The Law of Ty

[Angel]

The Law of Ty
Jul 24, 2006, 8:45:43 AM by Bob Gretz - FAQ


On Saturday the Chiefs came to an agreement on a contract with Ty Law.



If Law shows up Monday in Kansas City and passes all the physical testing, then both sides will sign a deal that’s being advertised as a five-year contract worth $30 million.

Forget those numbers, both the five and the $30 million. Law will never see $30 million from the Chiefs. He’ll be lucky to see one-third of that total.

Law’s deal is really a one-year, possibly two-year contract. He reportedly made $6 million last year with the Jets. He’ll make less than that this year with the Chiefs, with a chance to make more through incentives. Like most of these types of deals, I’m sure there’s a nice big roster bonus that will come due in March 2007. That will force the Chiefs and Law to make a decision then on his future.

In the present, now that the deal is struck, the Chiefs can go ahead and make their reservations for Miami in early February and the Super Bowl, right? If you spent any time listening to the pundits over the last 18 months that Law and Chiefs have been paired together in sentences, this signing is the final piece of the puzzle for this franchise. He’s the savior of this defense and thus the team.

Of course, as we learn constantly when history is finally written, the pundits frequently have no idea of what they speak or write. Law is not the final piece to the defensive puzzle. Not hardly. If that were true, then it would also be true that the single player who wrecked the Chiefs defense last year was Eric Warfield, because all Law is doing is taking that spot at right cornerback. If you watched the Chiefs last year, you will know that their problems on that side of the football went far beyond the inconsistency of Warfield’s play.

Signing Law makes the Chiefs a better team, right? On paper, that’s the case. But remember this: the team with the most talent does not win. It’s the team with the most talent that is used intelligently by its coaching staff and plays together that wins championships in the NFL.

A question that must be asked about Law is this: is he playing these days for the name on the back of his jersey, or for the Arrowhead on the side of his new helmet? Three teams in the last three seasons leaves the impression of a player looking for the biggest payday available.

That was again the case with this deal. In the end, only the Chiefs and Patriots were really interested in Law. A deal got done with the Chiefs when the player and his agents finally accepted the reality of the diminished market for his services and I’m sure took the best offer that was available. Law was part of a championship run with the New England Patriots, so he’s seen how the whole thing can come together and lead to the ultimate NFL success. Can he bring that experience to the Chiefs? Is that something that’s important to him these days? Or, at the age of 32 and heading into his 12th season, is this just another stop at the salary window at the end of a long career?

We will find that out in the coming weeks and months. Law will be welcomed with open arms by his teammates, most of the fans and all those pundits who campaigned for his hiring for the better part of two years.

That doesn’t make him a savior. It doesn’t mean he’ll come in and help the Chiefs.

It just makes him a veteran right cornerback who now runs with the first-team defense.

The opinions offered in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the Kansas City Chiefs.

http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2006/07/24/gretz_the_law_of_ty/


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