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Kremer finally in the spotlight
By Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com
(Archive)
You'd think that when a guy negotiates a landmark NFL contract extension worth nearly $70 million, with $30 million of the money in secured guarantees, the media hacks could at least spell his name right.
Not so, though, for Ken Kremer -- or Kramer, as he was cited by at least one national wire service and one Dallas-area media outlet -- in the wake of the lucrative extension he hammered out for Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo earlier this week.
Yet for Kremer, who is known to friends as "Fuzzy," but who is anything but warm and cuddly at the bargaining table, what mattered a lot more than one misplaced vowel was that all the i's were dotted, all the t's were crossed, and all the commas and decimal points were in precisely the right place for the Romo deal.
And, as one might expect, they were.
"Probably one of the most gratifying contracts I've ever done," Kremer said, "because of the quality person for whom I was doing it. You're talking about a kid with a great family, who grew up with Midwest-type values. His dad [Ramiro] and mom [Joan], really terrific, down-to-earth people. Two great sisters [Danielle and Jossalyn]. When you walked into that house in Wisconsin to talk to them, to recruit Tony, it was meticulous. Everything picked up and its place. Those are the kind of people that you love to represent. There's just not a whole lot of [pretense] about them."
And to that, Kremer can definitely relate. And so can the man with whom he negotiated the contract, Dallas chief operating officer and executive vice president Stephen Jones. Their names don't often make it into the headlines, even on deals like the Romo extension, but they were essentially the men who made it happen.
For years, Kremer has been the much lesser-known and somewhat egoless entity in the representation firm he built with higher-profile partner Tom Condon, his former Kansas City Chiefs teammate. Actually, according to the "2007 NFLPA Contract Advisors Directory," Kremer has been certified by the union to negotiate contracts for roughly a month longer than Condon.
Truth be told, the two have never worried much about seniority, longevity or titles, not when they began operating a boutique agency in the late 1980s, or when they went to work for global giant IMG, or more recently for Creative Artists Agency. For whatever reason, though, it was Condon who became the out-front guy and the oft-quoted mouthpiece.
Even though Condon has insisted for years now that Kremer was a key component to many of their biggest deals.
And the Romo deal, which has been in the works for months, and for which discussions were finally ramped up over the past couple weeks? Well, that one was Kremer's baby all the way. Every proposal and counterproposal, every fax, was directed to him, a Cowboys source confirmed.
In fact, most of the heavy lifting on the deal from the Cowboys' side was done by the other second banana of sorts, Stephen Jones. It's owner Jerry Jones who signs the paychecks, of course, but it is his son who often fills in the blanks for him, and he certainly did much of the negotiating on the Romo extension.
The talks began casually, at the annual league meetings in March at Phoenix, when Condon, Kremer and Jones were talking about a contract for Dallas tailback Julius Jones, another CAA client. Discussions lay fallow for a few months, as Jerry Jones pondered how to handle a megabuck contract for a potential franchise-type quarterback who, even at this point, still has less than a full season's worth of starts on his résumé.
Part of the deliberations, several sources have told ESPN.com, were discussions with former Cowboys coach Bill Parcells about the burgeoning young talent.
But finally it got to the point where Romo continued to demonstrate he was the real deal, and where dilatory tactics were only going to further raise the price. Jones will soon have a new, 100,000-seat stadium to fill and pricey luxury suites to lease. And the charismatic Romo, who has quickly become the face of the franchise since replacing Drew Bledsoe as the starter at the midpoint of last season, was a guy who could help, on and off the field.
So Fuzzy Kremer and Stephen Jones, the good lieutenants for their respective organizations, began seriously crunching the numbers and arrived at the extension first reported on Monday night by ESPN's Ed Werder, then signed officially on Tuesday afternoon. The two men had previously worked together, by Kremer's recollection, on only one other deal. And that was for an aging Herschel Walker, more than a decade ago.
But once the bargaining escalated to the substantive stage, the deal came together pretty fast. The initial signing bonus offer of $10 million eventually crept to $10.8 million, then a bit higher, enough to meet Kremer's target goal.
The final breakdown: a signing bonus of $11.5 million. Base salaries of $6 million in 2007 (up from the $1.5 million Romo was to have earned this season under his existing contract), $6.5 million for 2008, $7 million for 2009, $8.5 million for 2010, $9 million for 2011, $9 million for 2012 and $11.5 million in 2013. The full base salaries in 2007 and 2008 are guaranteed, as is $6 million of the 2009 base salary.
"To tell you the truth, it was a lot easier than the last deal we did [for Romo]," Kremer said, referring to the two-year, $3.9 million contract completed in 2006. "I mean, that one was really [difficult]. The bonus on that was $2 million and there was [almost] another $2 million in salaries and, when we did it, we had nothing to go on and, frankly, neither did they. There was no body of work to look at. From their standpoint, if he just stayed as a backup, he was overpaid. And from our standpoint, if he became a starter, he was going to be underpaid. But we had faith in Tony and believed that things would just take care of themselves. We just felt we had a special guy there."
It was the late Mark Hatley -- the longtime NFL scout and personnel official who suffered a fatal heart attack in 2004 -- who validated that assessment for Kremer when he watched the video of Romo's senior season at Eastern Illinois. And when Kremer went to see Romo play in person, in the 2002 Ohio Valley Conference championship game against Murray State, he sensed the quarterback possessed NFL-caliber skills.
In the game, played on Nov. 23, 2002, Romo completed 33 of 47 passes for 302 yards, with two touchdown passes and two interceptions, leading his team to a late touchdown and a 35-34 lead. Murray State then won the game on a last-second, 52-yard field goal.
"But I knew just from watching him in that last drive, you know, rallying the guys around him, that he was a player," Kremer recalled. "And once you met him, you just knew that he was a person that you wanted to represent. You really don't mind being a second banana or whatever for a kid like that."
Crayton eyeing contract: With the Romo deal consummated, Cowboys officials have said they are probably done with contract extensions now for the remainder of the season. But one player with whom the team might want to consider chatting about an add-on is wide receiver Patrick Crayton.
In the absence of Terry Glenn, who is making some progress in his rehabilitation from knee surgery, Crayton has played pretty well as the No. 2 wideout to Terrell Owens, and at a time when the Cowboys desperately needed someone to step up. Crayton has 19 receptions for 400 yards, a healthy 15.4-yard average, and four touchdowns.
A former seventh-round draft choice from Northwestern Oklahoma State, the fourth-year veteran will be eligible for unrestricted free agency next spring. He is a little overaged, at 28, so the Cowboys wouldn't want to overspend on him. But it's possible Crayton would listen to a solid offer if one was proposed. Like every player, once he hits the free-agent market, the price goes up.
LINK
By Len PasquarelliESPN.com
(Archive)
You'd think that when a guy negotiates a landmark NFL contract extension worth nearly $70 million, with $30 million of the money in secured guarantees, the media hacks could at least spell his name right.
Not so, though, for Ken Kremer -- or Kramer, as he was cited by at least one national wire service and one Dallas-area media outlet -- in the wake of the lucrative extension he hammered out for Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo earlier this week.
Yet for Kremer, who is known to friends as "Fuzzy," but who is anything but warm and cuddly at the bargaining table, what mattered a lot more than one misplaced vowel was that all the i's were dotted, all the t's were crossed, and all the commas and decimal points were in precisely the right place for the Romo deal.
And, as one might expect, they were.
"Probably one of the most gratifying contracts I've ever done," Kremer said, "because of the quality person for whom I was doing it. You're talking about a kid with a great family, who grew up with Midwest-type values. His dad [Ramiro] and mom [Joan], really terrific, down-to-earth people. Two great sisters [Danielle and Jossalyn]. When you walked into that house in Wisconsin to talk to them, to recruit Tony, it was meticulous. Everything picked up and its place. Those are the kind of people that you love to represent. There's just not a whole lot of [pretense] about them."
And to that, Kremer can definitely relate. And so can the man with whom he negotiated the contract, Dallas chief operating officer and executive vice president Stephen Jones. Their names don't often make it into the headlines, even on deals like the Romo extension, but they were essentially the men who made it happen.
For years, Kremer has been the much lesser-known and somewhat egoless entity in the representation firm he built with higher-profile partner Tom Condon, his former Kansas City Chiefs teammate. Actually, according to the "2007 NFLPA Contract Advisors Directory," Kremer has been certified by the union to negotiate contracts for roughly a month longer than Condon.
Truth be told, the two have never worried much about seniority, longevity or titles, not when they began operating a boutique agency in the late 1980s, or when they went to work for global giant IMG, or more recently for Creative Artists Agency. For whatever reason, though, it was Condon who became the out-front guy and the oft-quoted mouthpiece.
Even though Condon has insisted for years now that Kremer was a key component to many of their biggest deals.
And the Romo deal, which has been in the works for months, and for which discussions were finally ramped up over the past couple weeks? Well, that one was Kremer's baby all the way. Every proposal and counterproposal, every fax, was directed to him, a Cowboys source confirmed.
In fact, most of the heavy lifting on the deal from the Cowboys' side was done by the other second banana of sorts, Stephen Jones. It's owner Jerry Jones who signs the paychecks, of course, but it is his son who often fills in the blanks for him, and he certainly did much of the negotiating on the Romo extension.
The talks began casually, at the annual league meetings in March at Phoenix, when Condon, Kremer and Jones were talking about a contract for Dallas tailback Julius Jones, another CAA client. Discussions lay fallow for a few months, as Jerry Jones pondered how to handle a megabuck contract for a potential franchise-type quarterback who, even at this point, still has less than a full season's worth of starts on his résumé.
Part of the deliberations, several sources have told ESPN.com, were discussions with former Cowboys coach Bill Parcells about the burgeoning young talent.
But finally it got to the point where Romo continued to demonstrate he was the real deal, and where dilatory tactics were only going to further raise the price. Jones will soon have a new, 100,000-seat stadium to fill and pricey luxury suites to lease. And the charismatic Romo, who has quickly become the face of the franchise since replacing Drew Bledsoe as the starter at the midpoint of last season, was a guy who could help, on and off the field.
So Fuzzy Kremer and Stephen Jones, the good lieutenants for their respective organizations, began seriously crunching the numbers and arrived at the extension first reported on Monday night by ESPN's Ed Werder, then signed officially on Tuesday afternoon. The two men had previously worked together, by Kremer's recollection, on only one other deal. And that was for an aging Herschel Walker, more than a decade ago.
But once the bargaining escalated to the substantive stage, the deal came together pretty fast. The initial signing bonus offer of $10 million eventually crept to $10.8 million, then a bit higher, enough to meet Kremer's target goal.
The final breakdown: a signing bonus of $11.5 million. Base salaries of $6 million in 2007 (up from the $1.5 million Romo was to have earned this season under his existing contract), $6.5 million for 2008, $7 million for 2009, $8.5 million for 2010, $9 million for 2011, $9 million for 2012 and $11.5 million in 2013. The full base salaries in 2007 and 2008 are guaranteed, as is $6 million of the 2009 base salary.
"To tell you the truth, it was a lot easier than the last deal we did [for Romo]," Kremer said, referring to the two-year, $3.9 million contract completed in 2006. "I mean, that one was really [difficult]. The bonus on that was $2 million and there was [almost] another $2 million in salaries and, when we did it, we had nothing to go on and, frankly, neither did they. There was no body of work to look at. From their standpoint, if he just stayed as a backup, he was overpaid. And from our standpoint, if he became a starter, he was going to be underpaid. But we had faith in Tony and believed that things would just take care of themselves. We just felt we had a special guy there."
It was the late Mark Hatley -- the longtime NFL scout and personnel official who suffered a fatal heart attack in 2004 -- who validated that assessment for Kremer when he watched the video of Romo's senior season at Eastern Illinois. And when Kremer went to see Romo play in person, in the 2002 Ohio Valley Conference championship game against Murray State, he sensed the quarterback possessed NFL-caliber skills.
In the game, played on Nov. 23, 2002, Romo completed 33 of 47 passes for 302 yards, with two touchdown passes and two interceptions, leading his team to a late touchdown and a 35-34 lead. Murray State then won the game on a last-second, 52-yard field goal.
"But I knew just from watching him in that last drive, you know, rallying the guys around him, that he was a player," Kremer recalled. "And once you met him, you just knew that he was a person that you wanted to represent. You really don't mind being a second banana or whatever for a kid like that."
Crayton eyeing contract: With the Romo deal consummated, Cowboys officials have said they are probably done with contract extensions now for the remainder of the season. But one player with whom the team might want to consider chatting about an add-on is wide receiver Patrick Crayton.
In the absence of Terry Glenn, who is making some progress in his rehabilitation from knee surgery, Crayton has played pretty well as the No. 2 wideout to Terrell Owens, and at a time when the Cowboys desperately needed someone to step up. Crayton has 19 receptions for 400 yards, a healthy 15.4-yard average, and four touchdowns.
A former seventh-round draft choice from Northwestern Oklahoma State, the fourth-year veteran will be eligible for unrestricted free agency next spring. He is a little overaged, at 28, so the Cowboys wouldn't want to overspend on him. But it's possible Crayton would listen to a solid offer if one was proposed. Like every player, once he hits the free-agent market, the price goes up.
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