POSTED 7:04 a.m. EDT; LAST UPDATED 7:28 a.m. EDT, June 8, 2007
CULPEPPER DEMANDS RELEASE
Immediately after news broke that quarterback Trent Green was being traded to the Dolphins, quarterback Daunte Culpepper (who still serves as his own agent and thus still has a fool for a client) took the high road, expressing a desire to compete for the starting job and saying nothing about wanting out.
As we read the tea leaves at the time, we think that Culpepper knew there was a very good chance he'd be dumped, and thus he wanted to appear to be the bigger man in all of this.
The next morning, however, the Fins told Culpepper that he no longer fit into the plans, and that the team was trying to trade him. Initially, Culpepper said that he did not wish to be traded, and that he wanted to either remain on the team or be released.
He now has asked the team to cut him. Now.
"I feel it is necessary to obtain a release rather than seek a trade so that I would not bring the excess baggage of my present contract to a new team,'' Culpepper said in his latest media e-mail (for some reason, we're not on the distribution list). "I feel like my next team should have the opportunity to get to know me as a man and a player before they make any long-term commitment.''
Frankly, Culpepper's position makes no sense. He can avoid bringing the "excess baggage" of his current contract to a new team by renegotiating the deal in conjunction with the trade discussions. It's what Trent Green's agent did several months ago when the possibility of Green being traded to Miami from Kansas City was first discussed. The Fins didn't want to pay Green a $7.2 million salary in 2007; thus, an agreement was reached on a reduced salary.
And if someone wants to trade for Culpepper without a reduced deal, he should be thrilled. Why? Because it means that someone is actually willing to pay him a salary of $5.5 million in 2007. Does he think he'd get $5.5 million on the open market until he proves that he is truly healthy?
Culpepper also says that he fully intends to participate in the team's minicamp that opens on Friday, if he is not released before then. This means that, if he re-injures his knee or suffers some other serious injury, the Fins could end up on the hook for the $5.5 million salary.
A TRADE IS STILL POSSIBLE?
Despite an unwillingness by quarterback Daunte Culpepper to be traded and a salary of $5.5 million that would be owed to him in 2007, teams apparently are willing to consider taking a chance on Culpepper.
Adam Schefter of NFL Network reports that the powers-that-be in Jacksonville met on Thursday to discuss the possibility of pursuing Culpepper. Through an intermediary, Culpepper let it be known that he'd like to play for the Jags. Schefter notes that, in 1999, Jags V.P. of player personnel Shack Harris was lobbying for his team at the time, the Ravens, to draft Culpepper.
So with Harris and former Vikings coach Mike Tice (who spent seven years with Culpepper in Minnesota) in Jacksonville, there's at least talk of bringing him aboard.
But if Culpepper comes, who goes? Byron Leftwich has been re-embraced as the starter, even as he enters the last year of his contract. Quinn Gray signed a one-year restricted free agent tender. The odd man out, then, could be David Garrard.
Not long ago, there were folks in the organization arguing that Garrard should be the starter. But he never fully capitalized on his chances to play when Leftwich was out due to injury (or due to a benching that was called an injury).
Garrard is signed through 2008 at salaries of $1.1 million this year and $1.25 million next year.
Schefter also says that the Ravens could try to trade for Culpepper, and that the Rams would be interested in him only if he is released.
DID THE NICKTATOR RUIN CULPEPPER?
In early 2006, the Dolphins were trying to decide between whether to sign free-agent quarterback Drew Brees, or whether to trade for quarterback Daunte Culpepper.
In the end, the decision was made to take a chance on Culpepper and his blown-up knee instead of Brees and his blown-up shoulder.
Doh.
Many league observers believed that the Fins thereafter rushed Culpepper back to the field too quickly, possibly to justify the latest draft pick that was coughed up in the futile search to find the next Dan Marino. Culpepper now concedes for the first time that the team was too impatient in this regard.
''I must say the impatience the organization displayed in both encouraging me to rush back on the field last year and then rushing me out the door this year is disappointing," Culpepper wrote in his Thursday media e-mail briefing.
But knowing what we now know that we know, was the decision to nudge Culpepper back to the field so quickly motivated by getting an immediate return on the investment, or by the fact that coach Nick Saban knew that 2006 might be his final act in the NFL?
The answer to the question lies in precisely when the Nicktator decided that the NFL wasn't his cup of tea, and when he first hatched the possible plan of fleeing for the college game after the 2006 season.
If Saban's desire to take his shot from the start of 2006 with Culpepper was the result, directly or indirectly, of Saban's realization that he very likely might not be around in 2007 to reap the potential benefits of a fully healthy Culpepper, then Saban should receive even more criticism than he already has experienced.
If Culpepper had been given more time to get himself healthy, he might be in a lot better position now to make a huge contribution on the field this year, for someone. As it now stands, Culpepper has to scratch and claw for even a chance to show what he can do. Beyond 2007, there's a chance that he might never find a place where he gets the chance to become the guy that he might have still been if Saban and the Fins hadn't rushed him back to the field.
In short, it's possible that Saban's desire to make a big splash in 2006 before retreating to football without a salary cap has thrown Culpepper's career into a ditch from which he might never fully emerge.
