T.O.'s a mess, Philly asked for it

[slick325]

This is a pretty good article and a different perspective on the situation. Thought it may interest some.


T.O.'s a mess, but Philly asked for it
John Czarnecki / FOXSports.com
Posted: 12 hours ago

The Eagles knew what they were getting into when they signed Terrell Owens.

FOX Bite
Videos

T.O. comes clean
Philadelphia Eagles receiver Terrell Owens apologizes to his team and fans after being suspended from the Eagles and will not return to Philly this season.


You could even say they played a major role in the end results. Consequently, the Eagles got exactly what they deserved. A locker room divided, a quarterback upset and now a team that is one huge playmaker short of making the playoffs.
How can anyone blame the Eagles?

Easy. The contract they presented to Owens last year was basically structured as a two-year deal, allowing the team to escape the big $7.5 million roster-bonus in March of 2006.

Honestly, it was a contract that Drew Rosenhaus never would have approved had he been T.O.'s agent. One only has to look at the contract Rosenhaus structured for another new Eagle, defensive end Jevon Kearse, to see that. Kearse received $16 million to sign; a $12 million signing bonus and a $4 million roster bonus.

The T.O. drama ...


VIDEO: Owens apologizes to Eagles

Timeline of T.O.'s tantrums

Text of T.O.'s apology

McNabb's dad likens Owens' shots at QB to 'black-on-black' crime

VIDEO: Where will T.O. go now?

Someone will take a chance

Owens in locker-room brawl

Fantasy spin: T.O. suspended



There were concerns about Kearse, but they were injury related. However, the bottom line was that the Eagles were confident that Kearse would never be a locker-room headache; so they paid him the market price for his services — basically, $23.75 million for three years.

Based on production, Kearse has been a little pricey by Philadelphia's standards.

On the flip side, the Eagles gave Owens only $2.3 million to sign and a $6.2 million roster bonus. They will now attempt to get $1.7 million of the signing bonus back. His two-year deal was worth $12.4 million.

It took Owens almost an entire season to figure out, when comparing his money to Kearse's, that he wasn't receiving the money he actually deserved for his performance level. Rosenhaus told him as much, and he had Kearse's contract to prove it.

The other major thing that Kearse's contract proved was that Eagles vice-president Joe Banner could make a player-friendly deal with Rosenhaus. I'm sure this is something the agent told T.O., too, before he dropped long-time friend and former agent, David Joseph.

Granted, the Eagles decided to backload Owens' contract based on his San Francisco past and the fact that no one else really wanted him.

Well, the Baltimore Ravens did, but Owens fought successfully to free himself from that trade — the Eagles helped his cause there — and the rest is history. Owens didn't have any negotiating leverage, and the Eagles, who love being $10 million under the salary cap, decided not to pay him like a superstar. They took a financially cautious approach.

When Owens threatened his holdout in April, the Eagles dug their heels in. The only thing they offered Rosenhaus and Owens was a stiff $9,000 daily fine for missing training camp. There was no talk of insuring his 2006 roster bonus or even advancing him some of that money into the 2005 season. Owens was stomping mad, considering he had worked so hard to return to play in last season's Super Bowl.

Banner and owner Jeffrey Lurie have certain salary-cap and negotiation rules in place, and they were unwilling to break any of them in dealing with Owens. They refused to place him in a special category.

Yes, that is their right. They trusted coach Andy Reid when he said he could control Owens and deal with his distractions. Reid actually wanted to try to help Owens, but in the end, he stuck by Donovan McNabb and the vast majority of his players. Believe me, some league people wouldn't have begrudged the Eagles if they had reworked T.O.'s contract. He did score 14 touchdowns in 14 games.

Like one NFC salary-cap guru emailed me, "The Eagles were greedy. They had no real commitment to Owens like they made to any of their other players because the money wasn't in signing bonus form. Their hesitance to give Owens the deal he deserved illustrates that they were afraid of something exactly like this, but the irony is that the deal they wrote was so favorable to the team (that) it ensured this behavior."

The other issue for Owens was his jealousy of McNabb. He didn't forgive McNabb for saying the Eagles could make it to the Super Bowl and win without him last year. It never entered his mind that McNabb's words were simply coachspeak, innocuous words that any team spokesman offers when a star is injured. You think Andy Reid wanted McNabb to say, "We're finished. We don't have a prayer of winning anything without T.O."?

But Owens took those words personally. Plus, he never understood why McNabb was given a free pass by the coach (and the media) when he played poorly. The bottom line is that Owens holds a grudge longer than anyone on earth.

Last Friday, Owens had the opportunity to apologize to McNabb for saying the Eagles would have been unbeaten with Brett Favre, but he couldn't make himself say those words. He refused again on Saturday. He just couldn't do it, and now he's unemployed.

It's doubtful that any team will give him the type of signing bonus he feels he deserves ever again. A team (how about the Broncos?) will sign him, but it will be a one-year deal. Mike Shanahan may be willing to rent Owens for a season and see how he behaves.


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[Doomsday101]

My only question is. If the Contract was so poor and so insulting to T.O. why did he sign the damn thing? I do agree the eagles got what they deserved because most people felt that it was only a matter of time before T.O. pulled his immature behavior routine . It is like inviting a known drunk to your party don't be surprised when he starts acting like a fool.

 

[conner01]

my point exactly. he had other options and he decided he wanted to go to philly, it blew up in his face and then he went back to his old attack my teammates stuff and thats the problem.don't blame anyone for wanting more money but there is a right,and a wrong way to go about it. attacking you teammates is not the right way

 

[Yeagermeister]

It sounds to me like the Iggles were just doing some CYA on the contract.

 

[Paniolo22]

Throughtout that whole apology, not once did TO admit he was wrong. All he did was try and justify what he did by making an excuse about his personality made him do it. He was wrong in every sense of the way.

 

[Doomsday101]

It sounds to me like the Iggles were just doing some CYA on the contract.

I can promise you so will the next team. Anyone willing to put their cap on the line for this moron gets what they deserve.

 

[Yeagermeister]

I can promise you so will the next team. Anyone willing to put their cap on the line for this moron gets what they deserve.

I'll be shocked if any team offers him anything above the vet min

 

[aikemirv]

His contract from the Eagles is what HE earned. Had his attitude been in the same class with his talent, the deal he got would have been substantially larger.

Simple as that!!!!!

 

[Doomsday101]

I'll be shocked if any team offers him anything above the vet min

I think the next team will at least give him incentives within the contract tied to behavior so T.O. can make big money if he is willing to tow the line.

 

[slick325]

my point exactly. he had other options and he decided he wanted to go to philly, it blew up in his face and then he went back to his old attack my teammates stuff and thats the problem.don't blame anyone for wanting more money but there is a right,and a wrong way to go about it. attacking you teammates is not the right way

You make a good point about how he handled this situation. T.O. was correct in my opinion, for asking for a new deal since based on this article he merely signed a two year deal and was entering the final year of his contract. However, where he went wrong was by attacking teammates and making his gripe public. Rosenhaus was hired for just these situations! Let him be the bad guy. Anytime a mic was in T.O.'s face asking about his contract, his agent should have told him to use the generic statement..."I'm just gonna play football and let my agent handle that". Had he done this he would have eventually won over his locker room and other players around the league who know the Eagle franchise is "greedy". Evidently other organizations know this as well as witnessed by the quote from an NFC salary cap guru in the article.

Bottom line is he went about things the wrong way BUT in my opinion, he was justified in asking to redo what was "essentially a two year deal".

 

[Yeagermeister]

I think the next team will at least give him incentives within the contract tied to behavior so T.O. can make big money if he is willing to tow the line.

Yeah that's what I meant.....vet min salary

 

[onetrickpony]

I'll be shocked if any team offers him anything above the vet min

He'll get much more that the vet minimum. However, this is my theory if anyone is interesed

TO only wants to play for the favorite to win the Super Bowl each year. He has no loyalty to anyone except himself and his goal is to get as many rings as possible in his remaining years. He is trying go the Deon Sanders route as a hired gun. He wants a team with an honest shot at the SB title to pay him a large signing bonus for a one year deal. Then after the season, if he doesn't get his ring, he is free to go somewhere else and try again. If the team does win it all, then TO is free to sign again (and get another big signing bonus) if and only if the team has managed to smooch his rear well enough during the season.

If the team doesn't win the SB, then TO will spill his guts, running the team down in every possible way just to let every one know that HE was not the reason that the tean didn't win.

:ralph: uke: :blech:

 

[SupermanXx]

did Deion really think the Commanders had a chance for the Super Bowl?

 

[1fisher]

He'll get much more that the vet minimum. However, this is my theory if anyone is interesed

TO only wants to play for the favorite to win the Super Bowl each year. He has no loyalty to anyone except himself and his goal is to get as many rings as possible in his remaining years. He is trying go the Deon Sanders route as a hired gun. He wants a team with an honest shot at the SB title to pay him a large signing bonus for a one year deal. Then after the season, if he doesn't get his ring, he is free to go somewhere else and try again. If the team does win it all, then TO is free to sign again (and get another big signing bonus) if and only if the team has managed to smooch his rear well enough during the season.

If the team doesn't win the SB, then TO will spill his guts, running the team down in every possible way just to let every one know that HE was not the reason that the tean didn't win.

:ralph: uke: :blech:

sounds logical to me...... but who will take this knucklehead???

 

[onetrickpony]

did Deion really think the Commanders had a chance for the Super Bowl?

I think Deon was just in it for the money. He already had his rings with the Cowboys. TO (like Deon's commercial) wants "BOTH!"

 

[1fisher]

did Deion really think the Commanders had a chance for the Super Bowl?

What about the Ravens????? They suck this year!

 

[SultanOfSix]

I think this is pretty much the most objective article I've seen on the TO-Philly issue.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I think it goes to show you that the best way to go about contracts is to determine whether or not the player is worth the money he's getting paid or supposed to get paid and then pay him according to such.

What the author doesn't mention is that it's been apparent that Philly has a pay structure where they will allot a certain amount of $$$ to a player based solely on his position. WR has never been a position that the Eagles have paid big bucks to under the Andy Reid era and this situation shows what happens when a guy like T.O. outperforms his contract.

He gets ticked off at being underpaid, the Eagles won't budge, and the melee ensues.

The popular misconception is that the Patriots players are willing to take a paycut in order to stay on the team. Outside of Tedy Bruschi, that's never been true and the Pats have had cap problems over the years.

What the Pats do so well (and Jerrah and Tuna are doing a very good job of it now) is that they are typically getting what they are paying for. If a player deserves a pay raise, they give him that raise unless they cannot possibly afford it. If a player is woefully overpaid, they ask him to take a paycut. Usually the player relents and winds up getting released.

And that's where I think the Eagles have a problem. If I'm a free agent, what's going to possess me to go to Philly when I know I could greatly out-perform my contract and the Eagles are not even willing to negotiate a raise in pay for me?

Rich...............
really believes that Westbrook doesn't get an extension if the T.O. situation didn't get so ugly.

 

[Longboysfan]

sounds logical to me...... but who will take this knucklehead???

Oh... Danny Boy... Danny Boy.. TO's peeps are calling.

 

[wileedog]

I think it goes to show you that the best way to go about contracts is to determine whether or not the player is worth the money he's getting paid or supposed to get paid and then pay him according to such.

What the author doesn't mention is that it's been apparent that Philly has a pay structure where they will allot a certain amount of $$$ to a player based solely on his position. WR has never been a position that the Eagles have paid big bucks to under the Andy Reid era and this situation shows what happens when a guy like T.O. outperforms his contract.

He gets ticked off at being underpaid, the Eagles won't budge, and the melee ensues.

The popular misconception is that the Patriots players are willing to take a paycut in order to stay on the team. Outside of Tedy Bruschi, that's never been true and the Pats have had cap problems over the years.

What the Pats do so well (and Jerrah and Tuna are doing a very good job of it now) is that they are typically getting what they are paying for. If a player deserves a pay raise, they give him that raise unless they cannot possibly afford it. If a player is woefully overpaid, they ask him to take a paycut. Usually the player relents and winds up getting released.

And that's where I think the Eagles have a problem. If I'm a free agent, what's going to possess me to go to Philly when I know I could greatly out-perform my contract and the Eagles are not even willing to negotiate a raise in pay for me?

Rich...............
really believes that Westbrook doesn't get an extension if the T.O. situation didn't get so ugly.

Nice take, agree 100%.

The bottom line is the Eagles decided to treat Owens like every other player.

The problem is Owens is anything but every other player. When you take on a guy like him, you better undertand up front that you are going to have to break some of your own rules, you are going to have to give him special treatment, and you are going to have to deal with 52 other guys pointing at the treatment Owens gets and saying "Hey!!!! ***?!!"

I don't absolve Owens of a damn thing, because he is the root of the whole problem, but the Eagles were horribly misguided if they thought he was going to walk in there and just be "one of the guys".

And that is exactly what they did.