07/02/2009 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Jets linebacker Calvin Pace has been suspended without pay for the first four games of the 2009 season for violating the NFL's policy on performance enhancing substances, the league announced Thursday.
New York will be without one of its prized defensive playmakers for road dates against Houston and New Orleans as well as home games against New England and Tennessee.
"This is a situation that resulted from an over-the-counter dietary supplement that contained a substance that I did not know violated the League's policy," Pace said in a statement. "I am responsible for what I put into my body and I should have paid closer attention to the League's guidelines. I regret that this has happened and apologize to my teammates, the entire Jets organization as well as the fans. Hopefully, this does not distract from our ultimate goal of winning the Super Bowl."
The seventh-year pro remains eligible to participate in practice during training camp and can compete in New York's preseason games.
Pace registered a career-high seven sacks and tied for the team lead with five forced fumbles in 2008, his first year in New York. He added 80 tackles, including a team-best 12 behind the line of scrimmage, in playing all 16 games for the Jets after signing a lucrative free agent deal in the offseason.
The 28-year-old played his first five seasons with Arizona and in 83 career games has 262 tackles and 21 sacks.
<< United loses out on Benzema
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester United's hopes of signing
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<< Motor City Blues
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - I've always thought of sports as the ultimate form of
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And a whole lot of people need to "escape" right about now.
It was announced Thursday that the nation's employers cut a larger-than-
expected
<< Thrashers sign Antropov
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Thrashers signed unrestricted free
agent forward Nik Antropov to a multi-year contract Thursday. Terms of the
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<< Bremen's Schaaf confirms Naldo exit
Bremen, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Werder Bremen manager Thomas Schaaf has
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Crew's Schelotto earns MLS Player of Month >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Columbus Crew forward Guillermo Barros
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Bryans reach fourth Wimbledon final >>
Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The top-seeded American twin Bryan
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Dick N
In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.
And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.
Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.
So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.
Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)
The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.
As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.
The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.
In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.
Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.
And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.
So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.
There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.
So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.
And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.
There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)
Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.
Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.
Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.
So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.
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