John Steigerwald: Just Give Hines His Money

By John Steigerwald
For SteelersLIVE 'Xtra
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Wednesday, August 10, 2005

He’s about to turn 30.
He’s not a big play guy.
He was offered the richest contract in team history.
He’d never get the kind of money he’s asking for anywhere else.
He should have known whom he was dealing with.

Those are just some of the things being said and written about Hines Ward since he decided not to show up at Steelers training camp on July 31st.

Let’s start with his age. He just turned 29 in March. According to my calculations, that makes him 30 next year.

So what?

When did 30 become old for a wide receiver, anyway?

Tim Brown was 30 in 1996. He caught 90 passes for 1,104 yards and nine touchdowns.
Steve Largent was 30 in 1984 and caught 74 passes for 1,164 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Keenan McCardell was 30 in 2000. He caught 94 passes for 1,207 yards and five touchdowns.
Isaac Bruce was 30 in 2002 .He caught 79 passes for 1,075 yards and seven touchdowns.
Jimmy Smith was 30 in 1999. He caught 116 passes for 1,636 yards and six touchdowns.
Bruce was 32 last season and caught 89 passes for 1,292 yards and six touchdowns.

You want a Steelers reference? John Stallworth was 32 in 1984 when he had his best year as a Steeler — 80 catches, 1,395 yards and 11 touchdowns. The 1,395 yards was the Steelers record until Yancey Thigpen beat it by three yards in 1997.

Still think 30 is a problem? Did I mention that Ward is only 29?

You don’t think Ward is a big play guy? Why? Because he only averaged 12.7 yards per catch?
There are lots of 20 yard receptions that aren’t big plays and there are lots of eight yard catches that are huge plays. Ward has made plenty of huge short catches and lots of big play blocks.

How about that richest contract in Steelers history that he turned down? Aren’t we getting into “cutest fat girl at the prom” territory here? Jerome Bettis referred to the Steelers as “frugal” last week. You can be pretty sure that he uses a different word for the Rooney’s approach when he’s not in front of a microphone.

You think Ward’s only valuable to the Steelers and wouldn’t get big money on the open market? Nobody knows until he goes on the market — including the Steelers.

And what about the Steelers’ history with holdouts? Shouldn’t Ward have known that the Steelers would never blink? Every good Steelers fan knows that the Rooneys have a long-standing policy of refusing to negotiate with a player who does not report to camp. They’re proud of their consistency on that issue and most of the local media seemed to praise them for it, but I remember another policy that the Rooneys used to have. Remember when they would never ask a player under contract to renegotiate in order to solve salary cap problems? They never bent on that one, either. That policy is no longer in effect.

Just ask Jerome Bettis.

The Steelers couldn’t survive in the salary cap world without the willingness of players to renegotiate their contracts. Times change. Holding out has always been the only weapon a player has had and, by the way, the policy of refusing to negotiate with a player who’s not in camp seems a lot more reasonable when the player gets his first real offer three months before the reporting date instead of 24 hours before.

Could we also please stop with the, “Ward should realize there are people out there who won’t make $1.6 million in their entire lifetime” arguments? Nothing could be more irrelevant. There are also people out there who wouldn’t run one pass route over the middle of an NFL field for $1.6 million.

Is Hines Ward Greedy? If he is, he’s no more greedy than the Rooneys, who have seen the value of their franchise double to about $800 million in the last four years. If they give Hines Ward a few million more dollars, they’ll never miss it and they can spread it out over several years so that it would only count as a few hundred thousand per year against the salary cap.

Keep in mind that all NFL teams will go from about $75 million per year each in national TV money to $125 million next year. The salary cap will be going way up, too.

Show Hines the money.