The-Hogs.net - Washington Football Discussion, Redskins to Commanders Era

General Failure wrote:Why does everyone keep asking me that? It's Jon Ritchie. He was doing a social experiment to see how people would tream him if he had a mullet. I think he's shaved it since then.

General Failure wrote:Owens Traded.

General Failure wrote:We target the articles towards the Philly audience. Trading for Kevin Johnson is a rumor that's been brought up for years by a local writer. It was in his articles for so long that it became a running gag.

Owens: 'I'll be there but I won't be happy'ESPN.com news services

Terrell Owens apparently will be at Eagles camp after all.

A day after hinting that he would agree to a trade because of a contract dispute, Owens told the Philadelphia Inquirer he would report to training camp on Aug. 1 at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa.

The controversial wide receiver told the newspaper he remains unhappy with his seven-year, $49 million contract and that he wouldn't mind being traded.

"I'll be there," Owens told the Inquirer on Friday. "I mean, the bottom line is that I still believe I deserve a new contract. I still believe I deserve more than what they've given me. But I'm not stupid. I'm not about to miss training camp, get fined every day and give them even more reasons to keep from paying me.

"I'll be there but I won't be happy, I can tell you that much. Take from that whatever you want," he said.

However, Drew Rosenhaus, Owens' agent, said Friday in a taping for ESPN's NFL Live that the report in the Philadelphia Inquirer which quotes Owens as saying he would attend training camp "is not definitive."

Rosenhaus told The Associated Press that he hopes to work out a fair-market deal for his client.

"We hope it's something we can work out with the Philadelphia Eagles," Rosenhaus told The Associated Press, adding he had talked recently with the Eagles. "If it's something we can work out with another team, that is not something we are opposed to."

He acknowledged that the Eagles have told him they aren't interested in trading the receiver.

"We have not received permission to seek a trade," Rosenhaus said.

Responding to comments made by Eagles president Joe Banner in Thursday's Philadelphia Daily News that Owens and Rosenhaus "don't think in common-sense terms," Owens told Comcast SportsNet Southeast in Atlanta that the Eagles could just trade him.

Banner was on vacation and unavailable for comment Friday.

"If he feels that way, then get rid of me," Owens said Thursday. "He wants to talk about Drew and I. If we're problems, then ... trade me, release me. And we can just part ways like adults.

"What it all boils down to is I'm going to do what's best for my family. I don't even have to play for the Eagles, to be honest. I can go play with any other team and still be productive," he said.

Owens, who helped the Eagles reach the Super Bowl in his first season in Philadelphia after eight years with San Francisco, is asking for a new contract a year into a seven-year deal worth almost $49 million.

Rosenhaus said earlier this week that Owens was "50-50" about reporting to training camp and no decision would be made until the start of camp.

The Eagles have said they won't redo Owens' contract.

Banner told the Daily News he hoped Owens would report on time.

"If we were dealing with somebody who was looking at this logically and was going to come to a commonsense conclusion, you'd say [he would report]," Banner said. "But you're dealing with two people here who, frankly, don't think in common-sense terms. Anything can happen. They're not going to necessarily do what makes sense."

Owens defied his doctor's advice by returning to the starting lineup against New England just 6½ weeks after ankle surgery and was Philadelphia's best player on offense. He caught nine passes for 122 yards in the Eagles' 24-21 loss to the Patriots.

His outrageous personality, flashy touchdown celebrations and deep-ball ability made Owens an instant fan favorite in notoriously fickle Philadelphia. Public sentiment has turned against him, though, with fans flooding talk radio that he's gotten greedy and that the Eagles could win a Super Bowl without him.

Rosenhaus defended his client, saying fans should not have any ill will toward Owens because the renegotiation process was strictly a business decision.

"This is something that is of great urgency and importance to Terrell," he said. "He hasn't looked to offend anybody. The last faction he want to offend is the Philadelphia Eagles fans. This is not personal.

"I'm confident once we get this resolved, he will go back to the status he previously enjoyed," he said.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Posted on Sat, Jul. 23, 2005
Agent rebuts claim T.O. will be in camp

By PAUL DOMOWITCH

IN THE BIZARRO world of Terrell Owens, black is white, up is down, and yes sometimes means maybe.

Even as the Eagles' wide receiver was telling one reporter yesterday he will be at training camp on time, his agent was telling another nothing's been decided.

"I spoke to Terrell a few minutes ago and, no, we have not made that decision [to report to camp] yet," Drew Rosenhaus told the Daily News last night. "He and I are definitely still kicking our options around. I always said it was 50/50 [that Owens will be at Lehigh]. I still feel that way. After talking to Terrell, this thing is still very much up in the air."

One day after saying it was very unlikely he'd report to training camp if the Eagles didn't agree to renegotiate his 1-year-old contract, Owens reversed field and told Inquirer columnist Stephen A. Smith he will report to Lehigh on Aug. 1 with the rest of the team's veterans, albeit with a grumpy look on his face.

"I'll be there," Owens said. "But I won't be happy, I can tell you that much. Take from that whatever you want."

Even if Owens decides to report on Aug. 1, Rosenhaus said there's no guarantee he will stick around. The agent said if Owens shows up and the Eagles remain steadfast in their refusal to renegotiate, he could bolt.

"Yeah, that's a possibility, sure," Rosenhaus said. "There are a lot of possibilities. Everything depends on the Eagles. They say everything depends on us. We'll just have to see.

"Our first hope is that we're going to be there on time and we're going to be able to get something worked out with the Eagles. That's our hope. But if that can't take place, then all bets are off.

"We'll personally weigh all of the options and make a decision. But it will be something that's fluid and can change from one day to the other. If people think that, should Terrell go to training camp the first day, if we don't get a deal worked out or a framework of a deal, if they think it's going to go away, they're very sorely mistaken. And if you know Terrell, you know that once he makes his mind up on something, he's going to stick with it."

Eagles president Joe Banner didn't return phone messages last night. But he and coach Andy Reid have made it clear on numerous occasions over the last 3 months that they have no intention of renegotiating Owens' contract.

The 31-year-old five-time Pro Bowler signed a 7-year, $48.97 million contract with the Eagles 16 months ago after the Eagles acquired him from the San Francisco 49ers. He will make more than $20 million in the first 3 years of the deal, which makes him the third-highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL, behind only the Raiders' Randy Moss and the Colts' Marvin Harrison.

Owens had 77 receptions last season and caught a franchise-record 14 touchdown passes. He came back from a serious late-season ankle injury to catch nine passes in the Eagles' 24-21 Super Bowl loss to the New England Patriots.

A few weeks later, he fired his longtime agent, David Joseph, and hired Rosenhaus, who informed the Eagles that Owens had "outperformed" his contract and wanted it redone.

Owens boycotted the Eagles' mandatory late-April minicamp, as well as their optional June passing camp. For reasons that still aren't clear, he's also taken some verbal shots at quarterback Donovan McNabb, who lobbied the Eagles to acquire Owens last year.

In an interview this week with Atlanta-based Comcast SportsNet Southeast, Owens said he has warned Reid that if he reports to camp without at least the promise of a new deal, "it's not going to be a good situation."

If Owens doesn't report to training camp, or if he reports and leaves, he will be subject to a $9,500-a-day fine by the club. The Eagles also have the option of reclaiming $1.87 million of the $2.25 million signing bonus they gave Owens last year if he misses any of training camp.

Since Rosenhaus made his initial renegotiation request, the Eagles essentially have refused to deal with him, telling the agent that if he has anything to say to them, he should put it in an e-mail.

Asked yesterday whether he plans to talk with Banner before the start of training camp, Rosenhaus said: "Yes, I will. We're still hopeful of fruitful discussions with the team. We will not give up on that hope. I'm going to continue to try and foster the discussions."

Owens has put Birds in a bind

By Stephen A. Smith

Inquirer Columnist


Stalemate.

Almost everyone would like to label the situation differently, of course. They'd like to think that Terrell Owens is wallowing in misery. Perplexed over what to do next. Struck by images of the Eagles laughing over the reality that their star wide receiver is devoid of any sensible option other than showing up for training camp Aug. 1 - lest he lose some of the cash he is complaining about making.

Except that it doesn't appear as if Owens is in that kind of mood at all. In fact, he has seemed more agitated with each conversation, more steadfast with each antagonizing word oozing from the Eagles' brass. So much so that the Eagles may be forced into appeasing a player for a change - unless they plan on rebuilding. Or, even worse, spending a season selling us on this ridiculous notion that Todd Pinkston and Greg Lewis will be enough at wideout to ride coach Andy Reid's genius to a fifth consecutive conference championship game.

Go figure!

Trade Owens.

Waive Owens.

Owens and agent Drew Rosenhaus will try to force one of those moves.

It doesn't matter what Owens tells anyone from this day forward or what Rosenhaus continues to articulate. That they simply have no other recourse available to them may be the worst-kept secret in the NFL.

Owens will be going to training camp because he is no more interested in being fined a reported $9,400 a day than he is in surrendering $1.87 million of a signing bonus the Eagles gave him last year. The agenda is to make more money, not lose money.

When Owens says, "I'm not about to miss training camp, but I won't be happy," perhaps it's time for everyone to take a deep breath and absorb those words, then think about Reid, his players, and that locker room we've been fixated on for the last six years.

There has always been little turmoil, little controversy in that room. The reason would be Reid and his old-school tactics, buffered by Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, who considers his coach more of a gold standard than his team.

It's always been goodbye to any Eagle who doesn't want to be in Philadelphia. Don't-let-the-door-slap-you-in-the-backside has been the mantra.

Time and again, the Eagles have been accused of being nothing but a bunch of choirboys marching to the heavy-handed beat of Reid's drum.

The players have been silent on most occasions, fearful of retribution from a coach with an iron fist; a team president in Joe Banner who is just as pragmatic; and an owner who essentially couldn't care less because the coach and the president achieve his bottom-line goals better than most would in this player-hating NFL business.

The problem is this: Owens doesn't bow to such strong-arm tactics. If the Eagles haven't learned this already, chances are they're about to.

The Eagles should have learned it when they tried to assign a team official to Owens, someone who made the mistake of attempting to tell him whom to talk to in the media. They should have learned it when Owens defied company policy on several occasions and had the temerity to question Donovan McNabb. Goodness knows, no one else thought about doing that before Owens came long.

The likelihood is that the Eagles will learn even more once Aug. 1 rolls around, once Owens feels he has an opportunity to respond in a manner too conspicuous for the Eagles to ignore or dismiss.

"He needs to come in and behave," a team official told The Inquirer on Thursday. "I know he's said before that he's incapable of giving less than 100 percent, and I really believe that to be true."

One issue has nothing to do with the other. That's why right or wrong doesn't matter any longer.

Owens can't be stupid enough to step onto the playing field and play at less than the level he's capable of. His pride, his ego, and his desire for future earnings would prohibit that.

But that doesn't mean that Owens will keep quiet if or when Pinkston is playing like garbage. It doesn't mean that he'll be silent if McNabb begins making mistakes, that he won't exacerbate the situation by letting the world know about them long before Reid & Co. run to his defense, eager to protect their $112.9 million investment.

Think about the things that Owens could do to disrupt the status quo, to throw a monkey wrench into an Eagles franchise that, when it comes to secrets, has more than the CIA.

Then ask yourself again: How much of an advantage do the Eagles really have?

Assuming, of course, that their goal is a Super Bowl title.

EAGLES LOOKING TO MAKE AN EXAMPLE OF OWENS



Even though Philly receiver Terrell Owens has said that he'll report for training camp despite displeasure with his contract, his promise that he won't "be happy" and his agent's suggestion that the decision isn't definitive indicates that the saga is far from over.



But maybe the smartest thing for both of them to do is let it be.



A league source tells us that the Eagles are committed to "making history" in the Owens dispute by making an example of player and agent for the franchise and for the entire league. More and more management-side types in the NFL believe that the whole "holdout" thing is out of control, and the Eagles are willing to do whatever is necessary to break Owens in an effort to prompt other players and agents to remove a holdout or the threat of one from the arsenal of negotiating tactics.



So what can or will the Eagles do? If Owens shows up and acts like a boob during preseason practices, the organization can suspend him for conduct detrimental to the team. If he doesn't show up, the Eagles can and will attempt to recover a significant portion of his 2004 signing bonus and fine him.



Either way, Owens likely has already done enough to prompt the team to pass on $7.5 million in bonus money due to T.O. next March. We hear that the team currently is pondering whether any other team would sink that much money into Owens' pockets if he were on the open market in 2006. As we see it, the Bucs, 'Skins, and Broncos (as usual) would be interested.



But would they give him the kind of money he's scheduled to make in Philly?



As we see it, the Eagles were forced to mentally adjust to the prospect of life without T.O. when Owens first began grousing about his contract earlier this year. In our view, the only thing keeping the team from cutting Owens right now is the fact that doing so would play directly into T.O.'s hands.



Then again, would it? Scheduled to make more than $11 million in new money over the next two seasons (including $3.25 million in salary this year), we wonder whether any team would be in a position -- without cutting some of its veterans -- to pay Owens the kind of money that he covets.



The Redskins and Bucs are wallowing in sins of salary caps past. The Raiders don't need him. The Broncos have enough turds to contend with, and likely not enough cap room to sign more.



The Chiefs surely would be interested, but they don't have the cap space, either.



So maybe the ultimate slap in Owens' face would be for the Eagles to cut him on the eve of the regular season, days before his $3.25 million in salary becomes fully guaranteed, due to his status as a vested veteran.



We're not predicting anything at this point, but we think it's safe to assume that the Eagles will continue to be very aggressive in their handling of this issue, and that they're committed to "winning" this showdown with their erstwhile superstar.



Based on the organization's success over the past few years, we wouldn't bet against them.

...the Eagles are committed to "making history" in the Owens dispute by making an example of player and agent for the franchise and for the entire league. More and more management-side types in the NFL believe that the whole "holdout" thing is out of control, and the Eagles are willing to do whatever is necessary to break Owens in an effort to prompt other players and agents to remove a holdout or the threat of one from the arsenal of negotiating tactics.

:shock:

GO EAGLES!

SKINZ_DOMIN8 wrote:He should hold out he deserves the money he should get. Just goes to show that Andy Reid and the so-called Eagles vaunted front office is going to do everything except win a Superbowl.

Bottom Line: No Owens no Superbowl. Back to McNabb throwing in the dirt.

And by the way, the Eagles owner is an idiot too. Lurie is obviously Reid's whipping boy.

SKINZ_DOMIN8 wrote:He should hold out he deserves the money he should get. Just goes to show that Andy Reid and the so-called Eagles vaunted front office is going to do everything except win a Superbowl.

Bottom Line: No Owens no Superbowl. Back to McNabb throwing in the dirt.

And by the way, the Eagles owner is an idiot too. Lurie is obviously Reid's whipping boy.