Follow Michael Silver at Mogotxt, Twitter and Facebook.
Along with an eye for talent that ranks among the best in his profession, San Diego Chargers general manager A.J. Smith has relied upon an iron fist in forging his professional identity. Though Smith’s autocratic style has made him unpopular with various players, agents and at least one Internet columnist, the man deserves credit for ruling with conviction and without apology.
That’s why I found it a bit surreal when, during a discussion Monday night about unsigned standouts Marcus McNeill and Vincent Jackson, Smith suddenly started sounding like a dude in serious need of a Snickers bar.
“It hurts,” Smith said. “It hurts when you don’t have your players. How are you going to win a championship without your left tackle and your wideout? I’m sick about it. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how anybody could be more upset about this than me.”
Actually, I do, and his name is Philip Rivers. Two years removed from reconstructive knee surgery, the Chargers’ Pro Bowl quarterback could be staring at a starring role in a horror-tinged remake of “The Blind Side.” Coach Norv Turner, who did such a brilliant job of play-calling in leading San Diego to victories in its final 11 regular season games last season, can’t be too thrilled, either.
If McNeill, a massive left tackle, and Jackson, a supersized wideout who’s been the subject of trade speculation and reportedly will be suspended for three games, follow through on implied threats to skip the first 10 games of the 2010 season, a whole lot of Chargers fans may be upset as well.
This has been a tumultuous offseason in America’s Finest City, beginning with last January’s abrupt playoff exit at the hands of the New York Jets at Qualcomm Stadium. The Chargers, winners of four consecutive AFC West titles, haven’t gotten much good news since. Future Hall of Fame tailback LaDainian Tomlinson was released in February and eventually signed with the New York Jets; veteran defensive tackle Jamal Williams signed with the rival Denver Broncos after being released in a cost-cutting move; and three other players with Pro Bowl experience – restricted free agents McNeill, Jackson and outside linebacker Shawne Merriman – have stayed away from offseason activities while declining to sign the tenders offered by the team.
Of the three, only Merriman seems likely to report to training camp later this month, not that he’s a happy camper.
“You can throw me in the same situation [as Jackson and McNeill],” Merriman said Monday. “I’ve been on the trading block the last year and a half, and I’m tired of hearing it. I was on the trading block Week 3 last year, 11½ months after full knee reconstruction. I’m sitting there like, ‘Huh? What did I do to deserve this?’
“I feel personally [A.J. and I] have good communication. Everybody knows, and I’ve put that out there, that I want to be there. But my thing is, I want to play football and not worry about, ‘Is this gonna happen?’ and not turn around and hear my name on the trading block every five minutes. I mean, who wants to do that? Who wants to come to work everyday and have teammates asking if you’re gonna be there?”
While I respect Smith’s football knowledge and understand his desire to show people who’s boss, I wonder whether his charged public reactions to business disputes can be counterproductive. Several Chargers players have voiced similar concerns. As one veteran told me recently, “He gets too emotional and too tied up in making his points, and when emotions run wild anything can happen. I don’t see other GMs talking the way he’s talking. It creates confusion.”
During our hour-long conversation Monday night, Smith defended his managerial philosophy while explaining his rationale in taking such a tough stance with McNeill and Jackson. Some players and their agents, he reasoned, will always be unhappy about their contracts, and it’s his job to anticipate potential stalemates and come up with contingency plans. He believes in staying true to his principles, even if it seems to hurt his team’s short-term prospects, and in exhibiting a consistent pattern of behavior.
When he believes a player has overplayed his hand, Smith doesn’t hesitate to flex his power – and thanks to the uncertain labor situation, this is the most power he has possessed during his seven-year tenure in San Diego. Because the owners exercised a clause allowing them to opt out of the current collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Players’ Association following the 2010 season, eliminating the salary cap for the final year of the deal, the threshold for unrestricted free agency increased from four to six years of experience. Thus players like McNeill, Jackson and Merriman who otherwise would have been free to negotiate with any team after their contracts expired were stuck with restricted free-agent status.
Meanwhile, given the prospect of a lockout following the 2010 campaign, owners such as the Chargers’ Dean Spanos have resisted doling out long-term contracts.
“Our position now with the labor unrest is we’re going to shut it down and take it slow,” Smith said. “We’re on hold right now. We’re not the lone ranger, but we’re on hold. It’s not forever. I don’t know when we will or when we won’t [start giving out contract extensions]. There is a long list of players in line for them. It’s the longest I’ve ever seen.”
Smith’s list is absolutely written out in order of importance, but he wouldn’t reveal to me where players like McNeill, Jackson and Merriman rank. He did, however, take me through his thought process that led to his public declaration that the team had “lost” McNeill and Jackson after the two players declined to accept their respective one-year tender offers for approximately $3.2 million by the June 15 deadline he imposed.
At that point, as promised, Smith exercised his prerogative to reduce those tender offers to $600,000 (110 percent of their 2009 base salaries) apiece. Predictably, neither McNeill nor Jackson jumped at the opportunity. Under the terms of the CBA, each player can stay away until the 11th game of the 2010 season and still receive credit for a year of service toward unrestricted free agency.
Smith quickly signed a pair of veteran castoffs, tackle Tra Thomas and wideout Josh Reed, to reinforce his message that the two disgruntled starters were essentially dead to him. I told Smith I thought his comments were a bit extreme – after all, veiled threats and feisty rhetoric are part of the negotiation process, and disputes such as these are often worked out via compromises behind the scenes.
“I don’t know why it was ‘extreme,’ ” he protested, “ ‘cause I was being honest. We’re not signing anyone right now. We’re taking our time. Those players would like long-term contracts. What we decided to do, which we thought was fair, was say, ‘Play for $3.2 million, and let’s see what happens at the end of the year with us.’ That was rejected. We told them, ‘On the 15th we’re gonna bring that down to $600,000.’ Their agents told me, ‘Now we’re not coming in for a considerable length of time.’ When they say [through their agents], ‘You’re not going to see us,’ I take them for their word.
“My head is spinning. I’m trying to replace them. I think we’ve got a good football team. We’re losing a left tackle and a wide receiver, I want our team to know they’re gone. Talk about it now, process it while you’re on vacation, get it out of the way. But they’re not coming back, and we have to move on. If those players change their mind, I’ll deal with it then.”
While I think Smith is being a bit of a drama queen, I don’t question the sincerity of his position. Remember, this is the man who set an ultimatum for Antonio Gates to report to training camp in the summer of 2005, and when the star tight end showed up a day after the deadline, Smith delivered on his threat to keep Gates out of the regular season opener – more than two weeks after the fact. The Chargers lost 28-24 to the Dallas Cowboys, failing to convert on four potential touchdown passes down the stretch with their top red-zone threat watching in street clothes.
To Smith, however, the defeat was offset by a greater victory: He was letting his players and their agents know that he’s in charge and won’t back down.
“I try very hard to be consistent,” Smith said, “because if you’re not consistent, they don’t understand where you’re coming from. I can’t change their opinions, but this is the way I am. So when you tell me you’re unhappy, I hear you, and I take you for your word. When I tell you I can’t give you a long-term contract, but I want you to take $3.2 million and help the Chargers win a championship, I would suggest that agents and other people do some research on me and see if there’s a pattern, a history, as to [what will happen next]. I think an agent could say there’s a high percentage of how things are going to be.”
Merriman, whose tender wasn’t subject to a June 15 reduction similar to those experienced by McNeill and Jackson, seems to have accepted this can’t-fight-city-hall premise.
“We’ve got to see what happens,” Merriman said. “My guess is I’m going to be ready to play football. I know we plan on being successful this year. My plan is to have my ass ready when that time comes and come out and be the leader of the defense and try to win a championship. To be honest, I think everything is going to work out for the best. It always has. You run into some speed bumps along the way, but it always works out.”
Once one of the NFL’s up-and-coming stars, the three-time Pro Bowl selection now faces an uncertain NFL future. Merriman, who had a league-high 39½ sacks from 2005-07, tore the posterior cruciate and lateral collateral ligaments in his left knee late in the ’07 season and valiantly played through the injury. After struggling in the ’08 opener, Merriman had season-ending surgery, and the Chargers’ defense noticeably suffered. He had just four sacks and 36 tackles last year, albeit in a scheme less likely to produce big numbers for him than the one he enjoyed under former defensive coordinator Wade Phillips.
Merriman is counting on a time-honored axiom – that players typically showed a marked improvement their second season back from severe knee injuries – as he pushes for a lucrative deal in San Diego or elsewhere.
Smith insists he wants a similar outcome, saying, “That is what you heard for many years in our business: One year removed there’s a significant difference. That’s exactly what I’m hoping, and that’s exactly what Shawne’s hoping. We’re going to find that out. He needs to play. As far as I’m concerned, I expect to see him the first day of camp.”
I asked Smith if he believes Merriman is still an elite player. “I have no idea,” the GM replied. “I don’t think he should be judged an elite player now. His value is frozen in time, and everybody is waiting to see what we have. That’s a pretty significant injury. Sometimes people come back. Sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they come part of the way back. This [season] is huge for him.”
Merriman’s potential comeback, along with the possible extended absences of McNeill and Jackson, are among the juicy subplots as the Chargers seek their first Super Bowl ring in 2010. For all of San Diego’s success since Smith became the GM in 2003, he readily acknowledges that he has fallen short of his primary goal.
“We haven’t won a world championship yet,” he said. “We have not been able to get it done. We cannot crack it. If you’ve not hit it yet, and now you have all these obstacles, it’s not fun at all. The bottom line is we’re all passing through here – the players are, and I am, too. I don’t know when Dean Spanos will knock on my door and not want me anymore. How do you know that? So all I can do is stay true to my philosophy.”
As Smith said this, I wondered: Was he being a drama queen, or was he bluntly stating the facts as he perceives them?
Quite possibly, he was doing both of those things.
Smith holds ground despite unhappiness
Follow Michael Silver at Mogotxt, Twitter and Facebook.
Along with an eye for talent that ranks among the best in his profession, San Diego Chargers general manager A.J. Smith has relied upon an iron fist in forging his professional identity. Though Smith’s autocratic style has made him unpopular with various players, agents and at least one Internet columnist, the man deserves credit for ruling with conviction and without apology.
That’s why I found it a bit surreal when, during a discussion Monday night about unsigned standouts Marcus McNeill and Vincent Jackson, Smith suddenly started sounding like a dude in serious need of a Snickers bar.
“It hurts,” Smith said. “It hurts when you don’t have your players. How are you going to win a championship without your left tackle and your wideout? I’m sick about it. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how anybody could be more upset about this than me.”
Actually, I do, and his name is Philip Rivers. Two years removed from reconstructive knee surgery, the Chargers’ Pro Bowl quarterback could be staring at a starring role in a horror-tinged remake of “The Blind Side.” Coach Norv Turner, who did such a brilliant job of play-calling in leading San Diego to victories in its final 11 regular season games last season, can’t be too thrilled, either.
If McNeill, a massive left tackle, and Jackson, a supersized wideout who’s been the subject of trade speculation and reportedly will be suspended for three games, follow through on implied threats to skip the first 10 games of the 2010 season, a whole lot of Chargers fans may be upset as well.
This has been a tumultuous offseason in America’s Finest City, beginning with last January’s abrupt playoff exit at the hands of the New York Jets at Qualcomm Stadium. The Chargers, winners of four consecutive AFC West titles, haven’t gotten much good news since. Future Hall of Fame tailback LaDainian Tomlinson was released in February and eventually signed with the New York Jets; veteran defensive tackle Jamal Williams signed with the rival Denver Broncos after being released in a cost-cutting move; and three other players with Pro Bowl experience – restricted free agents McNeill, Jackson and outside linebacker Shawne Merriman – have stayed away from offseason activities while declining to sign the tenders offered by the team.
Of the three, only Merriman seems likely to report to training camp later this month, not that he’s a happy camper.
“You can throw me in the same situation [as Jackson and McNeill],” Merriman said Monday. “I’ve been on the trading block the last year and a half, and I’m tired of hearing it. I was on the trading block Week 3 last year, 11½ months after full knee reconstruction. I’m sitting there like, ‘Huh? What did I do to deserve this?’
“I feel personally [A.J. and I] have good communication. Everybody knows, and I’ve put that out there, that I want to be there. But my thing is, I want to play football and not worry about, ‘Is this gonna happen?’ and not turn around and hear my name on the trading block every five minutes. I mean, who wants to do that? Who wants to come to work everyday and have teammates asking if you’re gonna be there?”
While I respect Smith’s football knowledge and understand his desire to show people who’s boss, I wonder whether his charged public reactions to business disputes can be counterproductive. Several Chargers players have voiced similar concerns. As one veteran told me recently, “He gets too emotional and too tied up in making his points, and when emotions run wild anything can happen. I don’t see other GMs talking the way he’s talking. It creates confusion.”
During our hour-long conversation Monday night, Smith defended his managerial philosophy while explaining his rationale in taking such a tough stance with McNeill and Jackson. Some players and their agents, he reasoned, will always be unhappy about their contracts, and it’s his job to anticipate potential stalemates and come up with contingency plans. He believes in staying true to his principles, even if it seems to hurt his team’s short-term prospects, and in exhibiting a consistent pattern of behavior.
When he believes a player has overplayed his hand, Smith doesn’t hesitate to flex his power – and thanks to the uncertain labor situation, this is the most power he has possessed during his seven-year tenure in San Diego. Because the owners exercised a clause allowing them to opt out of the current collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Players’ Association following the 2010 season, eliminating the salary cap for the final year of the deal, the threshold for unrestricted free agency increased from four to six years of experience. Thus players like McNeill, Jackson and Merriman who otherwise would have been free to negotiate with any team after their contracts expired were stuck with restricted free-agent status.
Meanwhile, given the prospect of a lockout following the 2010 campaign, owners such as the Chargers’ Dean Spanos have resisted doling out long-term contracts.
“Our position now with the labor unrest is we’re going to shut it down and take it slow,” Smith said. “We’re on hold right now. We’re not the lone ranger, but we’re on hold. It’s not forever. I don’t know when we will or when we won’t [start giving out contract extensions]. There is a long list of players in line for them. It’s the longest I’ve ever seen.”
Smith’s list is absolutely written out in order of importance, but he wouldn’t reveal to me where players like McNeill, Jackson and Merriman rank. He did, however, take me through his thought process that led to his public declaration that the team had “lost” McNeill and Jackson after the two players declined to accept their respective one-year tender offers for approximately $3.2 million by the June 15 deadline he imposed.
At that point, as promised, Smith exercised his prerogative to reduce those tender offers to $600,000 (110 percent of their 2009 base salaries) apiece. Predictably, neither McNeill nor Jackson jumped at the opportunity. Under the terms of the CBA, each player can stay away until the 11th game of the 2010 season and still receive credit for a year of service toward unrestricted free agency.
Smith quickly signed a pair of veteran castoffs, tackle Tra Thomas and wideout Josh Reed, to reinforce his message that the two disgruntled starters were essentially dead to him. I told Smith I thought his comments were a bit extreme – after all, veiled threats and feisty rhetoric are part of the negotiation process, and disputes such as these are often worked out via compromises behind the scenes.
“I don’t know why it was ‘extreme,’ ” he protested, “ ‘cause I was being honest. We’re not signing anyone right now. We’re taking our time. Those players would like long-term contracts. What we decided to do, which we thought was fair, was say, ‘Play for $3.2 million, and let’s see what happens at the end of the year with us.’ That was rejected. We told them, ‘On the 15th we’re gonna bring that down to $600,000.’ Their agents told me, ‘Now we’re not coming in for a considerable length of time.’ When they say [through their agents], ‘You’re not going to see us,’ I take them for their word.
“My head is spinning. I’m trying to replace them. I think we’ve got a good football team. We’re losing a left tackle and a wide receiver, I want our team to know they’re gone. Talk about it now, process it while you’re on vacation, get it out of the way. But they’re not coming back, and we have to move on. If those players change their mind, I’ll deal with it then.”
While I think Smith is being a bit of a drama queen, I don’t question the sincerity of his position. Remember, this is the man who set an ultimatum for Antonio Gates to report to training camp in the summer of 2005, and when the star tight end showed up a day after the deadline, Smith delivered on his threat to keep Gates out of the regular season opener – more than two weeks after the fact. The Chargers lost 28-24 to the Dallas Cowboys, failing to convert on four potential touchdown passes down the stretch with their top red-zone threat watching in street clothes.
To Smith, however, the defeat was offset by a greater victory: He was letting his players and their agents know that he’s in charge and won’t back down.
“I try very hard to be consistent,” Smith said, “because if you’re not consistent, they don’t understand where you’re coming from. I can’t change their opinions, but this is the way I am. So when you tell me you’re unhappy, I hear you, and I take you for your word. When I tell you I can’t give you a long-term contract, but I want you to take $3.2 million and help the Chargers win a championship, I would suggest that agents and other people do some research on me and see if there’s a pattern, a history, as to [what will happen next]. I think an agent could say there’s a high percentage of how things are going to be.”
Merriman, whose tender wasn’t subject to a June 15 reduction similar to those experienced by McNeill and Jackson, seems to have accepted this can’t-fight-city-hall premise.
“We’ve got to see what happens,” Merriman said. “My guess is I’m going to be ready to play football. I know we plan on being successful this year. My plan is to have my ass ready when that time comes and come out and be the leader of the defense and try to win a championship. To be honest, I think everything is going to work out for the best. It always has. You run into some speed bumps along the way, but it always works out.”
Once one of the NFL’s up-and-coming stars, the three-time Pro Bowl selection now faces an uncertain NFL future. Merriman, who had a league-high 39½ sacks from 2005-07, tore the posterior cruciate and lateral collateral ligaments in his left knee late in the ’07 season and valiantly played through the injury. After struggling in the ’08 opener, Merriman had season-ending surgery, and the Chargers’ defense noticeably suffered. He had just four sacks and 36 tackles last year, albeit in a scheme less likely to produce big numbers for him than the one he enjoyed under former defensive coordinator Wade Phillips.
Merriman is counting on a time-honored axiom – that players typically showed a marked improvement their second season back from severe knee injuries – as he pushes for a lucrative deal in San Diego or elsewhere.
Smith insists he wants a similar outcome, saying, “That is what you heard for many years in our business: One year removed there’s a significant difference. That’s exactly what I’m hoping, and that’s exactly what Shawne’s hoping. We’re going to find that out. He needs to play. As far as I’m concerned, I expect to see him the first day of camp.”
I asked Smith if he believes Merriman is still an elite player. “I have no idea,” the GM replied. “I don’t think he should be judged an elite player now. His value is frozen in time, and everybody is waiting to see what we have. That’s a pretty significant injury. Sometimes people come back. Sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they come part of the way back. This [season] is huge for him.”
Merriman’s potential comeback, along with the possible extended absences of McNeill and Jackson, are among the juicy subplots as the Chargers seek their first Super Bowl ring in 2010. For all of San Diego’s success since Smith became the GM in 2003, he readily acknowledges that he has fallen short of his primary goal.
“We haven’t won a world championship yet,” he said. “We have not been able to get it done. We cannot crack it. If you’ve not hit it yet, and now you have all these obstacles, it’s not fun at all. The bottom line is we’re all passing through here – the players are, and I am, too. I don’t know when Dean Spanos will knock on my door and not want me anymore. How do you know that? So all I can do is stay true to my philosophy.”
As Smith said this, I wondered: Was he being a drama queen, or was he bluntly stating the facts as he perceives them?
Quite possibly, he was doing both of those things.