Clarett passes on guaranteed dough
One thing’s for sure about Maurice Clarett: He has balls. Not a lot of brains, presumably, but he’s got stones. He said all along that he was a first-round talent so when it came time to negotiate his contract with the Denver Broncos, who chose Clarett with the final pick in the third round of last April’s draft, Clarett elected to forgo $410,000 in guaranteed money to sign an incentive-laden deal that could net him as much as $7 million. ESPN reports that, while the details of the contract are sketchy, Clarett could hit an escalator worth more than $1 million if he rushes for 1,000 yards, and the money continues to increase along with the yardage totals. While you’ve got to admire Clarett’s desire to prove his doubters wrong and his willingness to put his money where his mouth is, this seems like an awful big risk for the former Ohio State back to take. The Broncos, as always, are loaded at running back, with Ron Dayne, Quentin Griffin and, the two backs with the best shot at starting this year, Mike Anderson and Tatum Bell. There’s no guarantee that Clarett is going to see much playing time at all this season and, while Dayne has proven he’s anything but an every-down NFL back and Anderson may not be a long-term solution, the Broncos love Bell, a 5-11 second-year back out of Oklahoma State who ran for nearly 400 yards on just 75 carries last year. Clarett obviously is confident that his skills will translate into first-round money sometime down the road, but this may very well prove to be a decision he regrets before it’s all said and done.
I’ve learned to hate this guy after he tried to take down the Ohio State program, but the kid can play football, and he’s now showing that he has balls as well. I won’t be surprised if he has a solid NFL career.
am i the only person in the country who thinks he could have a hall-of-fame career?
glad to see him putting his money where his mouth is. he’ll have his chance to shine.
Mike – Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Hall of Fame?!?!? You sound like my crazy brother.
Jim Brown
Walter Payton
Maurice Clarett
haha… okay, maybe
Herschel Walker
Rashan Salaam
Maurice Clarett
HOF? Clarett is a moron. Apparently, as soon as he was drafted, he called up Master P to see if he could negotiate his contract since he did such a good job with Ricky Williams. Could Denver sign the dotted line quick enough?
“Let me get this straight. You are maybe the fourth best back on the team, and you want an incentive-laden contract? And we get to choose who plays when? Are we being Punk’d right now? Where’s Ashton Kutcher?”
He is going to have to average 100/yds per carry behind the backs they have to reach 1,000 yards. Denver is in love with Tatum Bell, and Clarett will get carries in garbage time. He is the Darko-equivalent for this team. Clarett may become a decent back, but he better have Curtis Enis’ phone number on speed-dial to see if he can get a job with the garage door company where Enis works third-shift.
Clarett’s got skill, no doubt about it, but calling him a future hall-of-famer is a bit excessive. Then again, if there’s anywhere he could succeed, it’s Denver, though Tatum Bell and Mike Anderson won’t make it easy for him.
he will be my first round pick in my fantasy draft. bank it, gents.
I don’t know about any hall of famer here, but the guy will do some damage when he’s back in the pads. I think he’s matured a bit & realized that he was a dumb-ass at OSU. He’ll do some good in the NFL.
He better get to work, otherwise he might even make the team.
[...] Last month, we talked about Maurice Clarett’s decision to pass up $410,000 in guaranteed money to sign an incentive-laden deal that could’ve been worth as much as $7 million. At the time, the general consensus was that, while forgoing the guaranteed cash showed just how confident Clarett was in his ability, it was a move that could come back to bite him in the ass. [...]
LOL…What a loser. I’m a buckeye and I never wanted to see a former buckeye fail but this guy has finally getting the joke a whole state has been laughing at. Clarett, you weren’t that good!