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Eagles Wide Receiver Terrel Owens
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- Bradford D. Gillens
Who Has the Leverage???
Owens, Ward Searching for New Deals
By Bradford D. Gillens
In the business world, when Fortune 500 companies go to the negotiation table against their competitors, the name of the game is, “Who has the most leverage.” Usually, the company with the most leverage gets what they desire. In the NFL, however, the name of the game is, in the words of Janet Jackson, “What have you done for me lately.” Well, to Pro Bowl wide receivers Hines Ward and Terrell Owens, they’ve done more than they’re contracts would indicate. The upper management feels like they haven’t done enough. Because of this difference in opinion the country has seen the state of Pennsylvania go through one of its most tumultuous summers. But before delving into all of the problems, let’s go back to a time when things were peachy in the Keystone state.
To the outside world, it looked as if things couldn’t get any better in the state of Pennsylvania. The Pittsburgh Steelers had just completed the best regular season record in franchise history, going 15-1 and gaining home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Meanwhile, in the eastern region of the state, the Philadelphia Eagles, with the acquisition of All-Pro wide-out Terrell Owens, finally got over the hump by defeating the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Championship game and advancing to the Super Bowl in Jacksonville, FL. A major reason for the Eagles and Steelers success was the play of their marquee receivers, Hines Ward and Owens. One would think that with the career years both receivers had last season, the owners of both franchises would realize their value to their respective teams and give them a raise right? Wrong answer.
Instead, both receivers have been in talks with both franchises about re-structuring their contracts and things have not been going well. Owens, known to be very opinionated and outspoken has chosen to use the media as well as controversial agent Drew Rosenhaus as leverage in his fight for another contract. Ward however has been more reserved than Owens, simply stating that if things couldn’t get done by training camp that he’d hold out. Now for a moment let’s examine the facts and see who has the most leverage in these two situations.
Owens is coming into the second year of a seven year deal worth 49 million dollars. Just last season, Owens made 9.16 million, with signing bonus included, but is only scheduled to make 3.2 million in 2005. The Eagles management feels as though T.O. should “be a man” and honor his contract, because they in essence, gave him a way out in the San Francisco-Baltimore trade fiasco. Owens, on the other hand, feels like he went above and beyond the call of duty last season and superseded everyone’s expectations grabbing 77 receptions for 1,200 yards and a franchise record 14 TD’s despite missing four games due to a severely broken ankle. In addition to that, Owens defied strict doctor’s orders and put his career in jeopardy to play for the Eagles in the Super Bowl, catching 9 passes for 122 yards. Eagles owner Jeffery Lurie is known for being tough when it comes to re-negotiations and feels like Owens is too much of a distraction and if he gets a new deal it will open the floodgates of re-negotiated contracts on his team. Owens however is one of the best receivers in football, and feels like he should be paid as such. Besides, if a deal s not worked out and Owens is not on the roster on opening day, with WR Todd Pinkston out for the season with a torn Achilles tendon and the departure of Freddie Mitchell, who’s your go to guy??? Billy McMullen?? Untested rookie Reggie Brown???
Advantage: Owens
Ward is in the last year of a five year deal and is scheduled to make 1.66 million dollars this season. The management in Pittsburgh feels as if Ward should play out the rest of his contract and they’ll go from there. Ward apparently feels differently. And what kind of leverage does he have? I mean, he’s the only player in the NFL that has been to the Pro Bowl 4 consecutive years with three different quarterbacks (Stewart, Maddox, Roethlisberger) and he’s trails only Hall of Famer John Stallworth on the all-time receptions list for the Steelers franchise and is expected to surpass him this season. With the departure of wide-out Plaxico Burress, the Steelers really can’t afford for Ward to hold out because after a spectacular season in 2004, they’d be left with Antwaan Randle-El as the number one option???
Advantage: Ward
Steelers owner Dan Rooney has always been known to be fair to his players, and with Hines Ward reporting to training camp yesterday after having a long talk with Head Coach Bill Cowher, it looks like they’re on their way to having a deal in place by the end of the weekend. In Owens case, with the Eagles reputation of doing business and the way this whole saga has played out in the media, this thing has the potential of getting really ugly. And I’m sure it’ll get worse before it gets better. I just wonder if the lines of communication will re-open should the Eagles start the season 2-3. The Eagles open the season in Atlanta on Monday night against the Falcons, then have San Francisco, Oakland, at Kansas City, and at Dallas. This is the kind of schedule that could easily have the Eagles finding themselves sitting at 2-3 going into the bye week. If things pan out like this, then I guess we’ll be seeing a richer T.O. sooner that we expected. Like I said, in any negotiations, it’s all about the leverage baby!