Monday, September 12, 2005

Self righteous people, this is for you

Hope you recover fully, Javon

Next time you read someone ripping a player, especially an NFL player, holding out to get paid what he thinks he's worth, remember this picture. Javon Walker took a ton of flack for holding out and trying to get paid like the big time wideout he was last season. His contract paid him only $515,000 this season, a far cry from the millions of dollars other players his ability level are paid. $515,000 is a lot, but it's not enough to leave you set for life - he will have to work after his football career and probably for far less than he's making.

So he had a chance to get paid, and he used every bit of leverage he could get. Too bad for him that even his own teammates piled on, led by Brett Favre. The Packer's public shareholders wouldn't cave in. Favre said he'd get paid if he just showed up and played. So he came out and played, and tore his ACL in the first game. It's very possible that Walker will never come back from his injury anywhere near the player he was before. His days as a true #1 WR in the NFL are possibly over.

As Michael Irvin said on Monday Night Prime Time tonight, is Brett Favre going to make sure Javon Walker gets his money now? Or has he just been completely screwed by his teammates, fans and organization - and don't say the Packer's are going to stick by him, they'll cut him the moment they find out he can't run like he used to. So the next time you self-righteously tear into a player for wanting a new deal, stop yourself and remember Walker riding off the field on a golf cart, his chances of setting himself and his family up for life probably dashed away in the 5 seconds it took to run a go route down the sideline.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

One thing to consider....

It's a proven fact that there is a coorelation between injuries and conditioning. Guys in better shpe do not get hurt. I'm not saying that Jevon did not keep in shape during his holdout, but it's worth asking if he would ahve gotten hurt if he had shown for camp and was in better shape.
Personally I think they should all get paid $150,000 a year. They ar egetting paid to play a game for pete's sake.

9:26 AM  

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