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Johnson trade stalls Tuesday
Posted: Tuesday April 11, 2000 12:45 PM
The deal that makes so much sense for everyone is definitely not a done deal. Work on a blockbuster trade that would send Pro Bowl wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson to the Bucs for two first-round draft picks stalled Tuesday. There are indications that the Bucs have offered to make Johnson the highest-paid receiver in football -- slightly above recent deals inked by Colt Marvin Harrison and Cowboy Joey Galloway--but that Johnson and his Los Angeles-based agent, Jerome Stanley, want a better deal. It is thought that Tampa, which began serious talks with Stanley last Friday and continued them through the weekend, has agreed as an organization not to go higher. And if this deal -- with a signing bonus of somewhere between $9 and $13 million -- isn't done by Wednesday, the Bucs will likely tell the Jets they're no longer interested in dealing for Johnson. Johnson, the charismatic 6-foot-5, four-year veteran, turns 28 in July. He has two years remaining on his contract and the Jets have refused to renegotiate, leading Johnson to tacitly threaten a training-camp holdout that could last into the season. Tampa, one the league's stodgiest offenses, needs the spice and big-play potential Johnson would bring to any team. Several media outlets reported Tuesday that the trade would also include a Tampa receiver going to the Jets in return, but this is not true. Only the two Tampa Bay draft choices -- the 13th and 27th overall -- are involved. The deal, if consummated, would leave the Jets with four first-round picks, the first time in NFL history a team has had more than three first-rounders. But the next move, now, is up to Stanley and Johnson.
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