JOESAM2002

You'll notice that there's no mention of him talking to the Saints.


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Godfrey learns loyalty cuts both ways in NFL



Sunday June 22, 2003


Jeff Duncan


In the helter-skelter era of free agency, it's trendy to bash NFL players for a lack of loyalty.

With a few exceptions, players switch teams these days as often as Alabama changes football coaches.

But don't blame the players. They figured out long ago that the lack of loyalty cuts both ways.

Case in point: Randall Godfrey.

Earlier this season the Tennessee linebacker willingly re-negotiated his contract and accepted a pay cut to give the Titans more room under the $78 million salary cap.

Godfrey was a productive player and defensive leader during his three seasons as a starter. He worked hard to rehabilitate his surgically-repaired ankle and was a regular participant in the Titans' offseason conditioning program.

Tennessee rewarded Godfrey on Wednesday by releasing him.

Their reasoning was that they needed the money to sign punter Craig Hentrich, center Gennaro DiNapoli and quarterback Neil O'Donnell.

Godfrey was scheduled to count $5.586 million against the cap this season. Before his renegotiation, his salary counted $8 million against the cap. The new contract called for him to make $2 million in base salary.

Titans general manager Floyd Reece described the decision as "very, very difficult."

"Essentially," Reece said, "we're trading one position for three positions. . . . It's unfortunate because we had no other choice but to do him then. Tough part is Randall did everything he could to stay with us. The tough thing for him, and for us, is we just couldn't make it work."

Saints linebacker Derrick Rodgers nearly suffered a similar fate with the Dolphins. He restructured his contract in February to clear money for Miami in free agency. The Dolphins showed their gratitude two months later by trading for Junior Seau, who took Rodgers' roster spot.

If the Saints, Rodgers' hometown team, had not worked out a deal for Rodgers last month, the Dolphins would have faced the same public relations quandary the Titans did with Godfrey.

Reece is one of the most underrated general managers in the league, so take him at his word. But rest assured, he and Coach Jeff Fisher have some damage control to conduct in the Titans locker room before the season starts.

"It shows you how difficult the situation is for us, not only for us but for everyone around the league," Fisher said. "Oftentimes you have to release not only good players, but good people."

Godfrey won't be unemployed for long. He already has visited Jacksonville, and Seattle, Green Bay and Philadelphia also have expressed interest.

TURLEY TALK: Former Saints lineman Kyle Turley sure knows how to beat a dead Saint. He chose the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for his latest rant about New Orleans and the Saints. A sampling of his ramblings:

-- On St. Louis: "When I drive home from (Rams Park), it's great. The roads are smooth, everything is nice. A total change from New Orleans. It's clean. You can breathe the air. It's a whole new chapter. I got a whole new energy about football. A lot of the things here are geared towards the players, whereas in New Orleans it wasn't. It was geared towards putting money in the owner's pocket, and whatever cuts they needed to make they would make in the player's area first. And it just didn't sit well with me."

-- On New Orleans as a sports town: "This is a great sports town. And they have other sports. In New Orleans they have the Saints. That's it. Now they have the Hornets, but people only go to those games, and the stadium is only packed, when (Michael) Jordan is playing, or Allen Iverson, or Shaq and Kobe (Bryant) are there. The fans here are great, and they are respectful."

-- On fans: "I understand when people are fans, and it's a big thing, but sometimes people can cross the line, and up here it just doesn't seem to be that way as much as it was in New Orleans."

SUMMER SCHOOL: Saints executive Rita LeBlanc, the granddaughter of owner Tom Benson, is one of several select NFL club personnel who begins a week-long management program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business today. The program, a first of its kind for sports league management, offers a focused and in-depth study of the NFL's business, and is designed to help high-potential club executives from diverse backgrounds develop their careers. Stanford Graduate School of Business professor George Foster and Hall of Fame coach and Stanford lecturer Bill Walsh are the co-directors of the program. Instructors include eBay senior vice president/general manager of U.S. business Jeff Jordan, Viacom executive vice president and chief operating officer Dennis Swanson, and Marty Gold, counsel to Senate majority leader Bill Frist.

SAINTS BEAT: Center Jerry Fontenot can earn as much as $1.5 million if he stays healthy and starts this season, according to the one-year, $1.005 million contract he signed Monday. The deal includes a $755,000 base salary and a $250,000 signing bonus. He can earn up to $500,000 in incentives by surpassing each of the following playing time thresholds: 25 percent, 55 percent, 65 percent, 75 percent and 80 percent. . . .

Saints coaches flew in members of the Patriots coaching staff last week for an on-field study session on screen passes. Executing the screen pass on offense, and defending it, have been problems for the Saints in recent years. . . .

The Saints were as surprised as they were disappointed in free agent quarterback Akili Smith's decision to sign with the Packers. Smith told several coaches during his visit that he planned to sign with Saints. Coaches even went over the practice schedule Tuesday and Wednesday with him before he left.

AROUND THE NFL: Three of the five NFL owners appointed to evaluate the prospect of relocating a team to Los Angeles say they are optimistic that the league will find a stadium solution and bring football back to the nation's second-largest market within four years. "We have a caldron brewing," Carmen Policy, president and part-owner of the Cleveland Browns, told The Los Angeles Times. "I think the likelihood of something coming to fruition appears more likely than it ever has."

Policy is a member of the league's "L.A. working group," along with owners Dan Rooney of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Bob Kraft of the New England Patriots, Wayne Huizenga of the Miami Dolphins and Jerry Richardson of the Carolina Panthers.

"I believe the stage is right to make something happen over the next few years," Kraft said.

AUDIBLES: "Do they have any intention of building a team before they build a new stadium?" -- state Rep. Roy "Hoppy" Hopkins, D-Oil City, on the Saints stadium issue.


[Edited on 24/6/2003 by JOESAM2002]

JOESAM2002

Well hell. He signed a one year contract today with the Seahawks.

saint5221

I think it\'s nuts we did\'nt even talk to this guy. Ruff better be damn good.

tweeky

This guy is truly a Boobonic Moron

BillyCarpenter1

I\'m glad they see that they have a problem with the screen pass but if they need to bring in other coaches to correct the problems, what are they going to do during game time. I guess they can call someone?

tweeky

Billy, this is a common practice in the NFL.
The Pats also contacted Minnnesota about how to dribble a football 4 times, and run straight up the middle untouched for a game clinching 2-point conversion.

BlackandBlue

He\'s from Oil City, for christ sake, they still don\'t have cable up there.

shutup...Shutup...SHUTUP!!!!!111!!!!1!
**** you, you worthless waste of space. Pride is ****ing with you, and causing that 12 year old retarded brain of yours to command that obnoxiously large mouth to spew forth diarrhea. Let it the **** go, you amoeba- your existence means absolutely nothing as far as Saints and Pro Football history is concerned. Shut your hole, go back to St. Louis, so that all the little retard kids can build a statue in your honor, so that they may worship you while you are on road games. I have a niece that is 18 months- ****s herself all the time- still makes a helluva lot more sense than the swill that I have to read every other ****ing week.

The waiting drove me mad....
I don't want to hear from those that know...
Everything has changed, absolutely nothing's changed

Eddie is a....draftnik?

BillyCarpenter1

It will not be long before the fans in St. Louis turn on Turley. This dude has some real issues.

ejc0921

That tells you what kind pof person Turley is. He was traded 2+ months ago and all he can talk about is how bad the New Orleans Saints organization and New Orleans is. If I was getting millions of dollars just to play football, I would not talk bad about the sport or the team paying me. He is nothing but a baby who wants attention. He was only a good right tackle who thinks he was a great left tackle and who wants to blame others for his average performance.

WhoDat

Holy Sh!t - B&B blew a gasket... that\'s funny as hell... he\'s normally so calm and collected... HA HA.. hey B&B... I\'ve got a Turley Jersey with your name on it!