BY JIM THOMAS
Post-Dispatch
09/14/2004
Last March,
Orlando Pace strongly hinted that he was contemplating changing agents.
``There will probably be some changes in the future,'' he told the Post-Dispatch on March 25.
Turns out Pace wasn't kidding. Pace has fired Houston-based agent Carl Poston as his representative in contract negotiations.
The NFL Players Association confirmed Tuesday that Pace filed termination papers on Sept. 2.
Under normal procedures, both the agent and the NFLPA receives notification when a player is firing an agent. The player must wait at least five days before hiring a new agent, to make sure the old agent has had sufficient time to be notified that he is being terminated.
``At this point (Pace) has not signed with anybody,'' an NFLPA official said Tuesday.
According to NFLPA documents, when Pace signed his one-year, $7.02 million tender on Sept. 5, under the ``agent'' heading he listed himself.
Contracts must be signed both by the player and his agent. Rams president of football operations Jay Zygmunt confirmed Tuesday that Pace's signature appears under both the ``player'' and ``agent'' headings on the contract.
``He did sign his contract representing himself,'' Zygmunt said. ``In all honesty, he said he was representing himself. That's all he said.''
Zygmunt figured it wasn't the place or the time to ask Pace whether he was firing Poston or hiring a new agent. Even on Tuesday, Zygmunt said, ``I haven't been advised of anything.''
The mere act of Pace signing the contract as his own agent potentially cost Poston as much as $210,000. NFL agents can charge clients as much as 3 percent on any contract.
(Some agents don't charge when a player signs a franchise tender, because in essence it's a non-negotiated contract.)
In any event, there had been much confusion on the matter recently. In an interview with local media Thursday at Rams Park, Pace seemed to give Poston a vote of confidence, saying in part, ``I always have confidence in the people that represent me. . . .''
But in hindsight, those remarks might have been misinterpreted, because he never specifically mentioned Carl Poston, or his brother Kevin Poston, in those comments.
Then on Sunday, FOX television reported that Pace was terminating his relationship with Poston. But after the game, Pace first hedged on the subject, then seemed to issue a denial that he had fired Poston.
One reason Pace may be reluctant to confirm firing Poston is that he almost certainly will be bombarded by agents seeking his services. In addition, Pace is a private person who -- believe it or not -- doesn't like controversy.
Regardless, the NFLPA document makes it official. So does the fact that Poston's name is not on the one-year contract.
This may also explain Poston's comments to the Post-Dispatch on the night of Sept. 5. Right around the time Pace was signing his tender at Rams Park, Poston said from Houston:
``I've encouraged him to come in. I've instructed him to sign the one-year tender. But I can't make the big fellow come in. He's frustrated with the team.''
Poston either wasn't yet aware that he had been fired by Pace, or didn't want it to become public knowledge. On Tuesday, Pace and Poston did not return phone messages from the Post-Dispatch.
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