duckboy
08-20-2003, 09:41 PM
This whole thing just p*sses me off.
Les Carpenter / Times staff columnist
Hawks vs. Jones: It's not about $$, but it should be
CHENEY — It's not about money. If this was about money, Walter Jones would have been here a long time ago, wobbling through the summer days shoving blocking dummies like plastic pool toys.
When it's about money things have a way of working themselves out. Everybody makes compromises, giving a little on one side, relinquishing something on the other. And in the end a deal gets done because ultimately money is the most important thing and everybody wants to get paid.
Walter Jones has never been about the money. He would probably take $100 and a riding lawn mower if it meant he could play football for a living. The fact that he has now missed three Seahawks training camps in seven years is really over something else.
"Of course it's about respect," his agent, Roosevelt Barnes, shouted into the phone.
The people who run the Seahawks shake their heads and shrug their shoulders.
What a waste these summers have become, thrown away on stubborn foolishness. Barnes believes his client is the best tackle in football and he should be paid accordingly. Seattle has settled on a number below that of Baltimore's Jonathan Ogden — currently the game's highest-paid lineman. And for two summers neither opinion has changed.
Then last weekend, the Seahawks cut off negotiations on a long-term deal, telling Jones, who is currently their designated franchise player, he must either take the league mandated, one-year, $5.7 million contract or sit out the year. It's a move that is designed to force Jones back before the season starts in two weeks.
So far, it's solved nothing.
"They said we don't want to negotiate; we do want to negotiate," Barnes said. "There's always been a more creative way. We've tried to be creative. Again, we're not the ones saying we don't want to negotiate."
The Seahawks, claiming they have an agreement with Jones' agents not to speak publicly about the negotiations, aren't saying anything.
And on it goes, for another day, another week, another summer.
A month ago, Seattle sent out indications that Barnes had not returned their calls. Yesterday, Barnes said it is the team that seems to have given up on bargaining in good faith.
"Say you're the best writer and your paper tells you that you are their best writer but the other paper is giving another writer all this more money and a car, what do you say to that?" Barnes said.
This isn't going to settle itself. The longest-running standoff in the NFL not involving Al Davis and Paul Tagliabue is not going to magically heal in a day. Even if Jones strolls into camp smiling sheepishly as he did two weeks into last season, the bad feelings won't go away, a long-term contract still won't be signed and there is no certainty that this won't happen again next summer.
Until this is resolved once and for all, the Seahawks will have a Walter Jones problem.
The thing is, they're stuck. They can't trade Jones the way they did Joey Galloway a couple years ago because Jones might just be the most important player on their offense. He's the one who solidifies the entire offensive line, who makes the running game go and makes Matt Hasselbeck feel safe in the pocket.
They need to make a deal, but in this toxic environment where everyone — save for perhaps Jones himself — has made this about pride, the chances grow slimmer by the day. And the Seahawks are drawing precariously close to throwing away months of good by starting the year without their most important piece.
Barnes has always jokingly called for a televised debate to resolve the situation. He might be on to something, because if this thing doesn't go to some kind of mediation soon, the Seahawks are headed nowhere and Jones will be the best tackle in the NFL with an asterisk (* inactive).
For this to resolve itself, each side must accept a truth.
Jones' people need to concede the fact that he probably won't be paid higher than Ogden.
The Seahawks must admit their negotiating tactic of devising a value and never deviating from it isn't going to work this time and they must find a way to make Barnes happy.
Otherwise, what have these last 21 months been worth?
"We've got nothing but time," Barnes said laughing yesterday. "Walter does want to play. He does. He loves his job and he loves the Seattle Seahawks."
He paused.
"I think he would like to finish his career there."
Then this has to become about money once again.
Make it about money, and this will all be over in a week.
Les Carpenter / Times staff columnist
Hawks vs. Jones: It's not about $$, but it should be
CHENEY — It's not about money. If this was about money, Walter Jones would have been here a long time ago, wobbling through the summer days shoving blocking dummies like plastic pool toys.
When it's about money things have a way of working themselves out. Everybody makes compromises, giving a little on one side, relinquishing something on the other. And in the end a deal gets done because ultimately money is the most important thing and everybody wants to get paid.
Walter Jones has never been about the money. He would probably take $100 and a riding lawn mower if it meant he could play football for a living. The fact that he has now missed three Seahawks training camps in seven years is really over something else.
"Of course it's about respect," his agent, Roosevelt Barnes, shouted into the phone.
The people who run the Seahawks shake their heads and shrug their shoulders.
What a waste these summers have become, thrown away on stubborn foolishness. Barnes believes his client is the best tackle in football and he should be paid accordingly. Seattle has settled on a number below that of Baltimore's Jonathan Ogden — currently the game's highest-paid lineman. And for two summers neither opinion has changed.
Then last weekend, the Seahawks cut off negotiations on a long-term deal, telling Jones, who is currently their designated franchise player, he must either take the league mandated, one-year, $5.7 million contract or sit out the year. It's a move that is designed to force Jones back before the season starts in two weeks.
So far, it's solved nothing.
"They said we don't want to negotiate; we do want to negotiate," Barnes said. "There's always been a more creative way. We've tried to be creative. Again, we're not the ones saying we don't want to negotiate."
The Seahawks, claiming they have an agreement with Jones' agents not to speak publicly about the negotiations, aren't saying anything.
And on it goes, for another day, another week, another summer.
A month ago, Seattle sent out indications that Barnes had not returned their calls. Yesterday, Barnes said it is the team that seems to have given up on bargaining in good faith.
"Say you're the best writer and your paper tells you that you are their best writer but the other paper is giving another writer all this more money and a car, what do you say to that?" Barnes said.
This isn't going to settle itself. The longest-running standoff in the NFL not involving Al Davis and Paul Tagliabue is not going to magically heal in a day. Even if Jones strolls into camp smiling sheepishly as he did two weeks into last season, the bad feelings won't go away, a long-term contract still won't be signed and there is no certainty that this won't happen again next summer.
Until this is resolved once and for all, the Seahawks will have a Walter Jones problem.
The thing is, they're stuck. They can't trade Jones the way they did Joey Galloway a couple years ago because Jones might just be the most important player on their offense. He's the one who solidifies the entire offensive line, who makes the running game go and makes Matt Hasselbeck feel safe in the pocket.
They need to make a deal, but in this toxic environment where everyone — save for perhaps Jones himself — has made this about pride, the chances grow slimmer by the day. And the Seahawks are drawing precariously close to throwing away months of good by starting the year without their most important piece.
Barnes has always jokingly called for a televised debate to resolve the situation. He might be on to something, because if this thing doesn't go to some kind of mediation soon, the Seahawks are headed nowhere and Jones will be the best tackle in the NFL with an asterisk (* inactive).
For this to resolve itself, each side must accept a truth.
Jones' people need to concede the fact that he probably won't be paid higher than Ogden.
The Seahawks must admit their negotiating tactic of devising a value and never deviating from it isn't going to work this time and they must find a way to make Barnes happy.
Otherwise, what have these last 21 months been worth?
"We've got nothing but time," Barnes said laughing yesterday. "Walter does want to play. He does. He loves his job and he loves the Seattle Seahawks."
He paused.
"I think he would like to finish his career there."
Then this has to become about money once again.
Make it about money, and this will all be over in a week.