Agent:Heisman Trophy winner needs to be treated like #1 Pick
 

How soon New Orleans Saints top draft pick Reggie Bush reports to Jackson for training camp may depend on how quickly team officials follow through on a draft night pledge, a Bush representative said.

Mike Ornstein, Bush's marketing agent, said Wednesday that Saints owner Tom Benson and general manager Mickey Loomis told Bush that he would be treated during contract negotiations as if he were the first overall pick in the April NFL draft.

The Saints used the No. 2 pick on Bush, the Heisman Trophy winning running back out of Southern Cal, after Houston surprisingly chose defensive end Mario Williams with the top pick.

Ornstein told The Clarion-Ledger on Wednesday that it's likely Bush and the Saints won't reach a deal on a contract before training camp opens July 28 at Millsaps College.
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pb.../1063/sports02

RE: Agent:Heisman Trophy winner needs to be treated like #1
 

Lets hope we sign him soon..........

RE: Agent:Heisman Trophy winner needs to be treated like #1
 

get him in camp Mueller....I cant believe I am saying that to a bean counter that couldn't make a football decision to save his life...

I really hope they didn't say anything this stupid.

I doesn't matter if they said it or not. He will be treated as such, He should get more money than Williams. Benson will recoup the money this year. Everyone wants to be associated with Reggie. He already has 4 endorsement deals with multinatioanl corporations in GM, Subway, Adidas, and Pepsi, without playing a single NFL game. Reggie signed and in camp early means more businesses - even from outside Lousiana - would want to plaster their fecsis all over the Dome, just to get a crack at that MNF TV audience when all of SoCal will turn on the TV to see Reggie play pro for the first time.

Benson knows it, Reggie's agent knows it... so it doesn't matter what they say in public.

Heisman winner should be paid like the #1 pick?
That didnt work for Charlie Ward...or Jason White...or Matt Leinart...or especially Ricky Williams.

But Bush has already done so much, i think it would kind of negate some of that if he has a lengthy holdout.

they don't have a slotted draft system for nothing. Reggie was not the #1 pick, he was the #2. As such, he should be paid as the #2 pick, and not promised more than the guy picked ahead of him, and it is stupid for the team to tell his agent that if it's true. They don't make a rookie pool, and try to control the inflation of rookie contracts for nothing. So NOW, they have put themselves in a corner, that if this is true, they HAVE to pay him what they said, or they will just have been lying, and that would go over oh so well in negotiations to get off on that foot. They leave themselves no room to offer less if they made such a promise. So TO ME, it matters very much if they said it or not. He's already gonna make more than Mario in endorsement deals, why the hell would they even need to say that?

Do you think this is an ego thing for Bush?

No matter how you look at it, the pay scale for a player picked 2nd is still a ridiculous amount of money.

He has endorsement deals outside of football that will likely pay him something comparable to his NFL salary anyway.

I can't help but think his PR firm, and his agent, are putting the squeeze on the Saints unnecessarily.

He's going to be a good player. He's going to earn his bank. His agent, PR people, and entourage are going to get PAID. What's a couple mil, when we're talking 50 million dollars anyway?

Get him signed, and let's get to the GAME.