USA Today article on Al Harris

[Chubbyhubby]

GreenBay Packers cornerback Al Harris, 31: "Just ask any NFL reciever, and they will tell you that Al Harris is the most underrated cornerback in the league." NFL Network analyst Solomon Wilcots says. (He is a) pure technician in bump-'n'-run coverage, which is becoming a lost art. His unusually long arms allow for complete control and devastating jams at the line of scrimmage. Exellent at baiting quarterbacks by disguising his man or zone assignments.

[Murphy37]

Harris is fun to watch. He is freakishly strong for a little guy too. I thought I read somewhere that he can bench 4 bills. That's alot of weight for a dude who weighs less than 200 lbs. But it would explain his elite ability at the bump and run. His speed, or lack there of can hurt him at times, and I fear that he does not have many yrs. left in him. Thus, I would not be suprised if he never gets a big contract, and one of the young guys is groomed for his position. Should be interesting to see what happens after this year. I say he's the starter for this year, but not next. Just a hunch.

[billy_oliver880]

I guess I never saw the problem with the contract he has right now. It seems fair...no?

[packerpete]

Harris' contract is fair, he evaluated it as such when he signed the goddam thing.

If these no-brained players wanna keep crying about money, just sign one year deals.

Oh, thats right, if they only sign one year deals, they cant extort huge signing bonuses.

Convenient how these guys forget how much up-front cash they ran off with as soon as their salary is all they are making.

Where, oh where, has integrity gone in this crazy world?

[Patler]

Player get upset with the team for their contracts. They should be angry with their agents, financial advisors and others who are supposed to look after their best interests.

[Rastak]

I guess I never saw the problem with the contract he has right now. It seems fair...no?

Perfectly fair...I thought GB showed faith in the guy and gave him a nice deal. I have no idea why he'd be pissed. I'm guessing it all goes away once training camp starts because I doubt Thompson will bend an inch, nor should he, the guys contract is fine.

[hurleyfan]

Player get upset with the team for their contracts. They should be angry with their agents, financial advisors and others who are supposed to look after their best interests.

They need to look in the freaking mirror!

[red]

Player get upset with the team for their contracts. They should be angry with their agents, financial advisors and others who are supposed to look after their best interests.

absolutely sham

they have to blame their agents and themselves. he signed it and thought it was a great deal when he signed it

now get your ass to practice. he isn't that good where he can just sit back and rely on his talent

[Fritz]

Hey, the market changes, and you want your salary to reflect the market. I still don't understand why, when a team cuts a guy who has a contract, nobody seems to mind. That's not honoring the contract. But when a guy would like to re-do his contract, everybody's all up about "honor" and other ideals. Why shouldn't an NFL team have to honor a contract they made, no matter how stupid (i.e. Cletidus Hunt) it was?

[theeaterofshades]

Hey, the market changes, and you want your salary to reflect the market. I still don't understand why, when a team cuts a guy who has a contract, nobody seems to mind. That's not honoring the contract. But when a guy would like to re-do his contract, everybody's all up about "honor" and other ideals. Why shouldn't an NFL team have to honor a contract they made, no matter how stupid (i.e. Cletidus Hunt) it was?

Bull puckey. They honor it through signing bonus money. If players can hold out and demand more $ when they "exceed" their contract, shouldn't teams be able to ask for $ back when they play under their contracts.

The only way to make things fair for performance would be to:

Have a base pay amount dependant on player's position and years in teh league. after that everything is incentives. Insure for a percentage higher in case of injury.

You have to play to get $

[HarveyWallbangers]

I think the truth is somewhere in between.

[The Leaper]

Harris can be pissed off as much as he wants...he isn't getting a new deal. He's aging and is stuck under a lengthy deal. He has no leverage to hold out either with Carroll right behind him on the depth chart.

Honestly, Harris may be slightly underpaid...but that was the chance Harris took by signing a new contract early. He could've waited when McKenzie skipped town...and when Carroll and Thomas didn't pan out right away, he might have gotten a much better deal. Harris chose to simply take a good deal right away instead of roll the dice...he made his choice, and now he is stuck with it.

[NoVaDMak]

I agree with Harv, its a case by case scenario which is why some players get contracts extended, and some don't. I'd like to believe that these guys play for the love of the game, but reality shows that a lot of them don't. I truly hate the sense of entitlement that makes players believe that they "deserve" millions of dollars for playing a kids game. Everytime I think of holdouts, my blood pressure seems to shoot through the roof. Damn my love for all sports relating to Wisconsin.

I would love to see a system based on incentives live shades suggests, but that would never happen. Ever.

[Chester Marcol]

We definatley live in different times. Isn't Woodsen's contract more than Harris'? Is that what started this? We may be coming to the day where long term contracts are writen in a way to keep the laters years more adjustable and keep people from pulling this stuff. Like in Harris' case it could have been written, If you are the number one corner at the begining of your third year of this contract, we will re-evaluate your salary and adjust it to a relative contract for that time or something along those lines. It sucks when no one has to honor a contract in the NFL anymore, but it seems to be the sign of the times. 1 year deals won't work but it seems 5 year deals are no longer working.

[Noodle]

I think what's hard to factor in is the salary cap. A deal that seems fair when the available pool is 40M looks a whole lot less fair when the cap moves to 80m.

So I'm wondering whether guys might try negotiating deals that are not fixed dollar amounts but instead are fixed percentages of the cap. Owners would hate it, but screw them, when was the last time they ever blew somebody up in the hole.