ckparrothead
Premium Member
Simply put, wow.
http://www.profootballtalk.com/rumormill.htm
http://www.profootballtalk.com/rumormill.htm
ALL PARTIES ARE TO BLAME IN T.O. FIASCO
We've watched the press conference. We've had time to ponder what we saw and heard. And now we're ready to dish out the blame to all of the folks involved in the Terrell Owens debacle.
And all of the folks involved in it deserve blame.
Culprit No. 1: David Joseph.
Joseph is the guy who screwed up T.O.'s shot at unrestricted free agency in 2004 by failing to properly trigger a clause in Owens' contract with the 49ers. If he properly submits the paperwork to win Owens' freedom, T.O. has no basis whatsoever to complain that the contract he signed with the Eagles was worth less money than it could have been, if he truly had been on the open market.
Culprit No. 2: The 49ers.
After Joseph blew the deadline for getting T.O. out of San Fran, the 49ers should have excused the technicality. They knew that Owens was going to leave, and the Niners should have just let him walk at that point, without trying to trade him for a low-round pick and/or a washed-up player.
Culprit No. 3: T.O. (Part I).
If Owens wasn't such a jerk during his final years in San Fran, the team might have been more inclined to forgive Joseph's error.
Culprit No. 4: The League Office.
The league office should have realized that the 49ers' failure to allow Owens to become a free agent was going to result in a big mess, and the Commish should have leaned on Sgt. York/Dr. Dork to let T.O. go.
Culprit No. 5: The Ravens.
We haven't yet made it to the portion of John Feinstein's book chronicling the Ravens' experiences in 2004, but we still can't figure out why Brian Billick and/or Ozzie Newsome would have wanted to bring a guy like Owens to town absent a clear indication from T.O. that he's ready and willing to embrace an offense with a young, unproven quarterback.
And it was the trade that the Ravens worked out with the Niners -- without Owens' approval -- that brought the legal issues regarding Owens' status to a head. If the thing hadn't blown up, the eventual trade of Owens to the Eagles might not have occurred at a time when it seemed clear that T.O. was on the verge of winning his freedom through the grievance process.
Culprit No. 6: The NFLPA.
Though there have been plenty of reports that the union advised Owens not to sign the contract with the Eagles at a time when it appeared that Owens was poised to win his grievance and become an unrestricted free agent, the fact is that the union failed to persuade him. Yeah, he's a big boy and he can make his own decisions. But we'd like to think that one of the 20-plus folks getting paid more than $100,000 per year in the union offices would be able to lay out for Owens the reality that, if he waits a little longer, he'll put himself in position to make a lot more money. It's not a very difficult concept to grasp.
Culprit No. 7: The Eagles (Part I).
Sure, Jeff Lurie and Joe Banner have done a great job managing the cap. But counting beans and making guys happy are two different things, and the trick for every team is to make a player conclude that he got a good deal even if the front office secretly believes that it got the better end of the bargain.
Why is it that when agents crow about the terms of a contract, routinely overstating the money, the team remains silent? Because the team wants the player to think he got a good deal. Guys who think they got good deals are more likely to focus on football and not on bitching about the fact that they didn't get good deals.
By pushing the back end of Owens' $16 million in bonus money into 2006, with no guarantee that he'll ever get the money, the Eagles set the stage for an eventual conclusion by T.O. that he really didn't get a good deal.
Culprit No. 8: Roy Williams.
We know we're stretching here, but work with us.
If Williams hadn't horse-collared Owens in December 2004, Owens might not have realized that the team can choose not to pay him the $7.5 million in bonus money come March 2006 if,he doesn't return to a high level of play after, say, getting his leg broken by a horse-collar tackle.
Culprit No. 9: The Eagles (Part II).
Despite all of the talk of secret waivers and doctor's orders, the Eagles should have known that, by not placing Owens on injured reserve after he broke his leg, the organization was setting the stage for a miraculous return by T.O. in the postseason.
And just as Owens gambled with his long-term health by pushing through rehab and playing before he was fully healed, the Eagles gambled by letting him do it. The Eagles wanted to win the Super Bowl, and the gamble almost paid off, for both sides.
The Eagles' decision to keep T.O. on the active roster and to allow him to play (and play well) in the Super Bowl transformed Owens into a heroic figure, in Philly and beyond. He was regarded as the best receiver in the game and (albeit briefly) as the ultimate team player.
The team surely recognized this potential outcome when he wasn't placed on IR. And when the facts played out as they did, that's when the team should have stepped in and taken care of him financially. Sure, they weren't required to do it. But neither was Owens required to bust his *** and take a chance by playing less than two months after an injury that plenty of other guys would have justifiably relied upon as a ticket out of the fire for the remainder of the season.
We're not suggesting that the Eagles should have given him a truck full of money. We're just saying that the organization should have been, after the Super Bowl, sensitive to the entire set of circumstances and pushed the money around just enough to keep him believing that he'd gotten a good deal.
Based on his performance of a year ago, the Eagles surely got one.
Culprit No. 10: Drew Rosenhaus (Part II).
We've heard various rumors regarding the genesis of the relationship between Rosenhaus and T.O., which in less than a year has prompted Drew to declare publicly that he has developed a case of platonic (we think) man-love for Owens. Plenty of agents believe that the ever-relentless Rosenhaus actively recruits players who are represented by other agents. There are rumblings that Rosenhaus client Hugh Douglas helped deliver Owens to Rosenhaus, which would be ironic to say the least in light of subsequent events.
Regardless of how the relationship came to be, Rosenhaus undoubtedly promised Owens that he'd get a new contract, despite the fact that six years remained on the deal that T.O. signed in March 2004.
And in Drew's apparent zeal to use his representation of Owens as a gateway to luring even more clients, Rosenhaus erred badly by taking the issue to the media. He forced the Eagles against the wall, and the matter quickly became from the team's perspective not an analysis of whether it made sense to tweak T.O.'s contract but a test of the organization's will.
In contrast, consider the manner in which Vikings quarterback Daunte Culpepper sought an adjustment to his contract. Neither Culpepper nor agent Mason Ashe said a word about the matter publicly, and their strategy eventually resulted in a technically undeserved windfall for a guy who already had signed a deal tying him to the team for many years into the future.
So the Eagles never got the chance to take a step back and look at the situation from a broader perspective. If Rosenhaus had handled the situation differently, the Eagles might have responded more favorably.
But that, of course, would have prevented Drew from getting his face and voice on ESPN as a free advertisement to all of those other players out there who might be looking for a new agent.
Culprit No. 11: The Eagles (Part III).
Even though Rosenhaus initially handled the situation poorly, team president Joe Banner shouldn't have slammed the door on Drew's dingleberry when Rosenhaus arrived in Philly for what turned out to be a very short meeting regarding Owens' deal.
Yeah, Drew backed Banner into a corner. But Banner should have thought this thing through more thoroughly before kicking Drew in the derriere.
Does Owens make us better? Absolutely.
Do we have the cap room to give this guy his $7.5 million in bonus money this year instead of next year? Yes.
Can we push some of the salary from the out years of the deal into 2006 and 2007, when the salary cap will be a lot higher anyway? Sure.
But instead of engaging in analysis, Banner apparently concluded that he needed to be a tough guy. So he told Drew that T.O. would get nothing and like it, and the game was on.
Culprit No. 12: T.O. (Part II).
Owens never, ever, ever should have opened his mouth after Banner politely told Rosenhaus to get the hell out of his office. At a bare minimum, T.O. should have zipped his lip regarding quarterback Donovan McNabb.
This situation wasn't personal until Owens made it that way. And once Owens declared that he wasn't the guy who got tired in the Super Bowl, we knew that the thing was not going to end well for anyone.
Culprit No. 13: Drew Rosenhaus (Part II).
If Drew advised Owens to publicly throw McNabb under the bus, then Drew is just plain stupid. If Owens did it on his own, then Drew should have told him, one time and one time only, that if he ever does it again, Rosenhaus would no longer be his agent.
It's a conversation that lawyers and agents have with clients all the time. If the client fails to conduct himself in a manner that the lawyer or agent advises, then the lawyer or agent will spend his or her time working for clients who will.
Culprit No. 14: ESPN.
We know, we know. The Boys in Bristol never took an active role in this mess. Still, they fueled it by giving Owens and Rosenhaus air time, pretty much whenever they wanted it.
Really, did anyone in an editorial capacity ever ask at any time the question of whether further on-air discussions with T.O. or D.R. were newsworthy?
So there was ESPN, whenever Owens or Rosenhaus wanted to talk. Part of the reason here is that Drew has ESPN.com's Len Pasquarelli at the top of his call list whenever one of the 90-plus Rosenhos out there signs a new contract or otherwise is in a position to make news. Thus, some of the folks at ESPN now believe that Drew needs to be appeased when he asks for a favor.
Sure, Owens said stupid things. Sure, Rosenhaus foolishly believes that any publicity is good publicity. But someone within the network should have stood up at some point and said, "Why in the hell are we continuing to give these guys a microphone simply because they've asked for one?"
Does anyone think that boy wonder Graham Bensinger scored that Thursday sit-down with Owens because Bensinger diligently dogged Drew to give him the access? It's far more likely that T.O. actively was looking for an outlet in the wake of the locker-room fight with Hugh Douglas, and Rosenhaus thought that Owens couldn't be duped into saying something stupid by a 19-year-old interviewer who would merely be happy to add Owens' name to his list of interviewees.
Oops.
Culprit No. 15: Hugh Douglas.
Regardless of whether he was acting on his own or was nudged by the front office, Douglas never should have confronted Owens in front of other players regarding the question of whether T.O. was "faking" an injury. After news of Owens' ankle injury initially broke last week, there some was confusion as to when and if the injury actually occurred. But it then became fairly clear that he had indeed injured his ankle -- even coach Andy Reid acknowledged that it was legit.
And even if T.O. was lollygagging, the way to deal with the problem isn't to send in a goon from the bench to check Owens into the boards.
Culprit No. 16: Michael Irvin.
A reader has suggested that Irvin was constantly prodding Owens in a backward effort to help Irvin's beloved Cowboys. Given that T.O. is now out for the year, the possible strategy was effective. Our guess, however, is that Irvin is the kind of guy who secretly prefers that the organization with which he played never again reaches the heights it enjoyed under his stewardship, thereby expanding his importance and further cultivating his legend.
Still, Irvin had no business getting personally involved in this. Given the audacity of his remarks on the air, we can only imagine the "advice" that the Playmaker was feeding to T.O. behind the scenes, a la Paula Abdul and the dude she was doinking (allegedly) from American Idol.
Culprit No. 17: Terrell Owens (Part III).
True apologies, as many other folks already has observed, are not read from a prepared text written by someone else. T.O. had multiple chances to get it right and save his ***, and he just plain blew it.
Culprit No. 18: Drew Rosenhaus (Part III).
His performance at the Tuesday press conference was, frankly, one of the worst we'd ever seen. He was too loud, too squinty, too flashy, too over-the-top, too everything that turns normal people off.
Unfortunately for Rosenhaus, he has gotten his wish. He currently has the highest profile of any agent in all of sport.
And everyone thinks he's a buffoon.
So that's the full story, as we see it. And we'll say nothing more about it.
At least until noon.
