It doesn't take much for a wide receiver to distance himself from his teammates and coaches. If you look at the divas and gravitational forces around the league, they're pretty much all wide receivers. There's the occasional linebacker in teal, but more than 90% of the ultra-absorbent tampons in the league are wide-receivers - think Ocho Cinco, T.O., Boldin, etc. Even Jerry Rice had and still does have a massive ego, though he was very smart about it during his playing days.
One of the guys I would not have lumped in with that list is TJ Houshmandzadeh. He seemed to me like an orange and black version of Larry Fitsgerald, just a hard working competitive guy who let his play do the talking.
So it was surprising to read his comments this week about how the Bengals and the Cardinals are equal teams (actually he said the Bengals had a better running game) and blaming their misfortune on their QB being hurt. While it's true that this was a setback, their QB has always been hurt hasn't he? Don't they have a plan B?
Anyway, the jist of the article is that TJ is calling himself as good as Larry Fitzgerald. He also said,"The way our defense has improved and you have to figure there is no way our offense is going to be that bad again," he said. "Well, if I'm not back it can be that bad again."
Saying, essentially, that your team would likely suck without you, is not a particularly good idea, especially when you have the biggest ego in the NFL sitting next to you in the locker room.
Anyway, the franchise tag for WRs is about $9.675 million. Will the Bengals pay this much for him? Conventional wisdom says no, but considering this team has nothing going for it except for a decent running back and this TJ guy, my thought is why wouldn't they pay him.
Considering he is probably going to be looking for somewhere around $7 million a year anyway, they might want to give him an extension ASAP.
Do you think Miami would give up a 4 year $30M contract for him? Not with a mouth like that...
Tin, we do need a veteran WR. I don't have a problem paying him, but how much is guaranteed/signing bonus? TJ is proven. Wilford burned us. I find it laughable that Kiper has us taking a WR in the first round.
ReplyDeleteI could be wrong, but I don't see the Trifecta paying big bucks for anything other than Fitzgerald or his ilk and no GM in their right mind would let that kind of player go as there are so few of them. If TJ is making those kinds of noises, you can bet Parcells has heard them.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what the guarantee what be, but I'm sure his agent would be looking in the range of $15M to $20M. Tj is 31 so this would likely be his last contract. Where's Mr Bungle? He's the expert on the pay scale. Plus I know he likes the Housh.
ReplyDeletetin or bungle, or for that matter anyone, am i the only one who cant refresh the SS blog and see the latest post. that next/previous button doesnt do a damn thing to refresh my page either
ReplyDeleteI have to post a comment, hit 'post', then it puts my comment on the board, but the other comments aren't refreshed yet. then i click on 'post another comment' and THEN it refreshes the page.
ReplyDeleteI'm more interested in working to retain the FA players we have first, then we can look around with the money we have left. I also don't think WR is our primary concern...there's definitely room for improvement in that area, but it's less of a weakness/worry compared to other facets of our team.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe we've still got roughly 100 days until the draft. I honestly don't have a clue who the brass is favoring right now at pick 25?
finfanrob, I gave up on the SS blog. I'll wait till it's fixed as I have had no luck at all.
ReplyDelete