From Tags to riches

Posted: Fri January 23, 1998

Friday
Marriott Marina Hotel, San Diego

The 10 things I think I think today:

1. I think commissioner Paul Tagliabue is deluding himself if, as he said in his State of the NFL news conference today, he thinks communities still should feel obligated to kick in major chunks of money for new stadiums in several cities—particularly Denver, where owner Pat Bowlen is seeking passage of a referendum to fund a new football stadium. Tagliabue is right: Cities should foot some of the bill for new facilities. But he'd be naive to think that the $17.6 billion television contract won't have a major, major effect on the minds of voters asked to pay for stadiums for very rich men. I don't think Tagliabue is a naive guy, obviously. Maybe he's posturing to make politicians see that the NFL has no intention of funneling all of its television windfall into stadium projects. But I think he needs to understand the depth of the feeling in America right now. People just don't want to pay for playgrounds for the richest sports league in the world.

2. I think the Packers are slightly worried about the fitness of their receiving corps. Coach Mike Holmgren said this morning that Don Beebe (hamstring) won't be available for the game, which would have been his record-breaking sixth Super Bowl. Holmgren just didn't feel he could trust Beebe's hamstring to make it through the game. Antonio Freeman missed practice yesterday with the stomach flu. Bill Schroeder isn't the most trustworthy fourth receiver in the world, so if Freeman isn't totally fit, that'll leave a lot of pressure on the shoulders of Robert Brooks and Derrick Mayes.

3. I think the gross richness of the TV contract is going to lead to bad things. Agents are already getting out of hand. "At the Senior Bowl this year, the pursuit of players was the worst I've ever seen,'' said one of the honorable agents in the business, Pat Dye Jr. "Deceit, misrepresentation, overpromising, flash, entourages, runners with money and limos. There's more of it, because there's more money at stake, and that's only going to get worse with the new TV contract. I think the only solution is uniform federal legislation governing recruiting tactics, one set of rules we all have to go by, with real teeth.''

4. I think Minnesota CEO Roger Headrick will push Tagliabue for compensation from Dallas for offensive coordinator Brian Billick, who, sources tell me, has a private deal done with Dallas to become the Cowboys' offensive coordinator. I think the Vikings would take Dallas's fourth-round pick in April's draft, and the Cowboys should pay the price—assuming Jones and Billick have talked contract. And there's no question they have.

5. I think Philadelphia could be the first sub-.500 team in NFL history to lose two coordinators to head-coaching jobs. Offensive coordinator Jon Gruden is in Oakland now, and, assuming Dennis Green fires himself in Minnesota, Emmitt Thomas, Ray Rhodes's defensive coordinator, will be a candidate in Minnesota. I like it that Sherm Lewis and Thomas, both black, will be prime Vikings candidates.

6. I think Terrell Davis and Gilbert Brown passed each other in the party-time Gaslamp District downtown one night this week, and Davis gave Brown an I-can't-believe-I'm-seeing-this look. "I don't want to see your big butt right now,'' Davis said to Brown, "because I'm going to see enough of you on Sunday.''

7. I think, judging by the wild mob scene there Thursday night, the Gaslamp District will be New Orleans-like the next two nights.

8. I think I'm staying in.

9. I think it's too quiet around the Holmgren-Seattle thing for nothing to be happening there come Monday. Holmgren addressed it this morning at his final press briefing: "I'd rather not deal with anything like that until after the game. I would never do anything to put the Packers in a bad position. I'm under contract. I have two years left on my contract. The Packers would have to allow me to discuss anything like that with another team. If they choose not to do that, I could live with it. That's fine. I don't want to deal with things that might happen. I want to focus on the game.'' Seattle may call GM Ron Wolf first, get rebuffed, then turn to Holmgren. If you doubt the Seahawks' resolve in matters they deem important, recall their first major decision last year: They put a $7 million check on the table when LB Chad Brown walked into their facility on the first day he was a free agent. Brown had no choice. Now they may make Holmgren an offer he can't refuse.

10. I think George Young, whom I chatted up in the lobby this morning, looks like the weight of the world has been lifted off his shoulders now that he's in the league office and out of the Giants' front-office maelstrom.

• Thursday: Wolf cries foul as rumors swirl
• Wednesday: Hop on the coaching carousel
• Tuesday: Will Holmgren Pack it in