Salary Cap Has Its Inequities
Paul Tagliabue used a new word recently to refer to the salary cap - “comprehensive” rather than “hard.”
In other words, the NFL is finally acknowledging the loopholes that people such as Jerry Jones and Carmen Policy have used to keep Dallas and San Francisco at or near the top of the league.
In reality, the fact that the cap isn’t “hard,” as the owners envisioned, is the major reason for the NFL’s franchise instability.
For while Jones and Policy have kept key players by “extending” the contracts of stars such as Troy Aikman and Steve Young, other teams don’t have the ready cash to do it.
The Steelers, for example, have now lost 10 of their 22 starters from the Super Bowl 19 months ago - not including Rod Woodson, who was a backup in that game, his first back from serious knee surgery. Quarterback Neil O’Donnell has gone to the Jets; linebacker Chad Brown and cornerback Willie Williams to the Seahawks; right tackle Leon Searcy to the Jaguars; and defensive end Ray Seals and linebacker Kevin Greene to the Panthers.
The Steelers are so well run that they remain competitive. But other teams haven’t been so fortunate.
Seattle, for example, needed $11 million from Paul Allen for Brown’s signing bonus - even when he was simply a prospective owner, not the real one. That’s chump change for Allen, the world’s sixth-richest man, but not for Art Modell (or so he says), who took Baltimore’s money and ran from Cleveland.
And it wasn’t chump change for Bud Adams and Georgia Frontiere when they jumped at offers from Nashville and St. Louis to move into new revenue-producing stadiums. If the cap had truly been “hard,” they might or might not have been so quick to move.
Redskins fine Westbrook
Wide receiver Michael Westbrook, who repeatedly punched teammate Stephen Davis during a practice session, was fined $50,000 Saturday by the Washington Redskins.
Although Westbrook - Washington’s first-round pick two years ago - apologized to Davis and the team, the matter is far from resolved for coach Norv Turner.
“We’re in the middle of the process,” Turner said after practice. “There are a number of other steps to getting this resolved.”
Dolphins’ Holmes suspended
Miami Dolphins defensive back Clayton Holmes was suspended for at least four regular-season games for an unspecified violation of the NFL’s drug and alcohol abuse policy, the league said Saturday.
Holmes was getting a second chance from coach Jimmy Johnson, who signed the former Dallas Cowboy to a one-year deal with Miami. Holmes would have played for the first time since November 1995 when he was suspended for cocaine use.
Steelers cut Miller, one-game QB
Quarterback Jim Miller, benched in the second half of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ season-opening loss in Jacksonville last season and seldom used afterward, was one of four players released Saturday.
The Steelers also cut running back Terry Richardson, - a move that assures rookie George Jones of being Jerome Bettis’ backup - offensive lineman Mark Nori and tight end John Farquhar.
Broncos 31, 49ers 17
John Elway and Terrell Davis teamed up on two early scores, and the host Denver Broncos routed the 49ers 31-17. Backup quarterback Jeff Lewis threw two third-quarter TD passes to Willie “Flipper” Anderson as Denver (3-2) dominated San Francisco (1-3).