As you probably heard, Sheldon Brown requested a trade today because other people are getting money and he forgot that he already got his.
Given the way that NFL contracts work, it is sometimes justified for a player to ask for a re-structuring of his contract. This is not one of those cases. Sheldon signed his contract in 2004 knowing full well that he was sacrificing a potentially bigger deal down the road for long-term security. If he didn’t understand this, then his agent misled him.
The Eagles, apparently also thinking that Brown’s stance in laughable, issued this uncharacteristic statement:
It’s very unfortunate and counterproductive that Sheldon has chosen to go public with his feelings about his situation, after thorough evaluation by himself and discussions with his family and agents, he chose to accept an extension of his rookie contract early that provided his family financial security for the rest of his life. It removed any concerns about health or performance that all other players in his draft class had to worry about. He has three years remaining on that contract and, after taking the signing bonus and his first two years of salary into account, we feel that Sheldon is being paid fairly. Focusing only on a player’s salary for a given year is not a valid analysis.
There have been league MVP’s, Super Bowl champion quarterbacks, and perennial Pro Bowlers who have been in a similar situation. All of their teams have required them to wait until their contract expired or there was only one year remaining before any adjustment took place. It is only in the most extraordinary, in fact, less than a handful of circumstances in the last ten years that any players two new years into a contract with three years left have been adjusted. We don’t think this qualifies as an extraordinary circumstance.
Sheldon’s comments under the circumstances actually serve to devalue him in a trade if we were willing to consider it; which we are not.
The summary of that statement? STFU.
Is this a concern? Absolutely. And I’ll address it in my draft preview today or tomorrow.
I’m not one of those people who thinks that all athletes are pampered and should be getting paid $80K a year, never complain about money and treat the fans like their best pals. But this particular situation ticks me off. This is an extremely childish move by Brown. He got a new toy a couple years ago, but now some other kids on the block got a newer version, so he’s going to his mom and stomping his feet until she gives in and buys him a new one too.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
you never want to comment about a players’ contract situation. its just not constructive, you can only do damage. Who knows what Brown has had to deal with. But he signed the contract so he’d better act professional cos he’s required to. sigh…these things are never pretty.
I am highly impressed with that statement by the Eagles. It is well written and to the point with virtually no icing on the cake. Really put Sheldon in his place, and does it publicly.
I like Sheldon’s demeanor (he’s hardly a childish footstomper, Pete) and respect his play. To labor long under the cutthroat aegis of Lurie, Banner & Reid (and seeing many of his spent-to-a-degree comrades unceremoniously ditched) would tend to transform one from a spirited ‘we’ approach to a “cooler” ‘I’ stance involving the dollar grab in the Not-For-Long enterprise. I wish him good luck with his new team next year as he’s blitzed the Lincoln Financial Field Unbudgers, maybe for for another PR loss.
jjg –
love his demeanor on the field, and love him as a football player, he’s one of my favorite Eagles (though if he decides to dog it this year, that will change).
but, he’s acting as though no other Eagles should have gotten money during the duration of his contract. If you don’t understand that veterans are going to get released, you don’t understand the business of the NFL.
Here is what his agent said in 2004 after he signed the contract…
“We didn’t need to do this now, but this deal was too attractive and too important not to get it done,” Chayut said at the time. “They made him a multimillionaire, taking all the risk out of injury. He’s set for life.”
Pete, Oops, those words of agent come back to bite the cause.
I understand the meat-on-the-hoof business (was well-exposed in ex-Cowboy Pete Gent’s book ”North Dallas Forty”). Evidently, so does Sheldon. The Midnight Green Regime breeds stubbornness and on-field near-misses.
Couple things about this.
I don’t think Sheldon is being unprofessional, rather calculated. Word is he has been talking to the Eagles about a contract restructuring just like Lito did around the same time but he handled his business under the radar and not publicly in contrast to what Lito and his agent did. If you believe that to be true then you have to give him credit for being professional. Now…
With the departure of Brian Dawkins and a veteran, ex-pro bowl corner in Lito, Sheldon must feel he has some leverage in 2 ways:
With all that said, I still think he should keep it shut and just play. I don’t know his worth or value relative to his performance and contemporaries. But you signed the deal. This is why I hate football. It breeds this. You don’t have this problem in the NBA. Your salary is your salary no renegotiations. The player is stuck with it and the team is stuck with it if they can’t trade the player.
I am surprised the Eagles made a statement, but clearly they are getting tired of this bubbling up every season and they felt the need to take a stand.
Will be interesting to see how this plays out. I think Sheldon is a professional and I haven’t heard anything about him not showing up for camp and doing his job. But I heard him talk to Sal Pal yesterday on 950 and he is hell bent on getting out of Philly at this point. Can we feasible expect max effort from a player that doesn’t want to be here anymore?
I don’t agree with Sheldon but if he’s unhappy and they don’t want to make him happy why keep him? Trade him and stop being so spitefull. Why get into another Lito situation where by the end of the year your going to bench him and his trade value will be pratically nothing?