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Trade on hold Johnson, Bucs to resume contract talks Wednesday
Posted: Tuesday April 11, 2000 10:24 PM
The hotly anticipated trade of Keyshawn Johnson from the New York Jets to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will stay just that way overnight: hotly anticipated. Though Tuesday afternoon Johnson's agent, Jerome Stanley, and the Bucs appeared close to a deal that would make the Jets wide receiver the highest-paid pass-catcher in NFL history, the deal still had several unexplained obstacles to overcome Tuesday. A Bucs spokesman said from the club's training facility just before 10 p.m. EDT: "There will be no deal tonight. Everyone here has gone home. So it's still on hold." A source close to the talks said Tuesday night if the deal isn't done by late Wednesday, Tampa officials would call the Jets and tell them the Bucs would have no further interest in trading for Johnson. But it's expected the minor glitches will be smoothed over Wednesday and the deal will get done. In fact, a close football friend of Stanley's called him Tuesday and told him he'd better strike a deal with Tampa soon or he may be left holding his client out from Jets' camp, because there's no other team willing to do for Johnson and the Jets what Tampa is willing to do. The Bucs are willing to do Johnson an enormous favor; he has two years left on his existing Jets contract and thus has very little leverage, and Tampa Bay is willing to pay him more than free-agents like Joey Galloway have earned in recent pacts. And the Bucs are willing to give the Jets two first-round picks -- the 13th and 27th overall -- in a receiver-rich draft. So all signs point to an agreement being reached Wednesday -- unless the Johnson side asks for the moon in addition to the stars that Tampa has offered.
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