TAMPA, Fla. -- Let me get this straight: NFL Players Association executive director Gene Upshaw wants Terrell Owens' trade to Baltimore rescinded? That's what he told the Washington Post over the weekend. He said he would be talking to NFL Management Council executive director Harold Henderson about Owens' status soon, and a league spokesman said Sunday that Upshaw and Henderson have discussed the situation.
I know Upshaw pretty well, and I have to wonder if he heard the question originally posed by the Post reporter about the Owens deal wrong, or if there was a crackle in the phone that caused his response to be misunderstood. Because Upshaw's answer sounds insane to me. The fact is, someone has to get on the phone with Owens and his agent, David Joseph, right now and say: Listen, you 9-year-olds, wake up! You blew your chance at free agency and thereby lost your right to dictate where you will play in 2004 and beyond. Go to Baltimore, negotiate a fair contract with the Ravens and get to work on rehabbing your image, which has to be the worst of any football player's since Ryan Leaf. And do all this, hopefully, while talking as little as possible.
OK. I'm going to settle down now.
I am absolutely amazed at the legs the Owens story has. But the conclusion has to be that Owens accepts his trade to the Ravens, which was consummated last Thursday afternoon, or not play. The 49ers received Baltimore's second-round draft pick in exchange for Owens.
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Let's recap the events that led to this. Owens ended 2003 with three years left on his contract with the 49ers. But he had an out; he could declare himself a free agent by telling San Francisco he was voiding the deal. He had to do that by Feb. 21. Nine other players had the option to void their respective deals by that date as well. Eight of them apparently understood what "deadline" meant and exercised their right by the specified date. Cleveland wideout Dennis Northcutt and Owens did not -- even though, I'm told, the agent for Owens was reminded 11 days before the deadline he had to notify the 49ers of Owens' wishes by that date. Joseph didn't do it. The Niners retained Owens' rights. Owens screamed bloody murder, but he was out of luck, basically. So the 49ers had Owens' rights, and they told the agent last week he could seek a deal for the player, just as they would pursue a trade for Owens. San Francisco GM Terry Donahue called about 10 teams to gauge their interest! in the receiver. Only two of those teams, Baltimore and Philadelphia, offered him anything. Philly's best offer was a fifth-round pick and a marginal player. Baltimore's second-rounder proposal blew the Eagles' one away.
While Donahue was trying to negoatiate a trade, Joseph was talking to the Eagles -- Owens' professed first love this offseason -- and the Ravens. "[Owens'] agent talked with our negotiator [Pat Moriarty] for a couple of hours on Thursday," Baltimore GM Ozzie Newsome told me this weekend. "We were trying to make progress toward a deal."
If Owens was so sure-fire set on playing for the Eagles, what was Joseph doing talking turkey for so long with the Ravens?
There has been dispute about whether the 49ers, in granting teams permission to talk to Owens' agent, would defnitely trade Owens to whichever team reached a deal with him first. Donahue told me there was never any guarantee that the team that reached a tentative contract accord would automatically get the player via trade. That would still depend on which offer the 49ers liked better. The Eagles got mad because they reached a deal with Joseph around 3 p.m. Thursday, and they expected their lukewarm talks with San Francisco to accelerate into a trade. "We were 95 percent there, and you'd expect if you were that far along, we'd have heard back from San Francisco before they got a deal done with someone else," said Eagles president Joe Banner.
Well, after talking to all the parties, I dispute that they were 95 percent there. Sounds to me they were about 60 percent there. Maybe Donahue didn't make it clear enough to Andy Reid, his trade partner with the Eagles, but it was no contest between the Baltimore offer and the Philly offer. "At the end of the day, I had to walk out to my car and feel safe," said Donahue, implying that he'd have gotten stoned if he'd dealt Owens for a fifth-rounder plus some roster flotsam instead of a second-round pick in the draft.
OK. So now it's established that the 49ers can trade Owens to any team they desire. They fax a signed trade proposal to the Ravens' Newsome. Newsome signs it, and faxes it back. The 49ers then fax the deal to the league office. The league office accepts the trade.
That's it. Time's up. The game is over.
Because Owens whiffed on his chance to be a free agent, he then lost every right to dictate where he plays. I talked to Newsome over the weekend for a story that appears in this week's issue of Sports Illustrated, and believe me, he's holding firm. Good for him. He sees this as posturing by the player and agent. Owens, meanwhile, went on a TV blitz to try to convince America what a bad, bad thing the 49ers had done, and how it was just soooooo unfair that he wasn't traded the team of his choice. For God's sake, he even invited a Philly TV station to his home Sunday to tell his tale.
Two final points:
1. If the Eagles really wanted Owens, they'd have made a much better offer than a low pick and an OK player. "I asked about [defensive linemen] Corey Simon, [Darwin] Walker, a number of players," said Donahue. "Andy said no. Finally, I asked about Brandon Whiting and Sam Rayburn [two non-premier defensive players]. Andy said, 'Absolutely not.' I mean, say what you want about the guy. But this is Terrell Owens we're talking about. Their offers were just not in the ballpark."
2. If a special master who hears this gobbledygook case lets the union somehow, some way nullify this trade and allows Owens to be either a free agent or traded to Philadelphia, then Paul Tagliabue's nice little football league has gone to hell in a handbasket.
"Nobody ever had the balls to step out and grab T.O. by the throat and say, 'You're paid to be a receiver and catch the ball. You're not paid to berate the coaches on the sideline. You're not paid to sign autographs in the middle of the game. You're not paid to try and call the plays and coach the quarterbacks.' Nobody ever said, 'Damn it, play football.' ''
--Bob Garcia, the father of waived 49ers quarterback Jeff Garcia, talking in an interview with SI.com's Don Banks about the problems caused last season by Terrell Owens.
I know Upshaw pretty well, and I have to wonder if he heard the question originally posed by the Post reporter about the Owens deal wrong, or if there was a crackle in the phone that caused his response to be misunderstood. Because Upshaw's answer sounds insane to me. The fact is, someone has to get on the phone with Owens and his agent, David Joseph, right now and say: Listen, you 9-year-olds, wake up! You blew your chance at free agency and thereby lost your right to dictate where you will play in 2004 and beyond. Go to Baltimore, negotiate a fair contract with the Ravens and get to work on rehabbing your image, which has to be the worst of any football player's since Ryan Leaf. And do all this, hopefully, while talking as little as possible.
OK. I'm going to settle down now.
I am absolutely amazed at the legs the Owens story has. But the conclusion has to be that Owens accepts his trade to the Ravens, which was consummated last Thursday afternoon, or not play. The 49ers received Baltimore's second-round draft pick in exchange for Owens.
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Let's recap the events that led to this. Owens ended 2003 with three years left on his contract with the 49ers. But he had an out; he could declare himself a free agent by telling San Francisco he was voiding the deal. He had to do that by Feb. 21. Nine other players had the option to void their respective deals by that date as well. Eight of them apparently understood what "deadline" meant and exercised their right by the specified date. Cleveland wideout Dennis Northcutt and Owens did not -- even though, I'm told, the agent for Owens was reminded 11 days before the deadline he had to notify the 49ers of Owens' wishes by that date. Joseph didn't do it. The Niners retained Owens' rights. Owens screamed bloody murder, but he was out of luck, basically. So the 49ers had Owens' rights, and they told the agent last week he could seek a deal for the player, just as they would pursue a trade for Owens. San Francisco GM Terry Donahue called about 10 teams to gauge their interest! in the receiver. Only two of those teams, Baltimore and Philadelphia, offered him anything. Philly's best offer was a fifth-round pick and a marginal player. Baltimore's second-rounder proposal blew the Eagles' one away.
While Donahue was trying to negoatiate a trade, Joseph was talking to the Eagles -- Owens' professed first love this offseason -- and the Ravens. "[Owens'] agent talked with our negotiator [Pat Moriarty] for a couple of hours on Thursday," Baltimore GM Ozzie Newsome told me this weekend. "We were trying to make progress toward a deal."
If Owens was so sure-fire set on playing for the Eagles, what was Joseph doing talking turkey for so long with the Ravens?
There has been dispute about whether the 49ers, in granting teams permission to talk to Owens' agent, would defnitely trade Owens to whichever team reached a deal with him first. Donahue told me there was never any guarantee that the team that reached a tentative contract accord would automatically get the player via trade. That would still depend on which offer the 49ers liked better. The Eagles got mad because they reached a deal with Joseph around 3 p.m. Thursday, and they expected their lukewarm talks with San Francisco to accelerate into a trade. "We were 95 percent there, and you'd expect if you were that far along, we'd have heard back from San Francisco before they got a deal done with someone else," said Eagles president Joe Banner.
Well, after talking to all the parties, I dispute that they were 95 percent there. Sounds to me they were about 60 percent there. Maybe Donahue didn't make it clear enough to Andy Reid, his trade partner with the Eagles, but it was no contest between the Baltimore offer and the Philly offer. "At the end of the day, I had to walk out to my car and feel safe," said Donahue, implying that he'd have gotten stoned if he'd dealt Owens for a fifth-rounder plus some roster flotsam instead of a second-round pick in the draft.
OK. So now it's established that the 49ers can trade Owens to any team they desire. They fax a signed trade proposal to the Ravens' Newsome. Newsome signs it, and faxes it back. The 49ers then fax the deal to the league office. The league office accepts the trade.
That's it. Time's up. The game is over.
Because Owens whiffed on his chance to be a free agent, he then lost every right to dictate where he plays. I talked to Newsome over the weekend for a story that appears in this week's issue of Sports Illustrated, and believe me, he's holding firm. Good for him. He sees this as posturing by the player and agent. Owens, meanwhile, went on a TV blitz to try to convince America what a bad, bad thing the 49ers had done, and how it was just soooooo unfair that he wasn't traded the team of his choice. For God's sake, he even invited a Philly TV station to his home Sunday to tell his tale.
Two final points:
1. If the Eagles really wanted Owens, they'd have made a much better offer than a low pick and an OK player. "I asked about [defensive linemen] Corey Simon, [Darwin] Walker, a number of players," said Donahue. "Andy said no. Finally, I asked about Brandon Whiting and Sam Rayburn [two non-premier defensive players]. Andy said, 'Absolutely not.' I mean, say what you want about the guy. But this is Terrell Owens we're talking about. Their offers were just not in the ballpark."
2. If a special master who hears this gobbledygook case lets the union somehow, some way nullify this trade and allows Owens to be either a free agent or traded to Philadelphia, then Paul Tagliabue's nice little football league has gone to hell in a handbasket.
"Nobody ever had the balls to step out and grab T.O. by the throat and say, 'You're paid to be a receiver and catch the ball. You're not paid to berate the coaches on the sideline. You're not paid to sign autographs in the middle of the game. You're not paid to try and call the plays and coach the quarterbacks.' Nobody ever said, 'Damn it, play football.' ''
--Bob Garcia, the father of waived 49ers quarterback Jeff Garcia, talking in an interview with SI.com's Don Banks about the problems caused last season by Terrell Owens.
