| Five more years for a 40-year-old
cornerback? CB Darrell Green signed a five-year, $10 million contract with the Redskins
Tuesday. If Green plays the full five years, which seems unlikely, he would finish up just
before his 45th birthday after 22 seasons with the team.
A team source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said owner Daniel Snyder initiated
the negotiations for the new contract. Snyder has been close to Green and wanted to
deflect speculation Green would be forced into retirement if the Redskins sign Deion
Sanders. The source said Snyder wanted to make it clear that Green can stay in a Redskins
uniform as long as he wants to keep playing.
Sanders is expected to be released by the Cowboys later this week in a salary-cap move,
and the Redskins are poised to pursue him.
"This will take Darrell out of the discussion" in terms of speculation about
his retirement, the source said.
The source told The Associated Press that the contract includes a $2 million signing
bonus. The contract averages less per year than Green's current five-year, $12.5 million
deal, which has two years remaining, but the source said the new contract works out as a
raise because of the year-by-year salary structures of the two deals.
ProFootballWeekly.com asked contributing editor Joel Buchsbaum to weigh in on the
subject.
Q: How much does Green have left?
Buchsbaum: He still was an above-average NFL corner last year.
Q: He slipped a little bit last year, didn't he?
Buchsbaum: Definitely.
Q: In what regard?
Buchsbaum: In terms of ability to stay with a top receiver one-on-one.
Q: When he first came into the league, a lot of people thought his lack of size
would keep him from having such an excessively long career. How has he been able to beat
the odds?
Buchsbaum: He's just been remarkably lucky and remarkably flexible. There's no
explanation. Why are Clay and Bruce Matthews so durable? Why was Anthony Munoz, who
couldn't stay healthy in college, so durable? Munoz missed over half his college career
with injuries. When he played with the Bengals, the first 11 years he never missed a game
with injury. And at USC he was playing on a grass field, and with the Bengals he was
playing on the worst artificial turf in the league. You can't figure these things out.
Q: Is Green a Hall of Fame candidate?
Buchsbaum: Definitely.
ProFootballWeekly.com also asked editor-in-chief Ron Pollack to discuss Green.
Q: Joel Buchsbaum says you just can't explain longevity like Darrell Green has
enjoyed. Do you agree with that?
Pollack: Absolutely. Even Green would agree with that. I'm looking at my notes from an
interview session with Green a few years ago, and here's what he said on the subject:
"It's just been a blessing. For a little midget guy like me to play and not get broke
up and all that stuff, you and I both know there's no explanation that we can give."
Q: Do you think it's 100 percent luck?
Pollack: Not 100 percent. But it is a lot of luck. Football is such a violent game that
it's amazing a guy Green's size didn't get busted up a long time ago. That said, it sells
Green short not to give him a good deal of credit as well. He trains very hard. He's one
of the truly good guys in the NFL. A cynic might say that doesn't matter, but I disagree.
This is a guy who stays out of trouble. This is a guy who lives his life the right way for
an elite athlete instead of running his body down with a fast lifestyle. Again, I have my
notes from a few years ago, and here is what Green said about this: "There's a simple
catch-all answer which is true. That God has just created me to do this and has uniquely
made me to do it. Some of the practical applications of that is that No. 1, as a
Christian, I've never smoked a cigarette in my life, drank a beer in my life, did any
drugs in my life. I don't run the street. I've been married pretty much my whole career. I
go home at night. So lifestyle is important. I've trained consistently. I have my
priorities straight about that. I have the foundation in my wife and kids and my church,
but there is a time when I have to do what I have to do. And so I've tried to prioritize
that. So lifestyle, workout regimen and consistency in that regimen. Also, I think playing
in this one city has brought a certain amount of stability and focus for me." |
