 million in salary in 2006, and McNair wasn't going to reduce his total compensation to $6 million, as the team had requested.
Instead, he'll earn $12 million this year in Baltimore, where he presumably becomes the starting quarterback, relegating former first-rounder Kyle Boller to No. 2 on the depth chart. The other quarterbacks
under contract are Brian St. Pierre and Drew Olson.
Meanwhile, the Titans will carry more than $14 million in dead money this year as a result of past payments made to McNair. He'll be off of the books in 2007.
The move gives the Titans $9 million in cap room, which will allow them to sign their draft picks and either add some free agents or extend the contracts of some of their younger players.
POSTED 10:39 a.m. EDT; LAST UPDATED 1:10 p.m. EDT, June 7, 2006
NEW POST-JUNE 1 RULE CONFIRMED
On Tuesday, we cited a league source for the proposition that the recent trade of 2003 first-day draft busts between the Saints and Pats would not trigger the acceleration of any bonus amounts that otherwise would have been allocated to future league years. The former rule requiring full acceleration of all unallocated bonus money, per the source, has been revised to permit trades occurring after June 1 to be treated in the same manner as contract terminations occurring after June 1.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello has confirmed that the rule has changed. "The new rule is in effect," Aiello wrote in a Wednesday morning e-mail. "If the trade occurs after June 1, the assigning club's signing bonus acceleration (if any) is postponed until the first day of the 2007 league year. The club would continue to bear the cap charge for the current year's prorated signing bonus (this is not considered acceleration) plus any amounts that have already been earned under the 2006 contract."
For example, if a player signed in 2005 a four-year deal with a $4 million signing bonus, a trade of that player after June 1, 2006 would result in a $1 million cap charge for 2006 and a $2 million cap charge in 2007. Under the old rule, a trade occurring at any time in 2006 would have resulted in a $3 million cap hit in 2006.
Just how obscure is this new rule? The guys who get paid by the NFL to write about the sport don't even know about it.
In an item posted by Pat Kirwan of NFL.com on June 6 regarding the Pats-Saints trade, Kirwan states that "[t]rades are considered the same as a termination before June 1, so the Patriots must absorb the remaining bonus now."
Should the guys who get paid by the NFL to write about the sport know about this tweak to the rules? That's a call that the folks who sign the checks need to make.
ARE THE "EXPERTS" REALLY EXPERTS?
Regarding Kirwan's failure to know that the rules have changed for trades made after June 1, some league insiders aren't surprised. After all, Kirwan apparently served as the Typhoid Mary for the notion that Rodney Harrison was a post-June 1 cap cut of the Chargers in 2003. Kirwan's error ultimately infected publications such as ESPN.com and the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
And though we've got no reason to take gratuitous potshots at Kirwan, when league insiders whom we respect sound off on the topic, we're obliged to listen.
The reality is that Kirwan's NFL tenure isn't something that folks around the league regard with awe and/or dropped jaw. Indeed, during Kirwan's eight years in various capacities with the Jets, the team was a combined 40-88, which works out to an average record of 5-11.
Prior to joining the Jets, Kirwan worked for the Bucs and the Cardinals, both of whom generally were dreadful at the time.
So is there a connection between a series of gigs with bad NFL organizations and a series of errors committed while working in his subsequent gig as an "expert" commentator?
Maybe.
Regardless, we detect growing resentment from folks who are able to retain gainful employment with NFL teams regarding the fact that guys who couldn't get the job done effectively are now offering opinions regarding the folks who can.
As one league insider has opined regarding Kirwan and others like thim,
"These are the people that critique the job that I do. . . . I don't get how guys that can't do a job in their industry become 'experts' or how they are even sold as credible sources."
Stay tuned for more along these lines. In all fairness to Kirwan, he's not the only former NFL exec who is instead offering "expert" analysis of the guys who are doing the jobs that he can no longer get.
