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Capping the well Escalating bonuses, salaries could prove paralyzing
Posted: Thursday June 08, 2000 02:54 PM
In these days of salary caponomics, the signing of one player trickles down to another. And it's happening now for two Super Bowl contenders, Washington and St. Louis. In Washington, the absurdly high $8 million signing bonus handed to the aging Deion Sanders is having an impact on rookies LaVar Arrington and Chris Samuels. The Redskins are trying something interesting: spreading the signing bonus over three years with each rookie instead of giving it to them all at once. But Samuels is balking big time, and the two sides appear headed for a training-camp holdout. Why do I bash the Sanders' bonus? Because no other team was dangling big money in front of "Prime Time," and if he doesn't stay healthy, Washington's cap could be paralyzed in 2002. In St. Louis, backup quarterback Trent Green threw well at last weekend's minicamp, and he moved well, too. Which gives another twist to the Rams' difficult talks with Super Bowl hero Kurt Warner. Green, out all last season with a knee injury, will make $4.3 million this year. Warner is due to make $358,000. The Rams are trying to do a long-term deal with Warner, but he wants a signing bonus in Jake Plummer's record-breaking $15-million neighborhood. No chance at that, so Warner could turn into a holdout himself.
Points to ponderA couple of quick hits around the league:
Tough non-decision to understandIn the 16 years I've covered pro football, I've never seen an NFL decision as illogical as the Ray Lewis non-punishment. Lewis plea-bargains a double-murder charge down to obstruction of justice. He is found to have lied to police about knowledge of the stabbings and about his involvement in the getaway. Meanwhile, three Jets get into a bar fight. One, Jumbo Elliott, is found guilty of public lewdness and disorderly conduct. Elliott gets a four-game suspension. Lewis gets none. There's a one-in-a-hundred chance you could put up an argument that what Elliott did was worse. Maybe. But Lewis suiting up for the Ravens' opener is positively outrageous. I hope the victims' families picket the stadium that day -- right after they picket NFL headquarters in New York. Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King covers the NFL for the magazine and appears regularly on CNN/Sports Illustrated.
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