Surprisingly, the two biggest deals of the NFL off-season have been trades, not free-agent signings. Both trades were pulled off after major work by ex-Bears personnel men.
Green Bay’s Mark Hatley landed New England receiver Terry Glenn. Miami’s Rick Spielman landed New Orleans running back Ricky Williams.
Hatley finally got his Randy Moss. Spielman got his Curtis Enis. When Hatley and Spielman worked personnel together for the Bears, they tried hard to find a receiver and a running back, passing up the risky Moss in 1998 for the enigmatic Enis. Had they been able to pull off deals for players like the risky Glenn and the enigmatic Williams, they might still be here, along with coach Dave Wannstedt, whose luck in Miami is better than it was in Chicago.
For that, Wannstedt can thank another ex-Bear, Mike Ditka, among others. When Ditka’s Saints signed Williams to a team-friendly contract after trading their 1998 draft for him, they made him easier to trade later. Trades are hard to make anymore because signing bonuses accelerate against the salary cap of the team trading a player away. But Williams signed for such a low bonus ($8.84 million over seven years) that the hit is not prohibitive for the Saints to absorb.
“That definitely helped,” Spielman said.
Second chances all around. Both Glenn and Williams had rocky starts with their original teams and sound eager to erase the slate. Hatley and Spielman are getting what they failed to get in Chicago.
To Hatley and Spielman, the potential reward for adding Glenn and Williams far exceeds any risk. Glenn, suspended three times by Patriots coach Bill Belichick last season for various reasons over injury, discipline and contract, is a proven young talent at 27 who is “nowhere close” to the loose cannon Moss is in Minnesota, Hatley believes.
Besides, Moss signed a $75 million contract extension that includes a $17 million bonus last off-season and then informed the world at midseason that he plays hard only when he feels like it. Such an attitude helped drive coach Dennis Green to go fishing.
Glenn, on the other hand, will count just $850,000 against the Packers’ salary cap next season, and his signing bonus is a modest $1 million. The rest of the contract is back-loaded after the 2003 season, meaning Glenn doesn’t collect most of it until he convinces the Packers he’s worth it.
“No risk, no reward,” coach Mike Sherman said. “It’s a lot easier to not take chances in life. I’d rather be criticized for action than inaction.”
To give up only a fourth-round draft pick plus a conditional 2003 pick is a small price for a receiver who should instantly become Brett Favre’s go-to guy. Just to get away clean from the list of grievances he had in New England, Glenn forfeited claim to the $8.5 million still owed on the signing bonus of his 2-year-old, $50 million deal, so there is little doubt Glenn is arriving with a mission.
“He knows where he is in his career, and most of the time when you get these guys with this much talent they have something to prove, and I sort of like that type situation myself,” Hatley said.
For Williams, the Dolphins gave up their 25th choice in the first round, where they couldn’t have found a proven 1,000-yard rusher. The Dolphins also move up 11 spots in the fourth round by swapping picks with the Saints. If Williams gains 1,500 yards, the Dolphins would owe a 2003 pick.
Williams’ salary is a low $350,000 because the Saints loaded it with incentives. The Dolphins are under no obligation to renegotiate, but they will if Williams plays as well as he did for New Orleans.
No coach likes to run more than Wannstedt, strapped in Chicago by the unrealized potential of No. 1 picks Rashaan Salaam and Enis. In Miami, Wannstedt bled all he could out of journeyman Lamar Smith, the runner Ditka cast off after drafting Williams.
“I think with the change of scenery and his enthusiasm about being down here and how we’re going to utilize him, I think it’s going to be a real, real positive step for our entire football team,” Wannstedt said. “When you get a great running back, it will take pressure off the quarterback.”
Williams has blamed shyness for his quirky dealings with teammates, fans and media, but Spielman said extensive research left “no issue at all.”
“Looking at the draft and what was out in free agency, there was no way you could get a guy of that quality,” Spielman said.
When Glenn arrived in New England, it was against then-coach Bill Parcells’ defensive wishes. Parcells referred to Glenn as “she,” hardly a promising career start.
When Williams arrived in New Orleans, he posed as a bride for Ditka on a national magazine cover only to get hurt as a rookie and watch the Saints fire Ditka. He recently got stopped for speeding at 126 m.p.h., presumably heading out of town.
Glenn and Williams can accelerate the Super Bowl hopes of both the Packers and Dolphins. If they meet next season, Hatley and Spielman can take a bow and Chicago can applaud, quietly, for what might have been.
