JOESAM2002

Henderson, Saints reach agreement
Former LSU wide receiver signs 4-year, $2.79 million contract
Saturday, August 07, 2004
By Jeff Duncan
Staff writer
The standoff between the Saints and Devery Henderson finally ended late Thursday night when the rookie wide receiver's agent, Jimmy Sexton, relented and accepted the club's offer.

On Friday, Henderson reported to camp, signed a four-year, $2.79 million contract, passed a physical and participated in his first practice with his new teammates.


"I'm just happy to be here," Henderson said. "The main thing I was worried about was people getting the perception that I didn't want to be here and be a part of this team and was being a knucklehead."

Henderson, who played at LSU and was the No. 50 overall selection, was the last of the Saints' six rookies and the second-to-last of the draft's 32 second-round picks to reach an agreement. Six draft picks -- five first-rounders and one second-rounder -- remained unsigned as of late Friday.

To make room for Henderson on the roster, the Saints reached an injury settlement with wide receiver Phil McGeoghan and waived him.

It's unknown how much Henderson will be able to contribute this season. He was expected to compete for a reserve spot behind starters Joe Horn and Donté Stallworth, but that was before the former LSU speedster's eight-day holdout.

The two sides were at a stalemate Sunday over the amount of signing bonus in the deal. Last week, the Saints offered Henderson a $1.410 million signing bonus, but the Henderson camp wanted $1.425 million, the same amount Jacob Rogers received from Dallas at No. 52.

The Saints refused to budge or to consider adding a $15,000 easily earned incentive in a future year as Sexton had requested. Late Thursday, Sexton finally yielded and accepted the club's offer.

"He'd missed a week already," Sexton said Friday. "I just thought it was time to get him into camp before he got too far behind."

Henderson missed 11 practices during the dispute. He'll have to play catch-up after missing the bulk of the offensive package installation, including all first- and second-down packages and most of the third-down and red-zone plays.

"It is a disadvantage," Henderson said. "Everybody's got a little more work in than I've got. But I talked to Donté, and he kept me informed of what's going on. Now I'm ready to pick up where I left off."

At LSU, Henderson played two seasons at wide receiver after opening his career at running back. During the Tigers' national championship season in 2003, he had 53 catches for 861 yards and 11 touchdowns.


[Edited on 7/8/2004 by JOESAM2002]

GumboBC

Man, all this over $15,000. I don\'t know who was being more foolish. Devery for not taking 15k less or the Saints for not coming off another 15k.

CheramieIII

I\'m very happy that the Saint\'s did not cave. It\'s only 15k this time but next time when it\'s 15 million someone will think the better of it. All sports players are paid way too much money and it\'s time to start reining them back in. I think all sports get together and come up with a formula for players to earn their pay. Here\'s just an example:

Football
Wide Receivers
20k for each reception
50k for each touchdown
1 million bonus for gaining 1500 yards or more

Running Backs
20k for every 10 rushing attempts
50k for each touchdown
1 million bonus for gaining 1500 yards or more
1 million bonus for 500 or more receiving yards or more

You can see where I\'m going with this. Take Alex Rodriguez for example, there is no way he should earn almost 1 million every time he hits a homerun.

That\'s my opinion and I\'m sticking to it.

Geaux Saint\'s!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Saint\'s are Bullish on Bullsh@@.

Golf and sex are about the only things you can enjoy without being good at them.
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