How things went awry for Saffold in Oakland : PD

  • To unlock all of features of Rams On Demand please take a brief moment to register. Registering is not only quick and easy, it also allows you access to additional features such as live chat, private messaging, and a host of other apps exclusive to Rams On Demand.

RamBill

Legend
Joined
Jul 31, 2010
Messages
8,874

How things went awry for Saffold in Oakland

• By Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_a7223ed6-9a00-5f94-a5b3-e3cd7c2e99b4.html

Rodger Saffold was in town. His agents were in town. The Oakland Raiders had even flown in Saffold's parents to witness him signing his five-year, $42.5 million free-agent contact. Exciting times.

Then at about 3 p.m. Pacific time Wednesday, Saffold agents Alan Herman and Jared Fox received a call from the Raiders.

"They said, we have a problem. Rodger failed his physical. There's something wrong with his shoulder. What did you know about that?" Herman told the Post-Dispatch.

To say that Herman and Fox were taken aback would be supreme understatement.

Saffold had suffered a dislocated shoulder early in the Rams' August 8 preseason opener in Cleveland. He missed the second preseason game because of the injury but was back in action for the team's final two preseason games and on into the 2013 regular season.

"We had him examined prior to the start of the season," Herman said. "And he was fine. The Rams physicians thought he was fine, and he played and he played great."

All Rams players undergo exit physicals at the end of the season, and Saffold passed that physical as well.

Fast forward to the present and the trip to Oakland to sign the contract. All NFL contract agreements are pending the results of a physical, and Saffold thought he had passed the physical.

"Rodger told us that the Raiders' doctor examined him and said, 'You're fine,' " Herman said.

Then came Wednesday's meeting.

"(The Raiders) said, 'We think he needs immediate surgery to correct his shoulder,' " Herman said.

Saffold had left the Rams on good terms, and Herman offered to get executive vice president Kevin Demoff on the phone to help clarify matters. Herman said he called a specialist he uses for his clients and double-checked the medical records and MRI results on Saffold's shoulder. The specialist gave Herman the OK on Saffold's shoulder.

Herman said Demoff got in touch with him on more than one occasion Wednesday to tell him Saffold's shoulder was fine.

All of which was to no avail, apparently, as far as the Raiders were concerned. After an initial meeting with Raiders officials, a meeting that Herman said included the team's chief financial officer, and an attorney representing the team, among others, Herman and Fox than met with Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie before they left the building.

"He apologized profusely," Herman said of McKenzie. "I shared my displeasure in very strong terms. Jared and I were sitting there in disbelief. We got out of the building and we got back to the hotel."

The Rams hadn't gone down easily last Sunday after learning Saffold was signing elsewhere. Herman said that coach Jeff Fisher, general manager Les Snead, and even linebacker James Laurinaitis had called Saffold to try to get him to change his mind.

After it all unraveled in Oakland, the Rams moved in to fill the void Wednesday night.

"We put together a deal that would be more than satisfactory to Rodger," Herman said. "And now all we want to do is finish it."

As Herman spoke in a phone interview, he and Fox were heading for the airport at about midnight Central time to fly back to St. Louis.

Saffold and his parents were scheduled to fly to St. Louis early Thursday morning, with Demoff himself making the flight arrangements Wednesday night according to Herman.

Herman was confident a contract would be signed by sometime Thursday afternoon.

"For the most part it's done," Herman said. "We've just got to iron out a few of the incentives that we're working on. But we basically have the framework of the deal.

"I don't want to release the framework now only because after going through this I just would like to get there (in St. Louis) and make sure we understand what we've talked about. . . .This is one of the craziest stories ever."

Herman then succinctly summed the bizarre events of the past several days: "We said goodbye to Tampa and hello to Oakland."

(Tampa Bay had also seriously pursued Saffold over the weekend.)

"And we said goodbye to St. Louis, too," Herman said. "St. Louis didn't want to accept goodbye, so here we are coming back."
 

iBruce

Pro Bowler
Joined
Aug 4, 2010
Messages
1,152
Name
Cory
"And we said goodbye to St. Louis, too," Herman said. "St. Louis didn't want to accept goodbye, so here we are coming back."

Rams got our #1 priority FA at, hopefully, a reasonable price. Wearing my Rams jacket at work today in honor of this crazy turn of events.
 

blackbart

Rams On Demand Sponsor
Rams On Demand Sponsor
Joined
Dec 29, 2010
Messages
6,213
Name
Tim
I'm fine with Saffold being back to play G which ever side. I don't think they should depend on him to play T that is just an injury waiting to happen, not too difficult to figure out. His contract should be for no more than $5M base with incentives but those should not take it to more than $6 per year. He is not that good and his history says you need a high quality back up because he will not play the full season.
 

BonifayRam

Legend
Joined
Jan 14, 2013
Messages
13,435
Name
Vernon
I'm fine with Saffold being back to play G which ever side. I don't think they should depend on him to play T that is just an injury waiting to happen, not too difficult to figure out. His contract should be for no more than $5M base with incentives but those should not take it to more than $6 per year. He is not that good and his history says you need a high quality back up because he will not play the full season.

So am I. I would say "Rodger what OG post do you want to play...OK that's just fine with US." Even though RS can play both OT positions I would make a strong effort to keep RS away from both. I would plan on finding a talented rookie Swing OT like Jake Mathews @ 1.2 or even Taylor Lewan with the 1.13 who is a OLT just to keep RS inside. Due to Saffold's pass injury history you will need a OLG or ORG ready to insert when RS goes down. If the Rams do go Gerald Robinson @ 1.2 then RS will be the ORG starter with GR being the OLG starter.

Sad fact and this was my problem with RS...what ever positions he will play for you... you will need to place much effort to ensure the quality of back up is very high meaning with RS you will have additional $$$ cost compliments.
 

jjab360

Legend
Joined
Jan 21, 2013
Messages
6,636
The Rams hadn't gone down easily last Sunday after learning Saffold was signing elsewhere. Herman said that coach Jeff Fisher, general manager Les Snead, and even linebacker James Laurinaitis had called Saffold to try to get him to change his mind.
Chris Williams is somewhere in Buffalo right now, reading this and going "wtf guys, at least a good-bye text message woulda been nice..."
 

Tron

Fights for the User
Joined
Jun 1, 2013
Messages
7,803
Name
Tron
Chris Williams is somewhere in Buffalo right now, reading this and going "wtf guys, at least a good-bye text message woulda been nice..."

He did get two text messages from Fisher.

Text 1 - We want you and miss you. Please come back.

Text 2 - Sorry....wrong number...
 

fearsomefour

Legend
Joined
Jan 15, 2013
Messages
17,080
So inside we now have Wells, Barnes (presumptive resign), Jones, Saffold. Looks a lot like last year. Getting a T in round one that can start week 1 if needed or slide to LG is what's needed now.
Saffold really was the key to this Oline this offseason....granted, all just paper games at this point.
C....Wells, Barnes....G Saffold, Matthews, Jones....T Long, Barksdale, Matthews, Saffold.
That works for me.
 

bwdenverram

Legend
Joined
Jul 25, 2010
Messages
5,497
Name
BW
If only we could release Wells and sign Mack. We'd have a really young but very good OL for quite some time.
 

Alan

Legend
Joined
Oct 22, 2013
Messages
9,765
bwdenverram in love with Mack:
If only we could release Wells and sign Mack. We'd have a really young but very good OL for quite some time.
We can jettison Wells with no dead money and a $4.5 million CAP savings (I think) so what you should be focusing on is the Mack angle.
 

Boffo97

Still legal in 17 states!
Joined
Feb 10, 2014
Messages
5,278
Name
Dave
I wonder if Saffold even got a Raiders jersey out of all this...
 

bwdenverram

Legend
Joined
Jul 25, 2010
Messages
5,497
Name
BW
We can jettison Wells with no dead money and a $4.5 million CAP savings (I think) so what you should be focusing on is the Mack angle.

And to me the cap savings on Wells is an offset of whatever you sign Mack for. Not only that you got much younger and better at the position. Even if it's more than Wells you can spread it out. I just don't know if we can count on Jones yet.
 

Alan

Legend
Joined
Oct 22, 2013
Messages
9,765
We still need to fill some actual holes with a limited amount of CAP money. I don't like going into the season with Wells and getting Mack would be great. Getting Byrd would have been great too. If we can do it all then I'm all for it bwd. Problem is, he's a luxury that we might not be able to afford. I said might but I;'m pretty sure I should have said can't.
 

Tron

Fights for the User
Joined
Jun 1, 2013
Messages
7,803
Name
Tron
We still need to fill some actual holes with a limited amount of CAP money. I don't like going into the season with Wells and getting Mack would be great. Getting Byrd would have been great too. If we can do it all then I'm all for it bwd. Problem is, he's a luxury that we might not be able to afford. I said might but I;'m pretty sure I should have said can't.

I'd love to have Mack, how much do you think he would cost? Cutting Wells would help in making room for him. Still need to re-sign Dunbar as well, though he will be cheapish I imagine.
 

Alan

Legend
Joined
Oct 22, 2013
Messages
9,765
http://mmqb.si.com/2014/03/10/nfl-free-agency-alex-mack/
Focusing On The Center
Alex Mack is young, gifted and ... available? With cash-rich teams ready to spend when free agency begins today, the Browns could be at risk of losing their transition-tagged leader with no compensation. Plus, readers send in their mail
king_large.png

By
Peter King

Suppose, at the dawn of free agency today at 4 p.m. ET, you could buy a 28-year-old player, injury-free and a solid leader. All analysts would say this guy is a top-five player at his position, with seven or eight prime seasons ahead. Suppose he wanted to leave his current team and would structure a contract to make that happen. Suppose he’d been in the NFL for 80 games and started every one of them. And suppose you could do a deal with this player for, say, about 8 percent of your salary cap over the next four or five years.

And suppose the average NFL team, as of this morning, has $21.3 million to spend under the salary cap.

It would be tempting.

That is the case of center Alex Mack.

The Browns took a chance with Mack in the days before free agency dawned, placing the little-used transition tag on him rather than the costlier (by $1 million) franchise tag. Cleveland would get first-round draft-choice compensation if Mack had been franchised and jumped to a new team. But with the transition tag, the rules are different. The Browns committed to paying Mack $10 million in 2014, the average of the 10 highest-paid offensive linemen; if another team makes Mack a contract offer, Cleveland would have five days to match. If the Browns match, they would retain Mack. If they didn’t match, they’d lose him, and would get nothing in compensation from the signing team.

Late Monday, Mack’s agent, Marvin Demoff, told me he thinks he could write a deal that would be tough for the Browns to match. He also said he has not spoken with any teams about Mack, in compliance with the rules that say players who get transition-tagged cannot speak to any interested teams until the free-agent signing period opens.


“I’m confident we can come up with a structure that would have a reasonable likelihood to not be matched by the Browns—and would be in full compliance with the Collective Bargaining Agreement,’’ Demoff said by phone from his Los Angeles office.

(Fairness in journalism here: Demoff is also my agent. Each time I write about a client of his, I make sure you know of the potential conflict of interest, so you can make your own decision whether to believe I am writing the story fairly or not. In this case, you might believe I am writing this column strictly to help Demoff drum up business for Mack. But I feel writing about it shines a light on a player who might be, other than Jimmy Graham, the best player at his position on the market this season, and in a free-agency season in which teams have more money under the cap collectively than they have in years, I believe a column about Mack is valid.)

How will Demoff structure such an offer sheet? That’s publicly unknown right now, but clearly it has to be a structure that lives within in the rules of the CBA—and doesn’t contain a so-called fluky “poison pill’’ clause that some teams have tried to insert in contracts for tagged free-agent players in the past. The poison pill happened in 2006, when transition-tagged Seattle guard Steve Hutchinson was signed to a seven-year, $49-million deal with Minnesota, and the Vikings put in a clause saying the pact would be totally guaranteed if Hutchinson was not the highest-paid offensive lineman on his team. At the time, Walter Jones was the highest-paid Seahawks offensive lineman, so Seattle couldn’t match. The ’Hawks filed a grievance and lost Hutchinson to Minnesota. That deal led the league to forbid clauses specifically designed for the original team to be unable to match.

So if Demoff has an idea up his sleeve, one he is currently unwilling to publicize to other teams till today at 4 p.m., it’s likely he’s researched it and found it passes NFL muster. Any such offer would have to be painful or overly restrictive to Cleveland, a team that has enough money to match any deal and clearly has a ton of respect for Mack—but also a team that has had multiple chances to re-sign Mack and hasn’t gotten it done.

The most likely team to pursue Mack is cash-rich Jacksonville, with a center (Brad Meester) who just retired and a gaping hole there. But I don’t believe the Jags would want to pay a center gigantic money.


We’ll see if another team steps up. If I had to guess, I’d guess no team would step up to give Mack an offer sheet. But if one does, it will be one of the great stories of a wealthy free-agency season.
Hope this helps Tron.