The big news over the weekend must have been Terrell Owens’ one-year, $6.5 million deal with Ralph Wilson’s Football Siberia Bills. The signing, which allegedly occurred shortly after Owens stepped off the plane, was reflective of the bear market that Owens faced in free agency, but also reflected the need of a perennial 7-9 team to load up a weapon not only for the field, but also the ticket office. Given the fact that it takes Owens at least a couple years to piss off everyone around him, the deal seems sensible enough, so much that The Fifth Down asked the New York Jets how they could fall short in the TO Sweepstakes:
“What message are we sending to the team if it signed Owens?” the Jets official said.
You are telling the team the same thing you told it last summer when you cut Pennington and traded for Brett Favre: we’re trying to give ourselves the best chance to win. The more important question is what are you telling the team by not going after an elite receiver, then watching him land in your backyard..
Still, how weird is it to see him in a Buffalo Bills hat? I played as the Bills in Madden 2005 once and traded for Owens in midseason. The next day, my mother died. I never said it was an interesting story.
Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez and Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner both led their teams to surprising postseason prominence. Both were offered sub-par contracts in the offseason, and while Warner did his best to appear that he was really entertaining an offer from the 49ers, Manny was Manny and entertained himself. And today, both signed with their original teams, for nearly-original money.
Quarterback Kurt Warner agreed to terms on a two-year, $23-million contract with the Arizona Cardinals…The agreement came after he lowered his demands Tuesday. Initially, he had sought to be among the top five paid quarterbacks in the NFL, about $14.5 million a year. But on Tuesday, he told agent Mark Bartelstein to offer Arizona a two-year, $23 million deal. The Cardinals initially had offered two years and $20 million. [AP]
If there was good-natured hubris from Ramírez… it dissipated over the next four months when the market for him sank — just like the price of gas. That was clear Wednesday when Ramírez agreed to a two-year, $45 million contract with the Dodgers, pending a physical. They were the only serious suitor Ramírez’s agent, Scott Boras, ever found. [NY Times]
It’s like when you go on a break with your girlfriend thinking, “I can do better than this,” and then you get out there and nobody really seems interested [Manny] or there’s this one girl who is interested [Kurt], but you’ve already moved in with the other girl and you don’t feel like packing up all your crap and things aren’t really that bad. Must be nice to look around and say, “Hmm, yeah, I guess I’ll take your 23 million.” In closing, relationships are totally pointless unless you’re a prostitute.
One of the bigger surprises of the NFL’s free agent period was the departure of Eagles safety Brian Dawkins to the Denver Broncos, and the sports blogosphere’s reaction that followed. Many Philly-based blogs emoted surprise and disappointment to Dawkins being let go, despite many acknowledging his waning skills. From Sports Radio Interviews, who linked to audio of Dawkins cutting an interview short because he was too upset to continue:
Brian Dawkins understands the Philadelphia fan mentality better than any other athlete that I’ve ever seen. That’s the main reason why he was and will always be so beloved in the city of brotherly love. That’s the reason why if you went to an Eagles game you would see as many Dawkins jerseys as you would McNabb and Westbrook.
From The 700 Level, who could not praise Dawkins’ contributions enough:
Brian Dawkins’ skill, effort, determination, and leadership was unmatched. It doesn’t seem like a stretch at all to say he may be the greatest Eagle we’ve ever seen…You can bet we’ll be watching him play in Denver though, with the large majority of Eagles fans nationwide even cheering him on while wearing another team’s colors. He may not be an Eagle anymore, but he’s still the player that most embodies this fanbase.
NFL free agency has started with a bang. Reports are out that Albert Haynesworth will sign with the Washington Redskins in blockbuster deal worth $100 million or so over seven years. And SI.com is reporting that the ‘Skins are also shelling out $54 mil for troublemaking cornerback DeAngelo Hall. And then Dan Snyder went out and spent five bucks for a pack of gum, and then took one piece out of the pack and threw the rest away. That guy really hates gum. Allegedly.
In other free agent news, Manny Ramirez turned down a one-year offer that would have paid him $25 million this year. And then like 93 girls wanted to have sex with him and he turned all of them down. Why does everybody hate gum? What did gum ever do to you people?
SITE NEWS: Saint Andrew’s Net will run around noon today. Because I’m your father, that’s why!
Actually, I want apologize for that headline (but not for ridiculing TO's alleged suicide attempt, because that was intended). By referring to the Raiders' newest wide reciever exclusively by his first name, I'm insinuating that Javon Walker–the same guy that Brett Favre ran out of Green Bay when he bitched about his contract–is among the elite at what he does. He's not. But the Raiders have no use for your logic and reason, not when they have all this cash to give away.
Tired of being teased by the rest of the league after giving Tommy Kelly that ginormous contract, the Raiders may have one-upped themselves by giving oft-disgruntled receiver Javon Walker a six-year, $55 million contract that guarantees $16 million and will be worth $27 million in the first three years.
So a guy that missed 8 games last year with a leg injury got a fatter contract than Randy Moss AND Bernard Berrian. Holy shit, free agency is just out of control this year. In fact, the Jets just called and offered me $10 million over three years. I'm thinking of holding out for fifteen. –Monday Morning Punter
