Rams raise offer to Pace
By Jim Thomas
Of the Post-Dispatch
Tuesday, Mar. 15 2005
If you put general managers from all 32 NFL teams in one room and asked them to
decide among
Orlando Pace, Walter Jones and Jonathan Ogden as the league's best
left tackle - it would be quite a discussion.
The three players are that comparable, and that close in skill. It is only
fitting then, that the seven-year, $52.8 million contract Pace is expected to
sign today with the Rams is on the same wavelength as the contracts for
Seattle's Jones and Baltimore's Ogden.
Under the Rams' third contract offer - a revised proposal made Tuesday morning
- Pace will receive:
-$18 million in signing bonus and base salary in Year 1, compared
with $17.7 million for Jones.
-$22 million in the first two years, compared with $21.7 million for
Jones.
-$26 million in the first three years, compared with $26.7 million
for Jones.
In addition, the overall value of the deal is slightly above Jones' $52.5
million deal.
As for Ogden, Pace will receive $2 million more than Ogden three years into the
deal, and $1 million more than Ogden after four years.
None of this was true just 24 hours earlier, under the Rams' previous contract
offer. The Rams were offering Pace $5 million less than Jones after three
years, according to a source familiar with the negotiations. And that was a big
sticking point with Pace and his agents.
For NFL players, money received early in a multi-year contract is important,
because unlike other sports, yearly base salaries aren't guaranteed in
football. That's a particularly important consideration for Jones, 31, because
he will be 38 at the end of his seven-year deal with Seattle. The same is true
for Pace, who turns 30 in November, and would be 37 at the end of a seven-year
deal. They may not see the end of their deals.
So Pace visited the Houston Texans, the Texans made a contract offer, and Pace
hinted broadly about the possibility of a change of scenery. But the landscape
changed Tuesday morning with the Rams' latest - and what one team official
insists is their last - contract offer.
"This is it," the official said. "He takes it; or he doesn't take it."
If Pace does the unexpected, and doesn't take it, it won't be because of
economic issues. It will be because he simply doesn't want to play for the
Rams.
Rams officials remained cautious Tuesday. Pace and his agent neither accepted
nor rejected the proposal when it was presented. Perhaps Pace wanted to sleep
on it.
But the Rams are facing a real deadline today. If all the paperwork on any deal
isn't signed, sealed and delivered to the NFL office by 3 p.m., the Rams would
lose the right to use the franchise tag on any player for the length of Pace's
contract.
And going seven years without having a franchise tag designation at their
disposal is not something the Rams are willing to do. So simply stated, if the
deal's not completed by 3 p.m., there's no deal. And if that's the case, per
league rules, the Rams and Pace's agents can't negotiate again for the next
four months.
In the absence of a contract, team president John Shaw was emphatic Tuesday
that the Rams would not trade Pace to the Texans or anyone else.
"We're not going to trade him," Shaw said. "Let them do an offer sheet. We have
no interest in trading him."
Which is a change from the Rams' stance just three weeks ago.
"We put some feelers out," Shaw said. "It had to be a big-time deal. Really, I
had one conversation with Ernie (Accorsi), and there was never really that much
of a discussion about it."
Accorsi is the New York Giants' general manager.
"The Giants felt like they didn't have enough firepower to trade, so we didn't
discuss it," Shaw said.
If the Texans or anyone else signs Pace to an offer sheet, the Rams have the
opportunity to match the contract - keeping Pace in St. Louis.
And as Shaw said Tuesday, "I can't imagine that Houston's paying him more than
we're offering him. Who knows?"
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