Angel
03-02-2006, 10:36 AM
Shields will play, agent says
But cap issues make his Chiefs future uncertain
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
Will Shields has made his decision to play football next season, according to his agent. The Chiefs will make the decision today whether it will be for them.
The situation with Shields, an 11-time Pro Bowl guard, illustrates the depth of the Chiefs’ salary-cap problems.
The Chiefs were among the NFL teams hardest hit by this week’s breakdown in negotiations for an extension of the collective-bargaining agreement. An agreement would have provided teams an expected $10 to $15 million of extra salary-cap space — a useful tool for the Chiefs, who have one of the league’s most bloated payrolls.
Without an agreement on an extension today — Chiefs president/general manager Carl Peterson said he was pessimistic that one could be reached — the Chiefs will proceed to the start of free-agency Friday with a salary cap somewhere between $92 and $95 million.
So the Chiefs were busy Wednesday hacking somewhere between $21 million and $24 million from their salary cap. Salary documents recently provided to The Star show the Chiefs with $116 million of commitments.
They worked on restructuring a handful of contracts and will release some players today. Candidates for release include cornerbacks Eric Warfield and Dexter McCleon, linebackers Kendrell Bell and Shawn Barber, and offensive lineman Chris Bober.
Shields is another, even though his agent, Joe Linta, indicated that Shields, 34, would put off retirement at least one more year.
“He’s playing one or two more years, guaranteed,” Linta said. “You can take it to the bank. He feels better now than he has in the last couple of years. He’s a different guy.”
Shields is heading into the final year of a contract he signed in 2001, and its terms make him an inviting target for a team with severe cap problems. His release would save the Chiefs his salary of $5.1 million and his roster bonus of $400,000.
Linta said the Chiefs have not given Shields an ultimatum to take a pay cut or be released.
“They’ve just said they can’t keep him at his current number,” Linta said. “There are different scenarios with Will, depending on what happens with the salary cap. They’re hoping for a last-minute agreement.
“It’s not acrimonious. It’s just the landscape that we’re in. It’s a business decision, and one that they’d rather not make, but they might have to.”
Peterson wouldn’t discuss the Chiefs’ decision with Shields.
“Without question, we want Will Shields to finish his career as a Kansas City Chief,” Peterson said. “He knows that. His representative knows that.”
Linta held the hope that Shields could later re-sign with the Chiefs if he were released.
“He’s going to play for somebody,” Linta said. “He will not discount anything. It’s very important for him to keep his family intact in Kansas City and finish his career with the Chiefs. But at what cost? That’s the decision Will would have to make.”
With the Chiefs busy merely complying with the expected salary cap, Peterson said they would probably be unable to be aggressive with players in free-agency.
“It’s a cyclical thing,” Peterson said. “Last year, we went out and spent money on Patrick Surtain and Kendrell Bell and Sammy Knight and Carlos Hall. I tried to help our defense. I felt after what we did last year that this year would be difficult. You make those decisions, and hopefully they’re going to be the right ones and they’re going to be good for you for not only one or two but hopefully four or five years.
“You can’t do that every year. The cycle has been you can do it one year, but it’s difficult to do it two consecutive years. We did it last year, so I would say the cycle tells us this year it will be difficult to do.”
Peterson indicated the Chiefs would not invite any free agents to Kansas City early in the process.
“We’re going to sit back and see how everything settles,” Peterson said. “I’m not looking right now at bringing (free agents) in. I’m not focusing on that. I don’t feel right now a dire need that we’ve got to bring some unrestricted free agents in here the first couple of days of free-agency.
“Number one, I doubt we’re going to have the cap room for them. Number two, I think we’re in pretty good position with what we have.”
Peterson was to be in New York today for a hastily arranged owners meeting where the league will finally provide the Chiefs and 31 other teams with a salary cap. An agreement with the players’ association on an extension to the bargaining agreement remained possible.
The current agreement doesn’t expire until after the 2007 season, but the sides had tried to reach a deal. Three days of talks between the league and the players to extend the agreement ended Tuesday with the sides far apart on the percentage of league revenues earmarked for players.
Gene Upshaw, the union’s executive director, said the league is offering 56.2 percent of its total revenue for the players, almost four points lower than the union’s request.
Without an extension, 2007 is to be an uncapped season. But fewer teams will have money to lavish on free agents this year, and starting next season, players must wait six seasons for unrestricted free agency as opposed to the current four.
“If there’s no extension, the free-agent market will be depressed,” Peterson said. “There won’t be as many teams that can participate in it as there would in years past. There are a lot of teams that are going to be crunched, and some of them severely crunched, at the $92 million level.”
In the case of the Chiefs, they wanted to re-sign fullback Tony Richardson and defensive tackle Lional Dalton, their only starters who are scheduled on Friday to be unrestricted free agents.
Peterson said the Chiefs may eventually get around to re-signing both players, but it won’t happen soon.
“We’d like both of them back,” Peterson said. “It’s going to be restricted by cash and by cap. We’ve got to get through this first wave of free agency. Certainly, they’re going to have the opportunity if they want to go out and look around.”
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/football/nfl/kansas_city_chiefs/13994965.htm
But cap issues make his Chiefs future uncertain
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
Will Shields has made his decision to play football next season, according to his agent. The Chiefs will make the decision today whether it will be for them.
The situation with Shields, an 11-time Pro Bowl guard, illustrates the depth of the Chiefs’ salary-cap problems.
The Chiefs were among the NFL teams hardest hit by this week’s breakdown in negotiations for an extension of the collective-bargaining agreement. An agreement would have provided teams an expected $10 to $15 million of extra salary-cap space — a useful tool for the Chiefs, who have one of the league’s most bloated payrolls.
Without an agreement on an extension today — Chiefs president/general manager Carl Peterson said he was pessimistic that one could be reached — the Chiefs will proceed to the start of free-agency Friday with a salary cap somewhere between $92 and $95 million.
So the Chiefs were busy Wednesday hacking somewhere between $21 million and $24 million from their salary cap. Salary documents recently provided to The Star show the Chiefs with $116 million of commitments.
They worked on restructuring a handful of contracts and will release some players today. Candidates for release include cornerbacks Eric Warfield and Dexter McCleon, linebackers Kendrell Bell and Shawn Barber, and offensive lineman Chris Bober.
Shields is another, even though his agent, Joe Linta, indicated that Shields, 34, would put off retirement at least one more year.
“He’s playing one or two more years, guaranteed,” Linta said. “You can take it to the bank. He feels better now than he has in the last couple of years. He’s a different guy.”
Shields is heading into the final year of a contract he signed in 2001, and its terms make him an inviting target for a team with severe cap problems. His release would save the Chiefs his salary of $5.1 million and his roster bonus of $400,000.
Linta said the Chiefs have not given Shields an ultimatum to take a pay cut or be released.
“They’ve just said they can’t keep him at his current number,” Linta said. “There are different scenarios with Will, depending on what happens with the salary cap. They’re hoping for a last-minute agreement.
“It’s not acrimonious. It’s just the landscape that we’re in. It’s a business decision, and one that they’d rather not make, but they might have to.”
Peterson wouldn’t discuss the Chiefs’ decision with Shields.
“Without question, we want Will Shields to finish his career as a Kansas City Chief,” Peterson said. “He knows that. His representative knows that.”
Linta held the hope that Shields could later re-sign with the Chiefs if he were released.
“He’s going to play for somebody,” Linta said. “He will not discount anything. It’s very important for him to keep his family intact in Kansas City and finish his career with the Chiefs. But at what cost? That’s the decision Will would have to make.”
With the Chiefs busy merely complying with the expected salary cap, Peterson said they would probably be unable to be aggressive with players in free-agency.
“It’s a cyclical thing,” Peterson said. “Last year, we went out and spent money on Patrick Surtain and Kendrell Bell and Sammy Knight and Carlos Hall. I tried to help our defense. I felt after what we did last year that this year would be difficult. You make those decisions, and hopefully they’re going to be the right ones and they’re going to be good for you for not only one or two but hopefully four or five years.
“You can’t do that every year. The cycle has been you can do it one year, but it’s difficult to do it two consecutive years. We did it last year, so I would say the cycle tells us this year it will be difficult to do.”
Peterson indicated the Chiefs would not invite any free agents to Kansas City early in the process.
“We’re going to sit back and see how everything settles,” Peterson said. “I’m not looking right now at bringing (free agents) in. I’m not focusing on that. I don’t feel right now a dire need that we’ve got to bring some unrestricted free agents in here the first couple of days of free-agency.
“Number one, I doubt we’re going to have the cap room for them. Number two, I think we’re in pretty good position with what we have.”
Peterson was to be in New York today for a hastily arranged owners meeting where the league will finally provide the Chiefs and 31 other teams with a salary cap. An agreement with the players’ association on an extension to the bargaining agreement remained possible.
The current agreement doesn’t expire until after the 2007 season, but the sides had tried to reach a deal. Three days of talks between the league and the players to extend the agreement ended Tuesday with the sides far apart on the percentage of league revenues earmarked for players.
Gene Upshaw, the union’s executive director, said the league is offering 56.2 percent of its total revenue for the players, almost four points lower than the union’s request.
Without an extension, 2007 is to be an uncapped season. But fewer teams will have money to lavish on free agents this year, and starting next season, players must wait six seasons for unrestricted free agency as opposed to the current four.
“If there’s no extension, the free-agent market will be depressed,” Peterson said. “There won’t be as many teams that can participate in it as there would in years past. There are a lot of teams that are going to be crunched, and some of them severely crunched, at the $92 million level.”
In the case of the Chiefs, they wanted to re-sign fullback Tony Richardson and defensive tackle Lional Dalton, their only starters who are scheduled on Friday to be unrestricted free agents.
Peterson said the Chiefs may eventually get around to re-signing both players, but it won’t happen soon.
“We’d like both of them back,” Peterson said. “It’s going to be restricted by cash and by cap. We’ve got to get through this first wave of free agency. Certainly, they’re going to have the opportunity if they want to go out and look around.”
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/football/nfl/kansas_city_chiefs/13994965.htm