Mmmm...Money!!

Thanks to finfanrob for the idea for this article. It is typical fashion for drafted rookies to wait til the last moment to sign their rookie contracts. This last moment is the first day of training camp.

They CAN sign anytime before that day if they choose but there are several reasons why they usually don't, and those reasons all come down to one person, their Agent. Agents work on a commission basis, so they make the bulk of their paychecks based on the contracts of first round draftees. They're simply not going to show the same effort when representing a Davone Bess in 2008 as they would representing Jake Long's rookie contract. Why would they?

So reason number one is this: Because they spend 75% of their 2008 time or more representing that one player, some of the mid-round draftees have to 'make an appointment' basically to get into their own contract talks. Remember, these agents also have other clients from previous drafts, undrafted clients, and often clients in different sports or businesses. A guy like Drew Rosenhaus who probably has a stable of agents working for him on small-time deals, is still going to want to be THE GUY when it comes to negotiating big contracts. Rosenhaus was seen at several pro days in April that didn't have any first day prospects. That means he's taking the time to watch over the little guys too. And when you factor in the sheer amount of players in the NFL, the kind of paperwork, physicals, insurance company BS and staff vacations, there's a lot of stuff to cram into a tight schedule.

It may seem like 4 months to us fans, but to the agents it's more like 'ok, I can deal with four clients a day, allowing 2 hours each, and I have 20 clients. That means each client only gets two hours a week of my time.' And that time has to match up with Jeff Ireland's time. If it doesn't, then you wait till next time. And so, it's easy to see why it takes so long to sign a drafted rookie. It seems like a long time but when you add up the actual man hours, it comes out to about a day and a half over the course of four months.

And then there's the reality that alot of these agencies will get all the paperwork lined up for all their clients and sign off on them only on the final week leading up to Training Camp because it maximizes the exposure and heightens the drama of it all, thus bringing in more clients. So I can't tell you WHEN each player will be signed, but I can take a bona fide shot at guessing what the contracts will be.

Vontae Davis 5 years, $13.5M
Pat White 4 years, $4.1M
Sean Smith 4 years, $2.7M
Patrick Turner 4 years, $2.9M
Brian Hartline 3 years, $2M
John Nalbone 2 years, $800k
Chris Clemons 2 years, $800k
Andrew Gardner 1 year, free use of the weight room, 5 meals a week.

You Don't Know The Troubles I've Seen

Well another Mother's Day has come and gone, and some Mothers are prouder than others. Right now, J.D. Quinn's mom is probably proud of her good for nothing son actually becoming an NFL player, if only for a short off-season time period.

The trifecta likes to talk big about the type of players they bring into the team. What was it Ireland said during his pre-draft press conference? High Passion, High Character, High as a kite?

Let's face it, I don't know J.D. Quinn. I've seen him play and he's a decent Center who can play Guard and he's probably going to come in to camp and try his damnedest to make the roster. But I don't know him personally, and can't say he's NOT of high character. But to use the old adage, if it walks like a duck...

J.D. Quinn has been arrested not once, not twice, but three times for DUI during his college career. Here's some reaction articles for each arrest: #1, #2 (this one might have been written by Quinn himself from the drunk tank), and #3.

Notice, that two of those arrest were AFTER he transferred to Montana, where it's virtually impossible to get a DUI to begin with.

Then there's the OU scandal where Quinn, Rhett Bomar(now with the Giants) and Jermaine Hardison received compensation from a car dealership without actually doing any work there. Ironically, Quinn had to sell his truck to pay off some of the damages. All three players were kicked off the team and any wins that Quinn and Bomar were involved in, were taken away from OU. I'm not sure how that works physically, but football police love to make silly rules. And when asked for comment on the 'sentencing', Quinn said that 'it was dumb' (not what HE did, but what the judges did), and in the below video tells the reporter to 'get a REAL job'.



So while I don't know Quinn personally, I am an adult human being and I basically have created certain rules that I abide by when judging people (and don't tell me not to judge people, it's what I do best!). First rule, three strikes and you're out. If your indiscretions are relatively mild, you may get away with probation or a career in the minor leagues, but if they were progressive and you showed no remorse, ala Quinn, you're done. You know when you have too many drinks and the next day you feel terrible and you apologize to yourself, your family and your God? Well, imagine if you didn't feel horrible about your hangover, your puke stained shoes, or the black eye you received whilst battling with a comeplete stranger over a twinkie in the 7-11. Well if you're THAT guy, then you're a scum-bag. Lights out.

If Quinn was Matt Birk good, and 315 lbs of pure muscle and field awareness, that would be one thing. But at 6'3" 299lbs, and playing for Montana at Center only because of catastrophic injury conditions (both centers ahead of him went down so he had to switch from Guard) Quinn is coming into camp basically as competition at the bottom of the roster. Is he worth it? Probably not. Just the media attention this has gotten is going to hurt the Trifecta. Why would the Head Coach expect the rest of the roster to stay in line and be good citizens when they reward this guy with a contract based on panty-hose tip-toeing practice with a bunch of other undrafted rookies? Immediately someone with the job security of Joey Porter or Vontae Davis may believe he doesn't have to hold himself up to such a high standard. And then one by one everyone starts to rest on their own laurels.

However, it is just possible that they signed him with the intention of having him get into a fist fight with Ernest Wilford so they could both get kicked off the team as examples. This must be the case, right?

Rookie Mini-Camp Video Highlights

This video is from MiamiDolphins.com's Aquavision, which I know some people have technical difficulty with, plus there's no forum to discuss it there. So here we go, day one. Yes, Pat White came into camp with a little finger injury which limited his snaps but at least we didn't draft Percy Harvin, who's in serious condition in hospital for a cotton mouth injury!




So, besides Sean Smith looking like a giant next to the position coach, what do you notice? What do you want to see improve tomorrow?