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Show me the money

With millions on the table, holding out is risky business

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Posted: Thursday August 05, 1999 11:50 AM

OK, you're an NFL rookie, and you had a pretty darn good college career, and now you stand to make many millions of dollars in little more time than it takes you to sign your name and ask "Which way to the Mercedes dealer?"

Yes, riches await you. Fancy cars await you. Fame and women and your name on a video game await you, right there on the proverbial silver platter. Heck, if you want it, the silver platter awaits you.

And there you sit, quibbling over a few thousand dollars.

You, pal, are a holdout.

From the e-mailbag Some comments on One thorny question, July 14, 1999. Betting by a compulsive gambler who everyone knows is way too competitive to ever throw a game does not hold a candle to the palace coup, cancellation of a World Series and the financial blackmail of small markets led by a calculating usurper who cloaks himself in the mantle of Landis and Kuhn. -- Gregory Hayes It's too bad that "The Hall Of Shame" has room for thieves, wife beaters, girlfriend beaters, junkies and other assorted hot heads, but has no room for one of its greatest player. -- Hector Santos If Selig is that worried about losing the trust of the fans, why can he not just let the fans decide if Rose should be reinstated? With an owner for a commissioner, Rose will never stand a chance. -- Jeff Burns Your article had one glaring error ... Rose and Rose alone was the one man that put up the barricade. He signed the agreement, not Selig. -- David McIntyre Baseball has to be kept free of the taint brought by gambling, and the notion that any game might be fixed. Rose's banishment should be for life, and much longer. When MLB closes up shop, and no more games will ever be played, then it will be safe to allow Rose into the Hall of Fame. -- Jay Cross I believe the only person who can help Pete is Pete. Even in late middle/early old age every time I see or hear of him in the news he is doing something tacky, gaudy and adolescent. Some not so generous might say he's a self-possessed sleaze bag. Grow up Pete, show some character and humility. You must have lots in storage, since you have used so little. -- Larry Leitch And some comments on Not so perfect, July 19, 1999. It's called capitalism, buddy. Should Donald Trump drive a Yugo? Should a homeless person have a Ferrari? -- Rino Lupertin Cone displayed an intelligence and toughness that money cannot buy. With the help of his team he put away 27 major-league batters in order in 98-degree weather. There is a reason that this was accomplished only 14 times in the modern era. And money is not one of them. -- John Romano, Brooklyn Just because it came against a bad team doesn't make it any easier to do. A perfect game is a perfect game. -- Mike Bohn Don't try to tarnish an accomplishment so rare. Don't rob me of the memories I have of the game by demeaning the feat. -- Doug Hayes Cone's perfect game against the Expos. What a joke. If he had done it against: T. Raines, R. Scott, A. Dawson, G. Carter, A. Oliver, T. Wallach, W. Cromartie and C. Speier, I would've been impressed. -- Anne Marie Dessureault, Montreal More comments

It's hard to figure you guys sometimes, gumming up the training camp works trying to squeeze an extra million or so out of your teams. It's not exactly getting off on the right foot, you know?

OK, so it's tough to actually blame you. In baseball, a player can do anything short of giving Bud Selig a wedgie and still get paid his money. But in the NFL, where contracts are not guaranteed, it's critical to get that up-front money.

So you hold out, even if you're not a rookie. Sometimes especially if you're not a rookie.

"I would be a fool not to get what I'm worth," Atlanta Falcons holdout running back Jamal Anderson wrote to his fans on his World Wide Web site. "If something should happen to me without a good deal, alas [New England Patriots running back] Robert Edwards [who blew out his knee in a beach football exhibition at the Pro Bowl], you guys will be sad (maybe) but pay my bills? You will not. Provide for my family? I don't think so. We'd be having a debate about how much I could have made. What I could have accomplished."

Still ... there comes a time when trying to twist the team's arm starts to backfire, when playing tough guy puts you behind the learning curve or takes time away from an already too-short career. The NFL is littered with players who held out and never really got over it.

Nearly half of this year's first-round draft picks are holding out. They're waiting for an extra buy-back year or a voidable year or an incentive -- some kind of contract waggling that will get them what they want.

It's not helping anyone, at least right now.

"We'd like to see him in camp," Ray Smith, the father of Akili Smith, the quarterback taken No. 3 in the draft by the Cincinnati Bengals, told The Cincinnati Enquirer, "because the more he misses the more and more he falls behind."

The money, of course, is stunning. The Bengals will end up paying Smith, the highest-drafted quarterback not yet signed, somewhere around $10 million. Just for signing. He gets a salary on top of that.

Anderson sits, even with a $7 million signing bonus on the table. Carl Pickens won't play for the Bengals this season even though he's guaranteed some $3.5 million.

The point is, who wins here?

Anderson says he will honor the final year of his contract. But the damage with his team may already be done. Pickens probably won't play. If he sits out the season, he loses the $3.5 mil and the Bengals would lose their best player.

The 14 or 15 rookie holdouts will sign soon enough. They'll be behind from the start, and it will take them most of the season to catch up, if they do. Their teams will suffer.

Of course, there's always the case of Sean Gilbert, who wouldn't play for the Redskins for $4 million a year in '97. So he sat out. He got big money last year, finally, with the Panthers -- a $46.5 million, seven-year deal that included a $10 million signing bonus. Sitting worked for him, unless he gets hurt or can't finish out that contract.

Meanwhile, the rest of us sit, too, wondering ... wondering how the heck you guys can walk away from millions.

"It's a tough situation to be in," Anderson wrote, "but I must stick to my guns."

Yep, that's the problem, all right. Even before the season starts, somebody's always sticking it to someone in the NFL.

John Donovan is senior writer for CNNSI.com.

Comments? To e-mail Donovan, click here.

 

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