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 Dealing in the waiting game
Posted: Wednesday May 26, 1999 03:10 PM
This is the time of year when unsigned veteran players and clubs have to face the facts about salary and compensation demands. No one is willing to pay you what you want so you may have to drop your price to get a deal done. Jamir Miller is a good example. At one time the free-agent linebacker had an offer of $6 million for two years on the table from Arizona. He hesitated so Cardinals general manager Bob Ferguson was left to assume that Miller wasn't coming back and signed Detroit LB Rob Fredrickson. Miller got frustrated, fired his agent and landed in Cleveland for one year at $1.3 million. You could say that he lost $4.7 million by overestimating his own value. Other players -- like defensive ends Marco Coleman and Shawn Lee -- need to start worrying whether the market is going to come to them or whether they need to go to the market. The Jets would be interested in re-signing free-agent lineman Matt O'Dwyer but not at all-pro money. I asked a few clubs about O'Dwyer and the response ranged from "we like him, he's young, and tough but not at his asking price" to "we don't want to bid against ourselves because the Jets have a ceiling on their price." The draft also tightened up the market on O'Dwyer since several teams selected guards and no longer need to pick up linemen. And the deal Zach Wiegert signed with Jacksonville hasn't helped O'Dwyer, either. Wiegert was released by St. Louis due to salary-cap reasons and was quickly picked up by the Jags. A lot of teams considered Wiegert a better player than O'Dwyer, not to mention the fact that Wiegert was willing to sign for less. O'Dwyer may need to lower his $3 million a year demand (the Jets were offering him $2 million). If running backs Terry Allen and Charlie Garner want to compete for starting jobs this year they have two choices. Sign now for less then they thought they should get or wait until August or September and hope some team has an injury and the cap space and cash to sign them. The clubs are affected by this process as well. The Bengals are looking to shop disgruntled WR Carl Pickens. The problem is the market has changed and no team is willing to meet their demands. Several teams used the draft to get the wide receiver they needed: David Boston went to the Cardinals, Torry Holt to the Rams, Troy Edwards to the Steelers, and Peerless Price to the Bills. Plus, the Saints traded for Eddie Kennison and the Dolphins signed a recently cut Tony Martin. The June 1 cut date is sure to put another name receiver or two on the market and teams are holding off on making any moves at this position until they know whether Florida State's Peter Warrick is going to declare for the supplemental draft. What's the result? Either the Bengals need to drop their price to get some value for Pickens or they need to figure out a way to make him happy in Cincinnati. Good luck.
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