May

20

Rosenhaus Sports: Getting Paid at the Expense of Team Chemistry Since 1990

Posted by Doug Lavender under New York Jets, Off the Cuff 

rosenhaus
Thomas Jones’ agent, Drew Rosenhaus, has announced that his client will attend the organized team activities starting next Wednesday. What a great guy. I guess the pressure of not only the Jets’ decision to trade up and draft Shonn Greene but also the seemingly impending re-signing of Leon Washington to a long term mega-deal finally got through to him.

How selfish do you have to be to front-load a contract in the first 2 years and then holdout once the salary concession that you agreed to in that same contract kicks into place? Jones was paid $13,100,000 in his first two years as a Jet, and has to “settle” for a $950,000 salary this year. Sorry Thomas, but isn’t that your signature at the bottom of this document? Tough luck, play hard and maybe we’ll reward you in 2011. I wonder what would happen to me if I decided to hold out of my job.

This is why Drew Rosenhaus is bad for football. I know deep down that Thomas is a team player, but with all of Rosenhaus’ banter in his ear, how could he be possibly committed to the team over his own finances?

Thomas has always been a platoon guy his whole career (maybe not when he was with the Bears but before AND after), and the Jets traded for him, signed him long-term and gave him a starting job.

He’s known for his hard work and dedication to fitness. They did their research, liked what they found, and gave him the money that Chicago wouldn’t. Now, it seems they’re being chastised for it – and all because of Drew Rosenhaus.

You think that Thomas was sly enough to pull off this kind of deal? The kind of deal that would make him one the NFL’s highest paid running backs over the first 2 years of the deal, all the while planning that they would holdout for more? TJ is going to be 31, and while he led the AFC in rushing in 2008 he was helped by one of the best offensive lines in the game. The offensive line is bringing back all 5 starters this year for the first time since 2001, and if Thomas was smart, he would have taken advantage of that and been working out with them since the beginning.

Now, he’s ruined his image in my mind because Drew is looking to cash in on another commission check based on the season that TJ put together. He shouldn’t be taking advice from a money-grubbing, flashbulb-loving, glorified publicity whore like Rosenhaus. I have no doubt in my mind that Shonn Greene will be able to duplicate the numbers that TJ had last year if given the same number of carries.

While slightly less fleet-afoot, Shonn’s vision has been compared to that of Curtis Martin by Jets’ scouts and he is also a workout freak. I’d be willing to bet my bottom dollar that Thomas decided to end this holdout for his own good, and Drew had to just sit back and take it.

So lets start the downfall of Rosenhaus as an elite NFL agent by making an example out of Thomas as to what can happen when you take advice from the wrong people for the wrong reasons. Lets trade TJ for a playmaking wideout and/or a pick while he’s still the top rusher in the AFC and maximize his value.

While he’s a workout maniac, that doesn’t change the fact that his body will inevitably break down with age, and given how little talent Sanchez/Clemens will have at WR, we need to address that need. Plaxico will almost indefinitely be in jail or suspended for 2009, so until something changes with that situation, let’s start the no-BS Rex Ryan era off with a statement trade.

What kind of person could deal with listening to the independent bitching of Ochocinco, T.O., ‘Quan, Lito Sheppard, Kellen Winslow Jr, and Jeremy Shockey? An agent who understands how to be selectively selfish, pick his battles, and whose ego is on par with those.


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