TallySaint

Wanna know who'll skip an entire season? Nobody


Pete Prisco July 26, 2006
By Pete Prisco
CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer




Are there any cures for diarrhea of the mouth?

Aside from sticking a sock in it, are there any ways to stop the loads of crap coming out of the mouths of NFL agents at this time of the year, whether via direct quotes or as unnamed sources with a trail leading right back to them?

All around the league, in newspapers, on Internet sites and on the airwaves, we're bombarded with talk of how no agent is going to simply roll over and play the role of loving puppy to any NFL team's front office.

Go get 'em, Fido.

The rhetoric flies around faster than a Tom Cruise rumor -- also not at lot of good, either -- at this time of the year.

My guy won't dare take a bad deal.

My guy won't take X when he can get Y in bonus money.

My guy is willing to sit out the year.

The last one is a joke. Nobody is going to sit out the year -- nobody. Not these days.

That includes Reggie Bush. In case you missed it, Bush is supposedly willing to sit out the season and re-enter the draft next spring if the New Orleans Saints don't give him a deal to his liking. An unnamed source told Yahoo.com that Bush is considering that option if the Saints, trying to rebound from a season of hell that followed Hurricane Katrina, do not give him what he and his agent -- OK, his agent -- think is right for the second overall pick and the marquee player of the draft.

The word is, Bush wants to be paid like first pick Mario Williams. The Saints want to pay him like the second pick, which would seem right since that's what he was. Face it, all contract talks have three ingredients: length of the deal, guaranteed money and total value of the deal. It's the latter that leads to problems with the agents because of bragging rights.

Saints general manager Mickey Loomis didn't want to comment on the talk of Bush skipping the season. Joel Segal, Bush's agent, didn't return a phone call or respond to an e-mail.

So armed with the news of Bush possibly sitting out a season, I called a handful of NFL front-office types to gauge their reaction to that talk.

Story continues.....
http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/story/9572349/2


8)

My Guardian Angel wears a hard hat.