Posted on 07/23/2004 10:28:10 AM PDT by tdadams
It's official, former Tennessee Titan RB Eddie George is now a Dallas Cowboy. George, who has rushed for over 10,000 yards in his 8-year NFL career, comes to Dallas to provide depth at a position that sorely needs it. One team's loss is another team's gain.
Eddie George, the second leading rusher in the National Football League since 1996, has signed what amounts to a one-year contract with the Dallas Cowboys just days after leaving the Tennessee Titans organization.
The deal is reported to be worth $2.2 million. The deal is also structured so that he could earn an additional incentives, including $2 million if he equals last year's production.
George will receive a signing bonus of $1.54 million and have a base salary of $660,000.
The former Ohio State star was scheduled to earn $4 million this season in Tennessee, but the Titans offered him only $1.5 million.
Insulted at the offer from a team that he helped carry throughout his 8-year career, George elected to go elsewhere.
As it turns out, "elsewhere" is Dallas.
George, who is considered by most to be one of the most physical inside runners in the league, has not averaged more than 3.4 yards per carry the last three years.
That 3.4 number was one of the primary reasons the Titans weren't interested in offering George the kind of money he was looking for.
As a former Heisman Trophy winner in 1995, George has earned four trips to the Pro Bowl, but none since 2000.
While he's dependable to pick up first downs in short yardage situations, or touchdowns near the goal line, the Titans offense was unable to consistently depend on George to break his runs into the open field on first and second down.
George said Wednesday that he was impressed with what Bill Parcells and several of his former running backs near the end of their career- especially Ottis Anderson.
"What he was able to do with Ottis Anderson's career – he won two Super Bowls with him – is pretty intriguing," George said Wednesday evening.
The press conference announcing George's signing will be held at Valley Ranch at 12:00.
Didn't he want to stay with the Titans and wanted assurance that he would be able to stay for more seasons?
In my opinion, he just simply overestimated his true market value. At first he was adamant on getting his original $4.25 million for this season. He backed down a little, my guess is when his agent started making some calls to see what other teams might value him at.
Eddie is a great running back, but reality is, there is no such thing as a 30+ running back with under 1000 yards worth over $2.5 million to any team.
That would be Joe Morris. I'm not sure when the Giants got Anderson, but I think he was originally picked up as a backup to Morris in 1988 or 1989 and then became a starter when some of their younger running backs either didn't pan out (Lewis Tillman) or weren't durable enough to handle the grind of the starting role (Dave Meggett).
But I must also concede that the Dallas Cowboys have been victimized by the idiotic NFL salary cap more than any other team in the league -- because they were unable to keep so many of their own home-grown players from those Super Bowl years.
I would think that the $2.2 million George will be paid would be enough incentive for him to always give 100% on the football field. But the Cowboys have to dangle $2+ million more in front of George's face, as incentives, in order to try to get him to be as productive as he was last season?
I was. Since it wasn't included in the story, and I normally couldn't care less what Eddie George is making.
Eddie George is as tough as nails, very durable and a great guy. But, for every great play he makes there are two where he blew it by picking the wrong hole or falling without being touched because of leaning too far forward.
I have a friend here (Nashville, TN) that is a life long Dallas fan. (He grew up in Texas.) He's pretty lukewarm about it.
Yeah. I can understand your feelings with all that goes on in the NFL, we can get very tired of the temper tantrums from athletes and teams... I just took that to heart since I know Eddie's personality and my dad (a police officer) met him as he was finally moving out of the slums when he signed with the Titans.
Eddie is an upstanding and honorable man. Its just plucked at a nerve.
He's great at grinding it out, fighting for the tough yards. When he's in the backfield, the LBs will be thinking run and cheat up some, making a little more room for our passing game.
I think he's a perfect fit for the Cowboys. And they 'Boys have a wimpy schedule, so this could be a decent year.
Roy Williams.
With all due respect, you're full of it. Parcells will have them back to the Super Bowl within three years.
The schedule says it all:
Sun 9/12 at Minnesota 4:15 pm
Sun 9/19 Cleveland 1:00 pm
Mon 9/27 at Washington 9:00 pm
bye
Sun 10/10 NY Giants 1:00 pm
Sun 10/17 Pittsburgh 4:15 pm
Sun 10/24 at Green Bay 4:15 pm
Sun 10/31 Detroit 1:00 pm
Sun 11/7 at Cincinnati 1:00 pm
Mon 11/15 Philadelphia 9:00 pm
Sun 11/21 at Baltimore 1:00 pm
Thu 11/25 Chicago 4:15 pm
Mon 12/6 at Seattle 9:00 pm
Sun 12/12 New Orleans 1:00 pm
Sun 12/19 at Philadelphia 1:00 pm
Sun 12/26 Washington 4:15 pm
Sun 1/2 at NY Giants 8:30 pm
Is there a scary team on there? Philly, maybe the Steelers.
Yeah, and Jerry Jones was the guy that made the deal. My primary complaint about Jones (and Johnson) is that neither one of them could understand that as long as the Super Bowl rings were rolling in at the rate of one per year, everyone thought both of them were geniuses.
Johnson found out in Miami that he wasn't that good at making trades, and Jones found out after Johnson left that he had no idea of which players he should trade for. Jones has smartened up quite a bit, and getting Parcells, after the puppet coach experiments proved he was ready to bring in somebody with a spine and pay attention to them. The Cowboys may not win any Super Bowls under Parcells, but they're a heck of a lot better team, and they definitely have a shot. The QB position and offensive line are still, IMHO, the biggest question marks.
The home game against Detroit is the only one I'd bet on.
Eddie George - the next Herschel Walker.
I think Eddie George, and Steve Mcnair were an awesome combination. Too bad they are not together anymore. I live in Dallas , glad George is coming to town. Love to watch him run, he doesn't try to dodge defenders, he just runs right over them. gonna be a good season.
That's what every Jets fan in this city said when they signed Parcells a few years back.
"First you get the money, then you get de power, then you get the girl."---Scarface
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