T.O. wants a new deal?

[Jackass]

In the NFL, contracts are NOT guaranteed. The Eagles can cut him whenever they want. It's a free country. Why shouldn't T.O be able to re-negotiate his contract if he wants to. Yes, he makes a lot of money, but people should still get what they deserve. It sounds like everyone agrees that he's going to be underpaid next year. I don't really see why people are so upset with him.

[Clubfoothead]

This sucks as a Fan.

 

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I wouldn't say that my friend. I think TO should not play unless he gets more money. If he needs to sit out the season, so be it.

[WaterMan]

  I wouldn't say that my friend.  I think TO should not play unless he gets more money.  If he needs to sit out the season, so be it. 

 

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Yeah since he's not selfish or anything.

[Clubfoothead]

Did I mention Austin Crozier makes more money than TO? TO knows that I emailed him a link.

[Yukon Cornelius]

I think it's the 3.25 next year that bugs him, because the Eagles could simply cut him after next season (especially if they win a superbowl), thus avoiding paying T.O. the really big bucks.  The Eagles knew what they were doing by getting him "cheap" the first two years.

 

I don't feel bad for either party though.

 

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didnt he get a 10 million signing bonus??

[Bill Swerski]

In the NFL, contracts are NOT guaranteed.  The Eagles can cut him whenever they want.  It's a free country.  Why shouldn't T.O be able to re-negotiate his contract if he wants to.

 

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You're neglicting the fact that, unlike most leagues that have guaranteed contracts, NFL players have up-front signing bonuses to compensate for that. And, even if he gets cut, do you honestly think that TO will have difficulty signing with another team?

 

You're correct that TO has the right to ask for a contract re-negotiation only one year into his deal... just as we have the right to call him a selfish, money-hungry jackass for doing so. It works both ways. TO also made a conscious decision to only receive $3.25 million in '05 for salary cap purposes. Now he's reneging on this. Again, TO's a selfish jackass.

 

I hope the money that he receives in his re-negotiated deal is worth the respect that he's lost from his teammates, coaches, the Eagles organization, and NFL fans in general.

Edited April 15, 2005 by Bill Swerski

[bigrocks]

What’s that old saying…. “Birds of a feather never change their spots…” or something like that.

 

Anyway, this should come as no surprise given TO’s checkered history. The tirade he threw when we has initially (and legitimately) traded from SF to Baltimore last season should have sent red flags up for everyone in the Eagles organization – yet they paid the big bucks for him regardless. And he had a great statistical season in 2004…. Now a year later his ego is getting the best of him again. Who knows how this ends up, but I don’t think it will be good news for Philadelphia fans.

 

Likewise, I am just waiting for Corey Dillon to show his true colors in New England. He is just a minor injury, poor game, and bad interview away from throwing his teammates under the bus up there… its inevitable.

[kraftykraft]

Living in the S.F. Bay Area, I have to say that it was only a matter of time....

 

T.O.=south end of a northward-facing horse

 

(and he would have got paid more last year and had a lot more teams going after if he didn't have a rep for being a horse's patoot!)

 

And oh, I just hope Randy Moss can learn something positive from this.

Edited April 15, 2005 by kraftykraft

[WaterMan]

Phil Sheridan | Owens fumbles in dash for cash

 

By Phil Sheridan, Inquirer Columnist

 

 

Karma isn't usually this efficient. Normally, it takes a lot longer than a couple of days for what goes around to come around.

 

 

But there was Terrell Owens, wiping tears from his eyes on a CNBC program called The Big Idea With Donny Deutsch, as he discussed his contract situation. Just like that, the guy who humiliated his quarterback, Donovan McNabb, as the "guy who got tired in the Super Bowl," became the guy who wept about his contract on national TV.

 

 

Somewhere, Jeff Garcia has to be laughing.

 

 

The Eagles haven't had to waste their energy squabbling with Owens in the court of public opinion.

 

 

All they have had to do is let Owens and his new agent, Drew Rosenhaus, do the talking. The more they have said, the weaker their case for a new contract has become. By the time Owens announced last night that he wasn't talking to reporters about his contract anymore, his case was beyond repair.

 

 

Let's recap, just for fun.

 

 

Earlier this week, Owens took the gratuitous little swipe at McNabb in an interview with ESPN.com writer Len Pasquarelli. When The Inquirer's Stephen A. Smith asked Owens about that later in the week, Owens replied: "I said what I said because, obviously, somebody in the organization is leaking stuff to make me look bad, to turn the city against me."

 

 

Examine that logic. Because he believes someone with the Eagles - presumably head coach Andy Reid or team president Joe Banner - leaked unflattering information about him, Owens took a shot at McNabb.

 

 

Maybe this makes sense on the planet where T.O. is constantly being misunderstood and undervalued and persecuted by unseen forces. Down here on planet Earth, however, it holds no water.

 

 

You want more money? Fine. Everybody wants more money.

 

 

You don't like the contract you signed 13 months ago? Whatever.

 

 

You start fragging the quarterback and leader of the team? No. Sorry. Now you've crossed the line.

 

 

Players understand when teammates hold out for more money. The distraction created by such a thing looms larger in the minds of reporters than the minds of players. A couple of years ago, Duce Staley held out of training camp. It seemed like a big deal at the time. Somehow, the republic survived.

 

 

But creating a rift with your quarterback is a big deal. That is a distraction. Never mind the fact that Owens' criticism was patently unfair.

 

 

McNabb made mistakes in the Super Bowl, but anyone who questions his effort or heart is way out of line. By dismissing everything that happened in Jacksonville as McNabb's getting "tired," Owens reinforces the most simple-minded view of events.

 

 

McNabb wasn't too "tired" to throw a perfect touchdown pass on the drive in question. Do you think T.O. noticed that it was Greg Lewis who caught it?

 

 

Owens also seems to forget that every one of the 77 passes he caught in the regular season, 14 of them for touchdowns, started in McNabb's right hand. The very numbers he's using to justify his bid for a new deal were made possible by the quarterback he has publicly disrespected.

 

 

That's what made his teary appearance on CNBC so perfect, karma-wise.

 

 

Owens became emotional while talking about his grandmother, who raised him and now suffers from Alzheimer's disease. When he continued talking about his contract situation and the firing of his agents, the tears were still rolling down his cheeks.

 

 

The clip played endlessly on ESPN and other outlets showed only the tears and the contract talk. The earlier stuff about his grandmother disappeared, leaving an extremely unflattering impression.

 

 

Here, literally, was a millionaire athlete crying about his contract.

 

 

Fair? It was exactly as fair as calling McNabb the "guy who got tired in the Super Bowl."

 

 

What goes around came around.

 

 

Meanwhile, Rosenhaus has been on TV every night saying Eagles fans should support Owens because anyone who feels underpaid by his or her boss would do the same thing. By trying to reach out to the average person, Rosenhaus has succeeded only in showing how out of touch he is.

 

 

The average fan didn't bank $9 million last year.

 

 

In the interview with Smith, Owens stressed that he isn't "greedy" or "selfish." He simply wants more money, and he's willing to insult his best teammate and fire his close friend and agent to get it.

 

 

It's hard to imagine how anyone could interpret that as greedy or selfish.

 

 

The worst thing is that Owens is indeed a man who came from real hardship and poverty. He is a great player who helped make last year one of the best and most memorable in Eagles history. He had the fans here in his back pocket. Now he is working overtime to spoil all that, meanwhile looking like the most out of touch of greedy athletes.

 

 

It's enough to make a grown man cry.

 

 

Phil Sheridan |

 

 

Online Extra

 

 

Sports columnist Skip Bayless covered Terrell Owens for three years while Owens played for the 49ers. Read his take on the current contract flap:

 

 

http://go.philly.

 

 

com/bayless

 

 

Contact columnist Phil Sheridan at 215-854-2844 or psheridan@phillynews.com.

Edited April 16, 2005 by WaterMan