NFL's defense is suspect

It will have problems keeping Clarett at bay

By Ron Borges, Globe Staff, 9/28/2003

The devil is always in the details.

If the NFL, which loves to declare itself the best-run professional sport, had taken a page from the NBA's collective bargaining agreement, Maurice Clarett would be looking at fourth-and-long in his effort to overturn pro football's eligibility limitations. Instead, it has a problem no legal team may be able to overcome.

The NFL collective bargaining agreement struck with the Players Association was first negotiated in 1993. It has been amended three times and is now effective through 2007. It is 292 pages, 61 articles, and 357 sections long, with 14 appendices. Nowhere in all that are the draft-eligibility requirements mentioned, as they are in pro basketball's CBA. The NFL CBA has language agreeing to a draft but lists no age restrictions, no minimum number of years after high school graduation, nothing.

Only in the league's bylaws is there a prohibition against players being drafted until they are three years removed from high school graduation. In a courtroom, that bylaw very likely won't be worth the salary the NFL paid a dozen or so lawyers to write it. Hence, if you are NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue, you call Monty Hall. It's time to make a deal.

The NFL is telling the public that it opposes Clarett's entry because it fears for a young man trying such a violent sport before he is fully mature, physically and emotionally. Noble thought. Also hogwash.

Drew Bledsoe was barely 21 when he was the No. 1 pick in the 1993 draft. Clarett will be 20 in a month (Oct. 29). This season, the average NFL running back stands 5 feet 11 inches and weighs 216 pounds. Clarett stands 6 feet and weighs 230. He is bigger than 26 of the 32 running backs who start in the NFL. None of that guarantees he will be successful in the NFL, but talk of the grave consequences if he is allowed early entry is ludicrous. Ludicrous does not mean illegal, but even in that area, the NFL has problems because of Spencer Haywood.

In 1971, the case of Denver Rockets vs. All-Pro Management Inc. was decided in Haywood's favor, overturning the NBA's exclusion of any player who was not four years removed from his high school graduation. That case, though different in some ways because there was no collective bargaining agreement in place at the time, argues under the same sections of antitrust laws and cites the same controlling issues Clarett does in his suit.

NFL lawyers may argue that such restrictions were agreed to but not enumerated in the CBA, but that argument will be difficult to win. Or they may argue that it is management's right to administer the draft as it sees fit once it has been agreed to by the union, but those rules have been changed three times and each time it was to include younger players.

The fact is, the NFL is not concerned about Clarett's welfare. It is concerned about maintaining a free farm system in which players are not only trained and conditioned by college programs but also publicized by them. If Clarett stayed at Ohio State and won the Heisman Trophy or starred on a second national champion, his value would only be enhanced.

Preserving this system, and the cooperation that exists between the NFL and the NCAA, is of great value.

"The league has some legal arguments but I'd say Las Vegas would have the NFL a 7-point underdog on the law," said University of Massachusetts sports administration professor Glenn Wong, who has authored several texts on sports law and worked on the legal team that got Cris Carter admitted into the NFL despite restrictions on his early entry. "The league can argue it has a labor exemption but the problem is there's no reference in the CBA to eligibility rules for the draft. That would appear to be a loophole Clarett may fit through. If the NFL is not successful arguing it has a labor exemption, then this becomes an antitrust case and their position becomes more difficult."

Wong believes the NFL will grant Clarett a special exemption that makes him eligible for next spring's draft (a year ahead of NFL rules) but not for a supplemental draft allowing him to play immediately. "The NFL knows it has a system that works well for them and is worth protecting," Wong said. "That's why they'll settle."

Support groups

The Congressional Research Service, a nonpartisan arm of the House of Representatives that has scholars and lawyers consider public policy questions, issued an opinion Thursday that supported Clarett's position. The five-page memo written by legislative research attorney Janice Rubin cited the Haywood case. "The aspects of the NBA rule that were struck down in the Haywood case would seem to be not dissimilar to those of the NFL three-years-out-of-high-school rule, despite the fact that the NFL has somewhat modified its restrictions," Rubin wrote. "Accordingly, if the NFL rule were challenged on antitrust grounds, there is some precedent for a court to either strike it down [the NFL draft], or significantly modify it." Clarett's attorney, Alan Milstein, said he would submit that opinion as part of his suit, and Congressman John Conyers (D-Mich.) also has expressed his support for Clarett. The Congressional Black Caucus is expected to announce its support of his position soon, too . . . The Buffalo Bills apparently aren't done rebuilding. They worked out 16 players last week. More than half were wide receivers or tight ends. The way the Bills blocked last Sunday against Miami, a few of them should have been offensive linemen . . . Clarett gained support from one of his future peers. "I think a man does have an opportunity to earn a living and shouldn't be restricted," said Emmitt Smith, the NFL's all-time leading rusher. "To be honest with you, I think the NCAA has a great racket going. You can print that one. He's a great talent. He's young. He feels like he should do it. Why should he be restricted?" Yet Smith didn't sound certain that Clarett would survive in the NFL. "When he gets here, he'll see what it's all about," said the Cardinals running back. "I've seen grown men come in here and spend a day or two in training camp and made their mind up right then and there that football's not for them." . . . Broncos wide receiver Rod Smith took the opposite tack. "They put the rule in place for a reason," he said. "So not everybody can just come in here and do what we do. I personally don't think he'll win, because if he does everyone that thinks they can play football is going to try and challenge the rules. If he wins, he's going to find out what it's really about. It's not college football. Can you do this for 24 straight weeks? That is like 2 1/2 college seasons. You have to put in a certain amount of effort and a certain amount of work. It takes a certain amount of time and a certain maturity level. Personally, at 18, I don't think you're ready to play this game." . . . Ravens running back Jamal Lewis also seemed to have his doubts. "I think he doesn't know what he's getting himself into," Lewis said. "This is a big business, not college. But I wish him the best of luck." Lewis, who also came out of school early, said, "I felt I had actually outgrown the college level. I was a 240-pound running back, had good speed, and knew what I could do on the next level. So I decided to take it to the next level."

Sack race

If Ravens rookie Terrell Suggs can record a sack today, he will tie the record set by Santana Dotson for longest sack streak to begin a career. Suggs has a sack in each of his first three games. Dotson did it in four straight for Tampa in 1994. Suggs is tied with six other players, and I'll bet you haven't heard of a few of them. Sean McInerney? Buddy Moor? Keith Gary? . . . How difficult is this to believe? After 44 years in existence, the Broncos do not have a player in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. That will change next January -- John Elway is a slam dunk for first-ballot admittance -- but what about Floyd Little? Remember him? Little was doomed to play on some of the worst teams in Broncos history. In his nine years, Denver went 47-73-6 and never made the playoffs . . . The popularity of the NFL continues to grow. For the first time since the Harris Poll started asking the question in 1985, more than twice as many people now name pro football (29 percent) over baseball (13 percent) as their favorite sport. When the poll began 18 years ago, 23 percent chose baseball and 24 percent chose football . . . Chargers wide receiver David Boston's one-game suspension last week resulted from an altercation with strength and conditioning coach Dave Redding Tuesday after Boston failed to meet his target weight of 235 pounds. When Boston got a letter notifying him of a fine, he threw it in Redding's face. Boston and Redding have been at odds for months over the player's training regimen. This does not bode well for the Chargers, who are 0-3 and today play the Raiders without their two top tight ends, their starting right tackle, and their No. 1 and 2 receivers. The incident with Redding was only the latest in a string of problems Boston has had since coming to San Diego from Arizona. He got into a shouting match with teammate Reche Caldwell before last week's game, has been late to team meetings, made a lewd remark to an assistant coach, and cursed out Redding to head coach Marty Schottenheimer last Tuesday. Boston signed the largest contract in Charger history in the offseason, a seven-year deal worth $47 million, with $12 million in guarantees. The Chargers reportedly had agreed to let Boston work out with his personal trainer but later asked him to attend at least two weekly workouts with Redding. Redding reportedly questioned him about his possible use of human growth hormone.

Robbins returns

The absence of Boston is one story line for today's Chargers-Raiders game, but a more positive one is the return to the Oakland lineup of center Barrett Robbins. Robbins has not started since the AFC Championship game last January. He missed the Super Bowl after disappearing from the Raiders' hotel and was found a day later disheveled and disoriented. He was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder and underwent offseason treatment for alcoholism . . . Redskins coach Steve Spurrier had referees working his practices last week after his team set a club record with 17 penalties last Sunday. Washington has 35 penalties this season, second-most in the league, so Spurrier imported some college officials to work Wednesday and Thursday and said he would continue to do so for the next few weeks . . . The Cardinals are $12.5 million under the salary cap and are struggling again this season. Does anyone in that front office see a connection between the penurious business practices of owner Bill Bidwill and the team's consistently poor performance? . . . 49ers wide receiver Terrell Owens has taken a grudge about as far as a man can. Owens was the 89th player drafted in 1996 and the 11th wide receiver. Seven years later, he trails only one of those 10, Indianapolis's Marvin Harrison, in terms of production. Harrison has 690 receptions good for 8,944 yards. Owens has 539 for 7,826. The first player taken that year was Keyshawn Johnson, who is third among the receivers from that draft with 575 catches for 7,546 yards . . . Sometimes you wonder what coaches are thinking. After his Raiders were slapped silly, 31-10, by the Broncos last Monday night, Oakland coach Bill Callahan was asked about Denver's game plan. "It was exactly what we thought [it would be]," he said. What would have happened if it weren't . . . Raiders wide receiver Jerry Rice did more than hint that opponents have figured out the Oakland offense. "People are on us right now," Rice said. "They've got our number. I'm not saying we're predictable, but when you've got the opponent out there calling out plays and they know what's coming, then we've got a problem. They know what plays we're calling. They pretty much know what routes we're running." . . . Patriots rookie Asante Samuel probably didn't realize it at the time, but when he returned Vinny Testaverde's errant pass for a touchdown last Sunday, he all but ensured a Patriot victory. Not because it gave New England a two-touchdown cushion but because historically it virtually locked up the game. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, since 1970 teams that returned an interception for a touchdown are 905-269-3, a winning percentage of .770 . . . As bad as things have been for the Patriots lately in terms of injuries, they've been worse for the Saints. New Orleans will have five defensive starters on the sideline today, including half the defensive line and half the secondary.

Material from personal interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.