Questions about the Owens Trade

[Mookie4ever]

1 - first of all why did the 9ers accept a measly 2nd rounder for him?
2 - why wouldn't somebody offer more? He's a jerk but he can catch the damn ball.
3 - Why hasn't he fired his agent? He missed a deadline - why not file early just to be sure, it's not like they were negotiating to stay in SF - that was just stupid. Is he TO's brother or something?

[awwchrist]

3 - Why hasn't he fired his agent?

This too has baffled me to no end.

[moochman]

1) The 9ers must not have gotten good enough offers for him from teams they were willing to trade him to. The whole Philly thing reeks of the 9ers jerking TO's chain. They may have just thought this is a pick we shouldn't have even gotten and TO doesn't want to go to Baltimore. If that's the case, it looks to working out pretty good for the 9ers.
2) He's a jerk, and he comes with a very high price tag. The NFL likes young developing talent over proven vets because with the cap you can't afford to have vets past their early prime. It handcuffs them financially.
3)He did fire his agent, they just mis-placed the termination agreement!
He can't fire his agent until they can see if the other incompitant player in this debacle (Gene Upshaw) can undo this mistake.

[dayja]

3 - Why hasn't he fired his agent? He missed a deadline - why not file early just to be sure, it's not like they were negotiating to stay in SF - that was just stupid. Is he TO's brother or something?

Firing his agent would be essentially admitting that the fault of missing the deadline rested with TO or his Agent. As long as they stick together, they have a grievance no matter how many sports writers insist the agent dropped the ball. Watch what happens if he gets stuck with the Ravens at his present contract amount.

Oh, and the reason he didn't file earlier was to see who from the 49ers would get the franchise tag. Think of it this way, had the paperwork gone through, the team still could've franchised him and gotten compensation when he left. It appears they knew he had screwed up and missed the deadline when they franchised Peterson. It also seems to me the reason the date was moved from the the orig 3 Mar to 21 Feb or whatever it was, was to allow teams to franchise players who voided their contracts before the cut-off date of 24 Feb. I'm not quoting anyone here, just my thoughts...

[eaglesrule]

why would anyone offer more than they had to? i heard that the only teams that made offers were philly and baltimore. And I am sure both teams were pretty much aware of that fact.

[Mookie4ever]

Thanks for the responses - but this still makes no sense.

You don't think that TO would be great on the Titans or the Packers? and that neither of these teams wanted to spend more than a second rounder for one of the top three receivers in the league?

As far as the agent goes - I don't believe that his firing would mean a thing in a grievance. and btw - how often do players lose grievances?

[eaglesrule]

there is still the cap hit to be absorbed. titans couldn;t afford him at the current prices, let alone a contract restructure that he is basically demanding. Plus, this year is super deep in the wr draft. a second round pick is damn valuable in the nfl. Especially when trading for an over 30 malcontent. And knowing that the team lucked into the positiion they found themselves in the first place. Everyone knows the niners had to do somethign with him, he couldn;t play there next season. So the niners were forced too.

[fantasizing]

It's a money issue with TO. I mean the Jets sent their 2nd rounder to get McCareins, who is no TO. All these teams knew that by signing TO, they'd have to re-structure his contract, give him the $10 million signing bonus he's demanding, so they figure'd it's not worth it.
But there's no question about it, a happy TO will basically be the third best WR in the league after Moss and Harrison.

[great gretzky]

obvisouly it is a money issue, and san fran knew that. Which is why they told the eagles to go ahead and negotiate with him in the first place. They knew TO's demands would have to be met before anyone would deal with him, the team woudl want an assurabnce of him being happy and willing to play.

I honestly think billick figured he coudl strong arm him. and from the niners perspective, who cares? As long as they got their pick, they could give a rat's ass abotu if TO was happy. since they could get a decent pick and have him in the AFc, it was a no brainer. Unfortuantely, there are claims that the niners gave hima window to negotiate hsi own deal.

[VHawk15]

1 - first of all why did the 9ers accept a measly 2nd rounder for him?
2 - why wouldn't somebody offer more? He's a jerk but he can catch the damn ball.
3 - Why hasn't he fired his agent? He missed a deadline - why not file early just to be sure, it's not like they were negotiating to stay in SF - that was just stupid. Is he TO's brother or something?

1) Because it's better than nothing.
2) There are very few teams that want to offer that much in order to get a loud-mouthed WR who's almost past his prime.
3) He doesn't blame his agent, he's said that they filed the papers on time and that it's the league's fault.