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Let's set the record straight on Cris Carter's celebrated snafu with the
Cleveland Browns earlier this week: Maybe it was the residual effects of
that incessant Metrodome din after all these years, or perhaps he just lost
some tonal capacity screaming with Randy Moss or Daunte Culpepper on the
sideline. Whatever the reason, it was Carter's misinterpretation of
Cleveland's offer to him that sparked a series of events that now has left
him a man without a team.
Carter remained at his meeting with Browns officials on Wednesday, and
essentially blew off a commitment to visit with the Rams, not because he
felt duty-bound to spend time with Cleveland coach Butch Davis and club
president Carmen Policy but rather because he felt he was getting a contract
offer no one else would match.
|  | | In a 15-year career, Cris Carter has 1,093 receptions for 13,833 yards. |
During the negotiations, Carter phoned friends and told them he was getting
a deal similar to the one former Minnesota teammate and strong safety Robert
Griffith had signed in Cleveland, worth nearly $4 million annually. But what
the Browns offered Carter was a two-year contract worth $4 million total.
A pretty big difference.
But Carter heard what he wanted to hear, apparently, and by the time he
comprehended his mistake it was too late to salvage his meeting with St.
Louis coach Mike Martz and several Rams players. St. Louis, by the way, was
prepared to offer Carter a two-year contract worth about $3 million and
install him as its slot receiver. A stickler for punctuality, Martz wasn't
about to allow Carter a second chance.
Plus the Rams coach had to fight hard to get some St. Louis officials to
embrace the idea of bringing Carter into the mix. Several officials wanted
no part of Carter, knowing he might chafe at not getting the ball enough,
but Martz countered that he could control the second-most prolific receiver
in NFL history and tweak his offense to get Carter enough receptions to keep
him happy.
The foul-up with Carter has left the Rams without a slot receiver to team
with starters Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt for now. Az-Zahir Hakim bolted to
the Detroit Lions for the exorbitant price of $16 million over five years
and Ricky Proehl is an unrestricted free agent.
But Martz is a man with a plan. Unless he
gets an offer elsewhere that knocks his socks off, Proehl will soon sign a
one-year contract for $750,000, a move that actually saves St. Louis about
$300,000 because of a new rule that provides cap relief for teams that
sign longtime veterans to minimum-salary contracts. Martz also will consider
former Tampa Bay Bucs starter Jacquez Green, who not only visited St. Louis
on Friday, but also pulled on some sweats and ran about 10 pass patterns for
the Rams staff.
And there is always the draft where Martz, after watching videotape of last
weekend's combine workouts, is convinced there are perhaps 8-10 prospects
who could make his 2002 roster. As for Carter, it's hard to imagine him not
being in the league in 2002, but where he winds up now is anybody's guess.
Around the league
Bucking for change? Incumbent starting quarterback Brad Johnson can't be feeling too
comfortable in Tampa Bay these days, at least not with the way new coach Jon
Gruden seems to be looking for possible replacements. In his introductory
press conference two weeks ago, Gruden went out of his way to tout backup
Shaun King as a player in whom he was intrigued. Then at the combine
sessions last weekend, ESPN.com learned, Gruden started poking around Jeff
Blake, just hours after he was released by New Orleans. Now it seems that
Rob Johnson is on the list of quarterbacks in whom Gruden has interest.
Gruden can insist he's simply trying to create competition, but if you are
Brad Johnson, there is reason for concern. By the way, before they
tried to trade Blake to the Buffalo Bills, some Saints officials were
contending the veteran quarterback was still suffering from chronic ankle
problems.
Staley on the outs: Their denials aside, Philadelphia officials have decided that Duce Staley
no longer fits into the team's plans, and have been dangling their starting
tailback around in the league in trade talks. Staley appeared on his way to
stardom until he broke his foot in 2000. He hasn't been the same since.
While he emerged as an improving receiver in 2001, the Eagles are paying him
to run the football and not catch it, and he was laboriously slow to the
hole last year. The coaches like Correll Buckhalter, a
fourth-round draft choice in 2001 who logged extended playing time as a rookie, as
their new starter. And the team was impressed enough with unrestricted free agent Warrick Dunn of Tampa Bay during his visit this week to begin preparing a
contract proposal. Whether the Eagles land Dunn, who is said to
have an offer in hand from Detroit, the fate of Staley seems decided. The Eagles owe him a roster bonus of $500,000 on March 15 and, if
he sees that money, it will be an upset.
Interest in Starks builds: Look for things to heat up this weekend, big-time, with unrestricted free-agent cornerback Duane Starks. The former Baltimore Ravens first-rounder is
coming off a subpar performance in 2001 but, at age 27 and with four years of
experience, remains the premier player at his position in the free agent
pool. In fact, he is one of the top players overall in free agency, and now
is being pursued by the Arizona Cardinals and the Oakland Raiders in a
battle that is getting hotter by the minute. Both the Arizona starters from
2001, Tom Knight and Corey Chavous, are free agents and don't figure to
return. The Raiders realize that Eric Allen is likely to retire later in the
spring and would love to pair Starks with Charles Woodson. The
Cardinals have a ton of salary cap room and the Raiders have a
wide advantage in tradition. Agent Drew Rosenhaus has been proactive in selling other clients during the first week of free agency, but
he didn't have to make any calls on Starks, that's for sure. There are
whispers around the league that Raiders owner Al Davis will use part of the
$8 million he got from Tampa Bay, as compensation for allowing Jon Gruden
out of his contract, to spend on free agents. But he also owes a ton of
attorneys fees and a portion of the money is going to pay those off.
Bledsoe to Bears? Don't rule out yet the possibility that the Chicago Bears will get involved
in trade discussions for New England quarterback Drew Bledsoe. Sure, we know
the Bears retained incumbent starter Jim Miller last weekend, and the team
is prepared to rally behind him again in 2002. But if the price tag on
Bledsoe drops, as some suspect it will if the Patriots still haven't
completed a deal the week before the draft, the Bears might be interested.
The salary cap charge for the first year of Millers' new contract is a palatable $1.3 million. That would be a bit steep for a non-starter but
hardly exorbitant. A Bears deal for Bledsoe still appears unlikely, but it's not impossible given the structure of Miller's contract.
Saints' moves: Now that New Orleans has completed the Ricky Williams trade, Saints
officials can turn their attention to another deal, finishing off a swap of
offensive left tackle Willie Roaf to either Denver or Kansas City. The
Saints want at least a third-round choice for Roaf, a seven-time Pro Bowl
player, and are likely to get at least that in offers from the two AFC West
rivals. Roaf, who will visit with Denver officials on Monday, once owned a home
in the Mile High City, and has indicated that the Broncos are his first
preference. What coach Mike Shanahan wants in Denver, he usually gets, so
expect Roaf to be headed to the Broncos. The Saints will move wild man Kyle
Turley from right tackle to the left side, where he played in college, and
where New Orleans coaches feel he will be effective. So who replaces Turley
on the right side? As indicated in this spot last week, New Orleans is
courting his former San Diego State teammate, Ephraim Salaam, late of the
Atlanta Falcons and a three-year starter there. Also the Saints turned down
the opportunity to match the five-year, $17.5 million offer that Seattle
free-agent right tackle Todd Weiner signed with Atlanta on Wednesday. Can't
blame them, since that's a lot of money for a guy who has but 20 starts in
four seasons, and who isn't nearly as physical a player as the Saints like.
But here's one out of left field: New Orleans has talked to former New York
Giants right guard Ron Stone, a multiple Pro Bowl player, and discussed the
possibility of him moving to right tackle.
Search continues in Atlanta: Arthur Blank, the new owner of the Atlanta Falcons, always has been known
as a man of inclusion. That's why it is hard to believe that, in a city with
a majority black population, Blank hasn't interviewed a single minority
candidate for the general manager job he is still attempting to fill. It
isn't all Blank's fault, of course, since he sought to interview Baltimore
vice president of personnel Ozzie Newsome but was denied permission by
Ravens owner Art Modell. There are, however, deserving minority candidates
beyond Newsome, who would have been a good fit for the job. Just as
surprising is that the league hasn't done a better job of advocating that
Blank interview minority candidates. When the NFL started pushing the
executive search firm of Russell Reynolds and Associates on teams, part of
the rationale was that using such a company would eliminate the "good ol'
boys" network that still pervades the league. The company did a relatively
good job in lining up minority candidates for the Chicago Bears when they
were seeking a general manager last year. They haven't repeated that
performance, though, in the case of the Falcons. Blank interviewed former
Packers general manager Ron Wolf on Friday and the two sides are still
eyeballing each other. If Wolf doesn't take the position, it's likely to go
to Tampa Bay personnel man Tim Ruskell, but he is being hampered by the Dan
Reeves mafia that comprises most of the top football decision makers in the
organization. The Reeves people know that if a true football person comes in
as general manager, they could all be gone by 2003. That's why they are
hoping that the next GM is more business-oriented.
|  | | Jeremy Shockey caught 40 passes last season for Miami (Fla.). |
Shockey shines: The on-campus workouts at the University of Miami on Thursday produced a veritable "Who's Who" of NFL personnel directors and 10 head coaches. The group that made the trek to Coral Gables wasn't disappointed as several Hurricanes prospects lit things up with
impressive auditions. There was a buzz about tight end Jeremy
Shockey, who demonstrated soft hands, a solid blocking base and blistered
the 40-yard dash in the mid-4.5 range. Shockey is emerging as a special
player, nudging ahead of Daniel Graham of Colorado for the No. 1 spot at
tight end, and now seems positioned to go off the board in the middle of the
first round. The New York Giants and New Orleans Saints have particular
interest but there's a shot Shockey could go even higher than those teams.
Perhaps the player who helped himself the most, in terms of displaying to
scouts he might be worthy of a low first-round rating, was tailback Clinton
Portis. Several teams clocked Portis at faster than 4.3 seconds in the 40-yard dash and he flashed excellent quickness in all the skill drills, but noticed he had difficulty catching the ball. Scouts noted that, while Portis is an adequate receiver, he too often
fights the ball into his hands and will have to work on that. The scouts
expected cornerback Phillip Buchanan to run fast, and he did (some clocked him
under 4.4), solidifying his spot as a top 12 choice. Offensive tackle
Bryant McKinnie still figures to be taken in the top five picks but didn't
impress many people with his workout. He was slow-footed, did not bench
press very well, and was generally sluggish in most drills. Free safety Edward
Reed did well and the physical ballhawk was so quick that a few teams
departed feeling he might be able to play cornerback in some situations.
Backup cornerback Markese Fitzgerald did enough things well to move from a
likely free agent to a possible late-round selection now.
Line dancing: Despite the fact he has been a Pro Bowl performer each of the last two seasons, don't be too surprised if Minnesota Vikings center Matt Birk moves
to left tackle for the 2002 season. New head coach Mike Tice, the longtime
offensive line coach who will continue to tutor the Vikings blockers, feels
the four-year veteran has good enough feet to play the line's most critical
and demanding position. Minnesota used Brad Badger at left tackle in 2001
but the entire Vikings line seems to be in flux, with several players
capable of playing guard or tackle. Birk, however, is the class of the bunch
and the team validated that last September by signing him to a seven-year
contract that ranked as one of the highest ever for a center at that time.
Comeback I: He is still a month or two away from being fully rehabilitated and able to work out for teams, but former Arizona Cardinals defensive end
Andre Wadsworth plans on being in some club's training camp this summer. The
third overall selection in the 1998 draft, when some people viewed him as a
"safer" choice than either Peyton Manning or Ryan Leaf (well, they were at
least half right), Wadsworth was a flat-out bust during his Arizona tenure.
Scouts had tabbed him as a certain double-digit sacker but, beset by knee
problems that forced him to miss 18 of a possible 48 games, he had only
eight sacks when the Cardinals released him last
summer. Wadsworth underwent the fairly radical "microfracture" surgery on
his knee, a process that includes an unusually lengthy rehabilitation
period, and missed the entire 2001 season. Just about every team in the
league willing to take a flyer on a good kid who has experienced a lot of
bad luck has phoned agent Roosevelt Barnes to inquire about Wadsworth. No
one ever wants to give up on a guy with pass rush ability. "But
we're going to do this on our timetable," Barnes told ESPN.com. "Andre has
rushed back from too many things and all it did was hurt him in the long
run. He'll work out when he's 100 percent and not before that." There is a
chance, Barnes said, that his client will be prepared to audition before the
draft.
Comeback II: The all-time leading tackler in Atlanta Falcons history, Jessie Tuggle, still can't reconcile the manner in which his career ended last summer: He was released in a move that allowed the franchise to clear salary cap room and
also move weakside linebacker Keith Brooking to the middle. And so Tuggle,
seventh months after his last training camp practice and only a month
removed from his 37th birthday, would love for someone to invite him to camp. One of the most underappreciated linebackers in the NFL
during his 14-year career, and a five-time Pro Bowl performer, Tuggle is
still working out every day. His body began to break down on him late in his
career -- he played just eight games in 2000 because of a knee injury and
then suffered a broken hand in training camp last summer -- but Tuggle had
been a durable defender throughout his career and might still be able to help a team
looking for an experienced run-stuffer.
Setting the record straight: Three weeks ago in this spot, we noted that former NFL star defensive end
Sean Jones could be in jeopardy with the NFL Players Association, where
his company is paid $60,000 annually to advise the union on how to invest
money. It was noted that Jones, who in addition to serving as a player agent
also invests money for individuals, faced an adverse ruling in a case
involving former NFL cornerback Cris Dishman and had settled a claim
by former Houston Oilers strong safety Bubba McDowell. Jones contacted
ESPN.com to refute some of the assertions and claim that no action he took
in those instances had anything to do with the NFLPA or his role there. "If
anything, perhaps I was a little too cocky and too accommodating," Jones
said. He also debunked the notion that he rarely negotiated contracts for
his clients, instead turning the discussions over to prominent Los Angeles
agent Marvin Demoff, one of the pioneers in the sports representation
business. Several team salary cap managers agreed with Jones' assertion that
he frequently has been at the bargaining table to work on deals.
Weighty issues: The free agent market has been surprisingly slow for unrestricted free-agent defensive tackle Grady Jackson of the Raiders. So far, agent Bus Cook
has fielded just one call, from Kansas City, and Jackson visited there
Thursday. Given how difficult it is to find proven defensive tackles in the
league, one would assume Jackson might be in greater demand. But teams know
that he has battled weight problems in the past and ESPN.com has confirmed
there are some concerns about his past shoulder injuries.
Abraham on the move? The Bucs still want to deal cornerback Donnie Abraham, but have been shot
down in attempts to trade him to the New York Jets and Indianapolis Colts.
The Bucs approached those franchises because each has a head coach, Herm
Edwards in New York and Tony Dungy in Indianapolis, who are familiar with
Abraham from their time in Tampa. The Colts, for now at least, prefer to
pursue another Bucs cornerback, Brian Kelly, and the Jets on Friday signed
Aaron Beasley. So the bottom has fallen out a bit on the Abraham market and
the Bucs may be forced to release him to create a little cap room.
Garcia cashes in: Hard to believe that, three years ago, Jeff Garcia was coming out of the
CFL and begging teams to sign him to an NFL contract. Now the San Francisco
49ers quarterback is a two-time Pro Bowl player and one of the league's
highest-paid performers. Because of voids, escalators, signing bonus and
restructuring, Garcia's contract now averages $7.5 million-$8 million per
year. And he will earn an amazing $13.5 million in 2002.
Punts: Good move by Tampa Bay to hire strength coach Johnny Parker, one of
the NFL's best. . . . The Denver Broncos will offer a one-year, minimum
salary deal to fullback Sam Gash, who was recently released by the Ravens.
If he doesn't accept it, Denver will make the same proposal to unrestricted
free agent Mack Strong of Seattle. Just goes to show how devalued the
fullback position is in the league. . . . Strong safety Blaine Bishop,
released last week by Tennessee, is apt to sign with the Buffalo Bills, even
though he will still make a few more visits. . . . The Bengals are dragging
their feet on the quarterback front and it's too bad since Chris Chandler
really would consider signing on in Cincinnati. Chandler likes the Bengals'
offensive line, the fact tailback Corey Dillon could take some of the
pressure off him, and a top 10 defense that's been assembled by coach Dick
LeBeau. . . .Green Bay has included in the contract for wide receiver Terry
Glenn many of the same morals clauses that were in his New England deal. The
Packers were wise to protect themselves against Glenn's off-field problems.
. . . Pittsburgh free-agent inside linebacker Earl Holmes will visit with
Cleveland officials this weekend and is likely to get a contract offer. If
he escapes the clutches of the Browns, he will probably head to Houston for
a visit next week. . . . Rumors by the New York media aside, no one in the
Big Apple should be counting on tight end Shannon Sharpe winding up with the
Giants. About the only way a deal will occur there is if Sharpe has no other
suitors well into the spring, which won't happen, and signs a minimum deal.
. . . The Broncos, who are desperate for safety help, are eyeing Izell
Reese, formerly of Dallas. There is also a possibility the team will
consider moving cornerback Willie Middlebrooks, its first-round pick in
2001, inside to safety. . . . Former Chicago first-round tailback Curtis
Enis, who retired last spring after signing a one-year deal in Cleveland,
now wants to try to resume his career. So far, there are no takers, although
Enis is said to be in pretty good shape.
Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.
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