Kendall feels betrayed by Mangini By Jason Cole, Yahoo! Sports June 27, 2007 New York Jets guard Pete Kendall wants a pay raise and is not afraid of burning bridges to get it. Kendall is seeking at least a $1 million salary increase to a minimum of $2.7 million for the 2007 season and reiterated his desire to be released by the Jets if a new deal is not reached. His growing frustration results from his belief that he's being treated unfairly by an organization he's sacrificed for in the past and a head coach, Eric Mangini, who he feels betrayed him. "I thought I was somebody (Mangini) valued," said Kendall, who is entering his fourth season with the Jets. "At a certain point, he told me some things that, frankly, I was surprised to hear from him. He told me he appreciated that I was so candid with him and he wanted me to continue to be that way because he wasn't always sure that he was getting that from other people in the building." The Jets didn't respond to a message seeking comment. Kendall said the confidence Mangini showed in him was one of many reasons why he felt justified in asking for a raise after taking a pay cut before last season. Both Kendall, who would welcome being released if he doesn't receive a new deal, and Pittsburgh Steelers guard Alan Faneca have been vocal in their displeasure with their contracts after seeing the likes of Derrick Dockery, Eric Steinbach and Kris Dielman average at least $6.5 million annually on their new contracts. "I'm not even looking to get into that range," said Kendall, who will be 34 this season. "I just want to get back to what I agreed to in 2004 when I signed with the Jets. That was $3 million per season." Furthermore, Kendall said he felt he has been deceived by the Jets after adjusting his salary downward before the past two seasons, both times with three years remaining on his contract. With the second restructuring, Kendall's contract was extended through 2009. The Jets have told him that they will not give him the raise because he has three years remaining. "So it's OK for me to take a pay cut with three years remaining on my deal, but it's not OK for me to get a raise with three years left?" Kendall said, rhetorically. "They say that if they did that, there'd be a line started outside the door immediately with guys wanting to redo their deals. "To me, I showed loyalty to the club by playing hurt and playing out of position (in 2005), which basically ended up hurting my value," Kendall said. "Now that I've showed my play is back to where it was, they don't want to show the same loyalty to me." Kendall said that if he reports for the start of training camp "it won't be all hugs and kisses" with Mangini, and he's not sure if he'll report at all. He risks being fined $14,000 per day he misses. "I'm thinking about whether to do that," he said. Jason Cole is a national NFL writer for Yahoo! Sports. Send Jason a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.
Someone just stick a sock in this guys mouth. He's really burned all bridges with the team. I'd venture to say that he's gone beyond the point of no return, and is embedded deeply in the bowels of the nation of Prickdom.
He has a point about contracts being adjustable only at the club's whim and not the players. This is a longstanding imbalance in the player-management relationship that stems from the non-guaranteed (NFL is the only major sport with non-guaranteed contracts) nature of an NFL player contract. I still don't think he's worth paying the extra money to but I do think he has a point.
Well, this is an end that Mangini can not leave hanging. Something will be done. Mangini will not want to start camp with turmoil in the locker room.
Where does he have a point? He made 5 Million last year and 1.7 million this year pro rates out to 3.35 per. He wants to get back to 3 million which would pro rate out to 4 million per. He got upfront additional guaranteed money last year to take a pay cut on a none guaranteed contract portion going forward. At his age guaranteed money is worth substantially more than out years were he could get hurt, cut or simply not be good enough anymore. I don't see any problem with the Jets doing nothing and letting Kendal work out a sign and trade deal, wait for a guard to get hurt in TC or pre-season and work out a sign and trade or for the Jets to sign a cut guard and release Kendall at a later date. I don't think him bitching matters at all. If he has real value, the Jets will be able to move him for it.
The things Kendall is saying now about Mangini sound awfully similr to what John Abraham said about Herm when he didn't get a new contract and not unlike Larveunes Coles saying Herm promised him they'd be together as long as Herm coached the Jets. These players should at leats understand that while the coaches have input in personnel/contarct issues, it is ultimately the GM and owner that is going to make those decisions. I love Kendall's line that it "won't be all hugs and kisses with Mangini". I don't see Eric getting warm and fuzzy with any of his players.
WTF.....Kendall cries more than a lil bitch...everyday something new with this guy....get this tard outta here already
"I thought I was somebody (Mangini) valued," said Kendall. Not any more, pal. You burned the bridge into oblivion. You now fall into the category of "locker room distraction." Bye-bye... "At a certain point, he told me some things that, frankly, I was surprised to hear from him." Stop airing personal conversations with your coach to the media. You haven't learned yet in all your years that this will get you absolutely nowhere? "He told me he appreciated that I was so candid with him and he wanted me to continue to be that way because he wasn't always sure that he was getting that from other people in the building." Okay, so now we're passing along even the most confidential of conversations to the press? And exactly how this is supposed to promote further dialogue between you and Coach Mangini to resolve the issue? This statement as absolutely NOTHING to do with your contract and everything to do with personally denegrating and impugning your HC. Pal, you are SO history around here it isn't even funny.
I think Kendall does have a point. It was OK the cut the pay with 3 years still remaining? But he should really Stfu now.
Yeah, he's made his point. People are just going to get sick of hearing him bitch every day. I know I am.
Name me one other venue in life where a contract binds one party and not the other. NFL players can't even sue their employers for breach of contract if the team decides to void the contract. This is a result of very weak and collusive practices by the NFLPA in the past and present. If Gene Upshaw was a labor union leader in any major industry he'd be under investigation for racketeering.
It might seem as though he has a point. He does not. 1. The club may ask for a paycut from the players. He can either agree, or disagree and walk. If he's that good, once he hits the streets, there is bound to be someone waiting to pick him up anyway. It's not like the club has gun pointed at his head, coercing him to sign the restructured contract. Is this paycut something of performance-based restructuring? I seriously doubt if that is the motivation in these days of NFL. (If this were to be true, bottom-dwellers will always have more than a few gazillion bucks under the cap. Likewise, no team will reward one year of good service with fatter contract. That way we have the Pats going a few hundred million dollars above the cap. That is NOT how things are done in the NFL, I can assure you.) In short: if a player sucks real bad, the team will "release" him right off, but they are quite unlikely to negotiate him into restructuring. In other words, Kendall can say what he will, about how he is loyal, and how he played through injuries, and out of position, yada yada yada. They have absolutely no relevance to the contract situation. 2. When these renewed deals are consummated, usually it involves "signing bonus" of some sort - the kind of bonus that wouldn't have been there for him if the club didn't suggest the deal. So he's getting compensated up front somewhat. Talk about that, Pete. (Little money-grabbing whore that he is, he won't.)
The players are protected through the bonus feature which is guaranteed money before they provide any service at all. In the real world, most bonus money is based on performance after the fact. The NFL and the players have negiotated a deal that binds the player because the player has taken up front money to be bound.
This is exactly right. He just signed a new deal last year! Its not like this is year 5 of a rookie deal. He agreed to make over 5 million last year in exchange for 1.7 this year. Alot of contracts are front loaded because there is no guarantee you will get all the contract. I just hope he holds out and they fine him 14,000 a day. Then at the end of training camp when he is down $500,000 I would release him right before the season starts.
Yes, but when players restructure in the team's favor it is usually as an alternative to being released because the team has cap issues. The player is always free to NOT restructure, get released, and hit the open market. They will usually stay for less money because they're not confident they could get a better deal elsewhere &/or they just really want to stay with that franchise.
So it's your opinion that right now Kendall can walk and sell his services to the highest bidder? Just checking, because it's my understanding that he is still bound to the Jets despite his unhappiness with his contract, whereas the Jets can just cut him at any time if they are unhappy.
The pressure to restructure comes solely from the fact that contracts are not guaranteed. If contracts were guaranteed then players would never restructure and teams would have to make more realistic choices in how and under what terms they signed players.
And that deal is as unbalanced as any contracting system that exists. If a player says no to the upfront structure and demands a guaranteed contract he'll never get signed. This is unique among professional sports and it only works because the NFLPA is a weak organization, lead by people who collude with management. Note that it is in the agent's interests to have the money upfront also, because they get a big chunk right now and don't have to be worried about the player firing them a year or two down the road. They've already got their money.
...and that's been Pricky Pete's strategy all aong, reveal all, personal conversations, etc., to piss of Jet's management to the point where they'd be happy to cut him so he can move on. His strategy may just work....I used to think "same old Cardinals" when they cut Pricky Pete for no apparent reason, but now I can see why they cut ties for nothing in return....
When you say the NFLPA is weak, they have negiotated a deal that guarantees the players over 50% of the largest revenue stream of any sports league in the history of the World. Players choose their agents, not the team. If a player from an open pool of legal and finacail advisers chooses an agent who doesn't have their best interest at heart, that's not the teams problem.
