A poison in the system
'Creative' offer sheets are cause for concern
New Vikings coach Brad Childress didn't even know what a poison pill was until he had to swallow one last week. Joining him in this not-so-fine dining was Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren. Both learned a lesson. Now the question is whether the NFL did, too.
For that and a lot of other reasons, creative minds around the NFL have outgoing commissioner Paul Tagliabue and a lot of executives and coaches worried about the type of free agent dealings that led to the Seahawks' loss of All-Pro guard Steve Hutchinson, whom Seattle had transitioned but not franchised, to the Vikings and Seattle's ensuing offer to Minnesota restricted free agent receiver Nate Burleson that will force the Vikings to let him walk, with only a third-round draft choice as compensation.
The Vikings struck first when they signed Hutchinson to an offer sheet Seattle had seven days and no chance to match because someone found a loophole. Minnesota not only offered Hutchinson a deal at an average of $7 million a season that would make him the highest-paid guard in football but included a clause that said if he was not the highest-paid lineman on his team, the $49 million, seven-year deal must be fully guaranteed.
''The 'spirit' of anything is subjective," said Vikings vice president of football operations Rob Brzezinski. ''All we can operate on is what's in black and white. What we did was clearly within the rules. We weren't in any way trying to be antagonistic or create issues in the system. We were simply trying to do what was in the best interest of the Vikings."
The deal would make Hutchinson far and away the highest-paid lineman in Minnesota but in Seattle, he would still trail All-Pro left tackle Walter Jones. Thus, for the Seahawks to match, which they might well have done, they would have to guarantee the full $49 million, while the Vikings would be on the hook for only about $16 million in signing and roster bonuses. Seattle's first reaction was to challenge the legality of the offer sheet. When the special master upheld it, the Seahawks let Hutchinson walk, but they didn't stop there.
The Seahawks retaliated by signing Burleson, a restricted free agent, to an offer sheet with an even more creative poison pill. Under their offer, Burleson, whom Minnesota originally had tendered at $712,600, was given the same contract as Hutchinson, a seven-year deal worth $49 million. The dagger was that it would be fully guaranteed if Burleson played five or more games in the state of Minnesota or if his average salary was more than that of the highest-paid running back on the team.
For Minnesota to match, those clauses meant the full $49 million had to be guaranteed, because the Vikings had signed running back Chester Taylor to a four-year, $14.1 million deal, well less than Burleson's average. And, obviously, he'd be playing more than enough times in the state of Minnesota, unless Childress deactivated him for more than half the home games.
Each offer sheet made it all but impossible for the original team to match, and to Tagliabue, they were evidence of a growing problem on the business side of the sport.
''I think the issues raised by offer sheets by Seattle and Minnesota need to be addressed," Tagliabue said at last week's league meeting. ''I intend to talk to Gene Upshaw and the Players Association about it next week."
Childress agreed the practice of including poison pills was a dangerous one.
''It probably would be better if it never happened," Childress said. ''I think our guys have asked them to address that loophole. In a perfect world, it gets bargained out so people can't take advantage of it. The discussion will be ongoing between our people and the league in the next little while.
''The first time I ever heard of a poison pill was when I got here a few months ago. When I saw the one that came back from Seattle -- plays five games in the state of Minnesota -- I go, 'That's out of the box.' I wouldn't have thought of it. Really, it's so obvious, it hits you in the nose.
''All we did was get together with [Hutchinson's] agent, get together a contract, and say, 'Hey, a guy had to be the highest-paid lineman on the team.' We thought it was a creative thing. But it wasn't, 'If he doesn't play a game in Alaska [the deal is fully guaranteed].' Could you have thought of something that absurd?"
Childress's point is understandable, but Tagliabue's concern is how much farther one angry team might go to hurt another.
Holmgren, long a member of the Competition Committee, acknowledged that the offer sheets cut to the issue of the spirit vs. the letter of the law in NFL contract discussions.
''That was very distasteful, our having to jump into something like that and retaliate, so to speak," Holmgren said. ''I was very surprised that the special master came back with the ruling he did [against the Seahawks]. It doesn't make any sense to me. But he did, and we lost a very fine football player.
''But as hard as everyone works around here to get labor peace and collective bargaining and all that, and all the time we spend getting that done, we as clubs should not allow agents to undercut that or get so cute that they challenge [the free agency system].
''On the playing field, there are rules and then there are unwritten rules when we're playing the game. And, to a certain extent, I think in the spirit of not only competitiveness but fairness and how the league is built, I think we have rules, and there are some things that, uh . . . I thought the whole thing was too bad."
Holmgren conceded that the Seahawks probably could have avoided the problem had they franchised Hutchinson for the higher tag price rather than transitioned him, which would have forced Minnesota to fork over two first-round draft choices in compensation. But he thought they had a sound reason for the route they followed.
''Let's start with the fact that we probably should have franchised him," said Holmgren, who twice made a point of saying he no longer did contracts, authority that was stripped from him over a year ago by owner Paul Allen. ''Again, I was not involved in the negotiations, but I think the feeling was that we would have a better chance to sign him to a long-term contract and keep the conversations going with Steve under that [transition] tag.
''Now, the second part of it is what we mentioned earlier, creating a situation with contracts where one team [has an unfair advantage]. The idea with transition tags is that you do have the chance to match a contract. In this case, the match for Minnesota meant $16 million. The match to the Seahawks meant $49 million. I don't get it. So I think it wasn't what that was supposed to be. I hope they fix this.
''I think we as clubs must be aware and be careful of any agent coming in and saying you can do this, you can get this player if you do this.
''Look at it. Understand how it affects all of us. I mean, you want the player, but over the long haul we need to look at how it affects a lot of things."
As Tagliabue knows, they'll eat up each other if this kind of action is allowed to continue, but without the cooperation of the union to bargain away such loopholes, there is little chance that poison pills will be off the shelves soon.
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