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Chargers stuck with Leaf for now
Posted: Tuesday November 09, 1999 08:20 AM
Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King spoke with CNN/SI anchor Bob Lorenz on CNN's NFL Preview as Week 9 of the NFL season kicked off: Bob Lorenz: The Seahawks are tied for first in the AFC West without holdout Joey Galloway, and now it looks as if they might get him back. What's the latest? Peter King: Joey Galloway has told two of his Seahawks teammates that he's probably going to come in this week to play as many as eight games, the team has eight games remaining after Sunday's game against Cincinnati. Here's the key thing: if Joey Galloway is in shape, he could be the third receiver and punt returner against the Broncos next week. BL: As we all know, Ryan Leaf has a strained relationship with the Chargers. But he took another hit this week when he got into it with general manager Bobby Beathard during a workout. What's Leaf's future like now in San Diego? PK: A lot of people would say to the Chargers, "Why don't you just cut this jerk? He's done so many anti-team things, why don't you do it?" Here's why the San Diego Chargers cannot cut Ryan Leaf: if they cut him immediately, $7.5 million would come due on their salary cap. So, in order to get rid of Ryan Leaf, they'd have to cut seven or eight other million-dollar-area players. They are stuck with Leaf for the next year and a half, at least. BL: One other disgruntled player -- the Patriots are off to a 6-2 start but it's not all happy times with that team. Ben Coates, who holds the NFL single- season record for catches by a tight end, isn't happy and he went on rampage this week after his second game this season in which he didn't catch a pass' PK: I think Ben Coates has a lot in common with other great players who have felt they've not been used properly at their positions. For years, Jerry Rice would rant and rave if he didn't catch enough balls. In my opinion, if Bill Parcells were still coaching this Patriots team, this kind of selfishness never would have happened because Ben Coates would have been afraid to say anything. BL: What will you be watching for in the second half of the season? PK: What I'm looking for in the second half is for two teams to take their rightful place in the NFL elite. Number one, Indianapolis -- this isn't the Colts' year but they're the Super Bowl winners of the year 2000. I think the triumvirate they have there -- Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison and Edgerrin James - is going to be the great offensive force of the next decade. And I think, after that, you'll see Tennessee because the Titans have what everyone wants in this league, incredible speed on defense, led by rookie Jevon Kearse. Kearse is the closest thing to Lawrence Taylor since Lawrence Taylor. BL: Not everyone got to see Walter Payton's work firsthand, but you did. What indelible mark did he leave with you? PK: Three things, Bob. One, Payton threw eight touchdown passes in his career - how amazing is that? Two, Jim McMahon told me this week that never, not even one time, did Walter Payton say in the huddle, "Give me the ball." And three, here were Mike Ditka's words to me: "I think the greatest play I ever saw him make was a block." He was a totally unselfish player in all ways.
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