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Coming full circle? Boston-to-Chargers gives San Diego something for LeafPosted: Tuesday March 04, 2003 4:04 PM
In the earliest days of this year's free agent shopping season, one of the more intriguing questions has been: Wither David Boston? Would free agency's top-rated receiver generate a market befitting his breakout 2001 season, or one instead that mirrored his troubling and injury-shortened performance of last year? We're about to find out. While the San Diego Chargers on Tuesday continued putting the full-court press on the visiting Boston for a second consecutive day, having him meet and greet everyone but the team mascot, the makings of a legitimate free-agent tour were starting to take shape. Boston and his agent, Mitch Frankel, are scheduled to leave San Diego on Wednesday morning for Baltimore, where they will visit the Ravens that night and Thursday. Boston also has been invited to Atlanta later this week, a trip that could be confirmed as soon as Wednesday. Two unidentified teams have called expressing interest in having Boston to town, Frankel said, but those trips remain unscheduled. Miami is believed to be one of those teams. In addition, the Cardinals are expected to remain in communication with Boston.
In the meantime, the Chargers are showing all the signs of a team that has made Boston, the former Arizona Cardinal, its top priority. After arriving in San Diego on Sunday night, Boston took a physical for the Chargers on Monday, then dined that night with head coach Marty Schottenheimer and vice president of football operations Ed McGuire. Chargers quarterback Drew Brees spent time wooing Boston on Monday, as did several assistant coaches. Tuesday's schedule called for face time with general manager John Butler, receivers coach James Lofton, and running back LaDainian Tomlinson. "San Diego is an organization and a team that David really feels comfortable with," Frankel said Tuesday. "They've got a 24-year-old running back who is already great, a 24-year-old quarterback who is only going to get better, and David's 24 as well. He feels like that's a nucleus of three players who could be together for 10 years. And he also thinks the Chargers are serious about getting to the Super Bowl." While San Diego is considered the likely favorite in a competition to sign Boston, Frankel conceded that he did not know whether the Chargers would attempt to sign his client before Baltimore beckoned. According to a San Diego Union-Tribune report Tuesday, Schottenheimer echoed those sentiments, saying: "This is just the beginning aspect of it from both sides. There isn't a timetable at this point, and I don't know that we will make him an offer before he leaves." If San Diego is hesitant to bid for Boston before anyone else does, it's somewhat understandable. Boston missed half of last season after having surgery to repair a torn patella tendon in his right knee. A year after he led the league with 1,598 receiving yards, to go with 98 catches and eight touchdowns, Boston totaled a career-low 32 receptions for 512 yards and one score in 2002. While Frankel said Boston got a clean bill of health in the physical that the Chargers conducted, it's tougher to erase the off-field questions that surround Boston. He was charged with driving under the influence last March, and according to Phoenix police also tested positive for cocaine and marijuana, which could prompt the NFL to both fine and suspend him for four games next season. It was exactly those mixture of concerns that convinced the Cardinals front office to not place the team's franchise-player tag on Boston prior to free agency, a move that would have effectively guaranteed his return to Arizona. While Boston's baggage factor has made both Atlanta and Baltimore somewhat wary of paying him the eight-figure signing bonus that it may take to land him, Schottenheimer said he has no such worries. "I have no concerns about his character at this stage," Schottenheimer told the Union-Tribune. "I absolutely don't think his character is an issue. ... Ultimately, those are matters [the possible suspension] that would be resolved down the road." There has been speculation that the Chargers would build into any potential contract offer some means of financial re-imbursement in the event that Boston is suspended and misses one fourth of the 2003 regular season. Should Boston sign with the Chargers, it would represent an ironic echo of the team's disastrous Ryan Leaf era, in that Arizona selected Boston in 1999's first round using one of the draft choices it received from San Diego in the Leaf deal. Don Banks covers pro football for SI.com.
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