Ward now looking worse it seems.....

[benm3218]

He's playing hardball, and I bet it's gonna work.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05210/545641.stm

[gatorman1122]

"People say, abide by your contract, but, in football, nobody abides by their contract," Ward said. "If you're not producing, they cut you or they release you. But if you have been producing, which I have for the last four years, I feel like I want to get compensated for it."

Good point ...people always claim that players (e.g., most famously, TO) should abide by their contracts; however, they never mention anything about the team honoring the player's contract for its full duration

[awwchrist]

Give the man his money.

[benm3218]

yeah at the risk of starting a great debate again, I think everyone of us would do the same thing.
We would all want to be paid what we were worth. Maybe they should just stop referring to them as contracts, and refer to it as agreement instead.

Ward should get paid what he's worth on the market IMO.

[M_Zimm_ffc]

Give him what he deserves. The 37th highest paid, and he's a top ten WR. Why don't they just resolve all this before it gets ugly.

[Mudd]

The big difference in Ward's situation is the Steelers FO told him they would give him a new deal, and now he wants it. Sure they offered him the biggest contract in Steeler history, but that still didn't get him up there with highest paid WR's, which is what he deserves.

The Steelers will stink w/o this guy this year, so they better something done ASAP.

[mutantseabass]

There is no way the Steelers can afford to let Hines sit. He will get his money.

[creamdoorthirtyniner]

You took the words out of my mouth Aww

[Sixxgunn]

I have come up with a solution. No more contracts. Just "hire" players as you would at a company. Either party has the right to terminate employment at any time, for any reason. Sounds ridiculous right? Can't be more ridiculous than the state of the NFL right now. Hines deserves his money, but he's not completly right either. If the offer they sent him was fair, he should have taken it.

[Mudd]

I have come up with a solution. No more contracts. Just "hire" players as you would at a company. Either party has the right to terminate employment at any time, for any reason. Sounds ridiculous right? Can't be more ridiculous than the state of the NFL right now. Hines deserves his money, but he's not completly right either. If the offer they sent him was fair, he should have taken it.

I'll expand on that.

$100/catch, $1000/td, -$150/dropped pass and so on.

Make these players earn their living on the field, pay for play.