[CBFF] PBR: ProFootballTalk.com - STEELERS SET STAGE FOR COLLUSIONCHARGE

[Phil DeNomme]

What about signing both of them?

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Subject: [CBFF] PBR: ProFootballTalk.com - STEELERS SET STAGE FOR
COLLUSIONCHARGE

ProFootballTalk.com

STEELERS SET STAGE FOR COLLUSION CHARGE
Posted by Mike Florio on February 20, 2008, 7:38 p.m.


The Pittsburgh Steelers have gone and done it.

According to John Clayton of ESPN.com, the Steelers have applied the
transition tag to tackle Max Starks.

But the device doesn't give the team any type of compensation if he
signs with another team.  Instead, the Steelers have only a right of
first refusal.

The right of first refusal can easily be overcome via a "poison pill"
that makes the full amount of a tender offer guaranteed if, for
example, Starks plays at least five games in any one season at Heinz
Field.  It's a valid device for prompting player movement, and the
league and the union were unable to negotiate this twist out of the
CBA after the Vikings' use of it to snag Steve Hutchinson from the
Seahawks was upheld.

So if a team signs Starks to an offer sheet that doesn't include a
poison pill, the NFL Players Association can (and arguably should)
claim that the NFL franchises have implicitly agreed not to use the
poison pill against each other.

Besides, why would the Steelers give Starks a one-year contract in the
amount of $6.895 million that becomes fully guaranteed if/when he
signs it when they could have secured compensation rights for only
$555,000 more?

Meanwhile, the use of the transition tag on Starks means that guard
Alan Faneca will hit the open market.  Why not use the franchise tag
or the transition tag on him?

All things considered, it was a very bad decision by the one of the
otherwise best front offices in the league.

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