Colts Waive Bye To Emtman If Not Picked Up By Monday, Cheney Star Will Be Free Agent
Steve Emtman, the former University of Washington star from Cheney who was the first pick in the 1992 NFL draft, has been waived by the Indianapolis Colts, the team announced Saturday.
Bill Tobin, the team’s director of football operations, said they couldn’t reach an agreement on restructuring the contract.
“He will be on the waiver wire until Monday at 3 p.m.,” Tobin said. “After 3 o’clock Monday, he becomes a free agent.”
The Colts wanted Emtman to accept a $1.3 million salary reduction for the upcoming season to help the team remain under the league’s $36.7 million salary cap.
“We’ll have a good football team this year, but Steve would have made it better,” Tobin said.
Emtman could not be reached for comment Saturday. But in a telephone interview with the Associated Press on Friday night, he called the latest offer from the Colts “realistic.” However, he said he was hurt over how he has been treated.
“The owner (Robert Irsay) doesn’t think I can play football any more,” Emtman said. “I feel like I’ve given too much to this organization to be treated the way I’ve been treated.”
Emtman was told Thursday he had to accept a $1.3 million salary reduction for the upcoming season or be placed on the waiver list.
“We were concerned that Steve might not know the total package that we were presenting to him,” Tobin said Friday. “It sounds like, to him, it was either take a cut to $700,000 and play football for us, or nothing else. There is a considerable amount of incentives built into this offer, and it’s play-time incentives.”
The Colts needed the agreement to stay under the league cap when tender offers to unrestricted free agents Randy Dixon and David Take are applied against the cap today, Tobin said.
Emtman was scheduled to earn $2 million this year. Including his pro-rated signing bonus, his contract counted about $3 million toward the cap.
Emtman has been able to play in only 18 games in three seasons due to injuries while having received $7 million from the team since signing his contract.
“He has the work ethic, he has the desire, he’s played on winners, he’s played on championship ball clubs, and he has the ability to be a champion,” Colts coach Ted Marchibroda said Saturday. “But he suffered a couple of bad breaks. The (owners) were hurt by the injuries, and we as a football team were hurt. Life has to go on.”
The Colts also waived defensive tackle Robert Stinson and defensive end Harvie Herrington, both rookies, while signing rookie tight end Ken Dilger and defensive end David Wilkins.