When you sign a $50 million contract I guess you can afford yourself the luxury of making sure you wear your lucky number. Clinton Portis wore #26 with the Broncos his first two years in the league and this winter he was traded to the Washington Redskins, where #26 belonged to defensive back Ifeanyi Ohalete. Luckily, all Portis had to do to get the number was buy Ohalete a new car. Oh yeah, there were two more things: Portis has to let Ohalete use his house for a couple of house parties, and he's got to buy him a 12-pack for every home game.
This must have been what owner Daniel Snyder referred to as 'extras' when Ohalete, who's only making $628,000, signed his one-year contract.
Be careful what you ask for
From the Baltimore Sun:
During his retirement news conference, Shannon Sharpe was asked who was better, Ray Lewis or John Elway? "I'll put it to you like this," he said. "I would take my 1997 [Broncos] team over that 2000 Ravens team ... " Sharpe added, "I'm going to have to take my homeboy, No. 7," referring to Elway.As competitive as Elway was, watching Ray Lewis single-handely win games for the Ravens certainly makes it a tough decision. I'll take Lewis if for no other reason than he could beat me up a lot quicker than Elway.
Tommy gets a raise
Finally. The Steelers are close to giving Tommy Maddox the raise he's been seeking for the last two seasons -- and it looks like they went all out. According to the Pittsburgh Tribune Review Maddox will sign a 4-year $14 million contract that includes a $2 million signing bonus. The contract will be backloaded because the Steelers hope to have Roethlisberger starting in 2005, but for a guy selling insurance and playing in the XFL, and who more recently was the lowest paid starting QB in the NFL, this is like hitting the jackpot. That said, I do think Maddox earned a raise with his performances the last two seasons.
|