 |
| |
|
 |
 |
D.C. do-over Redskins' Snyder tries to recreate a stormy startPosted: Wednesday January 23, 2002 6:31 PM
Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder and his new vice president for football operations, Joe Mendes, insisted Wednesday afternoon they aren't oil and water. But it will be fascinating to see how long the mild-mannered Mendes, a respected veteran football scout and administrator, lasts as the man running the football side of the business for the impatient Snyder. The marriage, made after four days of soul-searching by Mendes and his wife, means Snyder's chase of several high-profile general manager candidates -- most notably former Redskins GM Bobby Beathard, ex-Packers GM Ron Wolf and current Oakland administrator Bruce Allen -- is over. It's expected that Mendes will earn about the same amount of money annually, $500,000, that Beathard rejected to do the job -- a sum one-tenth of what Steve Spurrier will make to coach the Redskins. "For me," Snyder told CNNSI.com, "it wasn't about who was the most famous candidate. It was about who was the best candidate. Steve was thumbs-up on this decision as well. He and Joe spoke. Joe has a wealth of experience with the salary cap and negotiating and scouting. He's a good man. We get along very, very well, and we did the last time he was here. I've always felt comfortable with him." Speaking from the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., where he spent Wednesday scouting, Mendes said: "I know what I'm walking into. There's reputation and then there's reality. And I've always gotten along with Mr. Snyder. He's a better listener than he's given credit for. Believe me, I'm not a glutton for being abused. That won't happen. This is going to work out well for everyone." When Snyder bought the Redskins in 1999, Mendes was the team's chief negotiator and capologist. He left the club soon after the 2000 draft, saying he was tired of the football grind. Those close to Mendes believe part of that was battle-fatigue from working for the demanding Snyder. Mendes denied that Wednesday. "The reason I left," he said, "had nothing to do with Mr. Snyder. I was tired. My wife and I decided to travel and relax." Reminded of some of the decisions he reportedly disagreed with while with the Redskins -- including the wasteful $7-million signing bonus handed to Deion Sanders, who lasted all of one year -- Mendes said: "Don't make me go down that road." It's expected that Mendes will hire the Redskins former personnel director, Vinny Cerrato, to return to the same post after he works on the ESPN telecast team for the Senior Bowl. This would reunite the same football front office that was in place for the 2000 draft, subbing head coach Steve Spurrier for Norv Turner. "We had a great draft two seasons ago," said Snyder, referring to the drafting of Chris Samuels and LaVar Arrington in the first round. "And we supplemented that with good undrafted free agents like [tight end] Zeron Flemister and [fullback] Bryan Johnson. The system was working. It got broken up. Now it will get put back together." This time, though, Snyder and Cerrato will have to avoid the wasteful signing-bonus bingeing from the Deion days, when the Redskins bought the 1996 Pro Bowl team and tried to revive them as a great team in 2000. the Redskins finished 8-8, and out of the playoffs, costing Turner his job. "I probably got too aggressive," Snyder understated. "As an owner, I'm learning. I admit it: I was pushing the pedal too hard. Now I hope we have more success than mistakes." While out of football, Mendes lived in Arizona and took a job with agents Ethan Locke and Eric Metz as a consultant. "I liked their integrity, their honesty and their clients," he said. "It was a great job. That's why it took me a few days to figure out what I wanted to do." Spurrier, obviously, will have the final say on the 53-man roster come summertime. Snyder said Mendes will have the tiebreaking power on personnel deadlocks within the organization. Smart move. If the franchise stays the course with a good football man like Mendes without getting impetuous as it did two years ago, the Redskins should be on the right long-term path.
As the coaches turnIn coaching news:
If Schottenheimer takes a job with the Chargers, it's expected it wouldn't pay him more than $7.5 million during three years; in that event, the Redskins would have to make up whatever gap in annual salary there is between what the Chargers would pay Schottenheimer and the $2.5 million per year. And so he may be looking for a fourth year in the contract, as a bit of a motivator to re-enter coaching. That would give him guaranteed money aside from the $7.5 million he's due to earn during the next three years. "My guess," Condon said, "is that the Chargers will have a decision by late [Thursday]."
Around the NFLThe officiating crew working the Patriots-Raiders game was unwavering about its controversial call to overturn a late Tom Brady fumble into an incomplete pass by instant replay. So unwavering, said someone who traveled with the crew in its van after the game, that as they watched a Boston TV station on the van's television talk about the call after the game, one of the officials said to the TV: "You've got the rule wrong! You have to have the ball tucked all the way!" The reference, of course, was to the Brady stopping his throwing motion but not having the ball tucked to his body, which, by rule, is what the officials have to see before calling a fumble on such a play ... The Eagles continue to hope against hope that cornerback Troy Vincent (strained groin muscle) will be ready to play in Sunday's NFC Championship Game in St. Louis. The Rams are giving the Vincent Watch a collective shrug of the shoulders. "We've heard what everyone else has heard," Rams wideout Isaac Bruce said Wednesday afternoon. "We've heard he wasn't going to practice all week. He's vital to what they try to do. We're going to prepare as if he's going to play. I don't think we'll have to change anything. We'll go out and play the way we've been playing." ... Don't look for Troy Aikman to return to football unless the situation is perfect. "Believe me," he said, "there's a much better chance I won't come back than I will." What's also misleading are reports that Turner will try to take Aikman with him wherever he lands. Not necessarily true. One other Aikmanism: "If I could come back for the games on Sunday and not have to go training camp or practices during the season, believe me, I'd be back." ... Bill Parcells frets that his waffling and turning down of the Tampa Bay job will affect his Hall of Fame candidacy. He's right. One thing to keep in mind: This is a pretty weak candidate list, and a minimum of four men make up every Hall class. So if Parcells does not get the required 80 percent of the votes after the field has been trimmed to six candidates Feb. 2, he still could get in by being one of the top four vote-getters. Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King covers the NFL and appears regularly on CNN/Sports Illustrated and CNN's NFL Preview.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
