UPDATE: It just keeps getting better. Now Dunta Robinson hints that he might skip training camp. I’m afraid this situation is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. Dunta also hints about how the negotiation next season will now be even more difficult. Still think he might sign a long-term deal? I don’t.
Unbelievable. I can see Richard Justice now, plowing through and bowling over co-workers at the Chronicle, salivating and typing like a machine gun.
From the above ESPN link:
“Tagging was out of the question according to Rick,” Robinson told The Associated Press. “I was told that. I just feel betrayed. I’m disappointed that they lied to me.”
Great. Who knows who said what, but Rick Smith is about to get hammered by the Chronicle again, and as I said in the previous Dunta post – don’t count on the long-term contract coming down anytime soon, if at all.
“Because of my teammates and because of this city and my family … I really don’t want to leave,” he said. “But a situation like this makes it much, much harder to stay.”
Awesome. Fantastic.
Look – I am obviously a huge backer of Dunta – and while he may well have been “betrayed,” he also has to look at this from an organizational standpoint. The guy had a horrible, devastating injury. Sure, he came back probably faster than anyone thought – but just because he’s a good guy and great teammate, it doesn’t mean he shouldn’t take into account the fact that sinking 20+ million dollars of guaranteed money into a guy who ADMITTED HIMSELF that he never reached 100% last year is a HUGE RISK by this team. A team, you will recall, that has been in all kinds of salary cap hell in the past because of bad personnel and contract decisions.
Dunta might understand all of that. He might ONLY be upset because he felt like he was lied to. Still, this doesn’t bode well. It’s February, and there’s still a bit of an icy chill in the air.
This is clearly just the beginning. More updates as they come.
Feb 19, 2009 at 19:34:40
Honestly, this is exactly the result that I expected..
We might still want to consider drafting a corner back high this year. We could give him some playing time and see if we think he’s going to be our answer, then we at least will have a better idea of whether we need to take one high again next year or not..
Feb 19, 2009 at 19:39:41
You expected Dunta to accuse Rick Smith of lying to and betraying him? THAT is the part I’m reacting to. Dunta made it clear months ago he wouldn’t be happy being franchised – but this is different… this could turn to a personal thing. Publicly accusing your GM of lying and betrayal is different than just being unhappy with the franchise tag.
Feb 19, 2009 at 20:50:20
He said he’d be pissed off if they did franchise him, so I’m not surprised about that.
Now, either Rick Smith lied to Dunta, and Dunta is exposing him, or… Dunta is lying about his general manager to the press.
I have to say the first is more forgivable than the second, and it’s probably more likely, too. But at any rate, a general manager would be STUPID to ever say that to a player. Why would you give up the leverage that such an option provides… to avoid pissing him off? Well now, if Dunta is right, you’ve pissed him off anyway.
If it’s the second option – that Dunta isn’t telling the truth – he’s just poisoning the well. Try getting a good contract from a guy whose integrity you’ve maligned in an industry where integrity (perceived or real) is oftentimes very important. General managers need agents to think that they are negotiating in good faith.
Maybe he’s angling for a trade? A dumb way to go about it – no team will offer much for a player in his position (returning from devastating knee injury, mixed results upon return with a small sample of plays to boot, player himself noting that he’s not 100% recovered). No one will offer the Texans what they think they deserve for him.
Feb 19, 2009 at 20:56:50
Disregard part of what I said in your lost post.
This is NOT NOT NOT good news. Oh dear. This hasn’t been as good an off-season as I’d hoped so far. I’ve never appreciated the boringness (re: no bad news) of an off-season until now…
-
Vivek
Feb 20, 2009 at 02:47:27
It’s posturing right now, if he actually does hold out, then I’ll worry.
Feb 20, 2009 at 03:09:08
This is probably what happened. Richard smith probably DID promise Dunta that he would not be franchised. But honestly, as the master negotiator that I am, I think he had to lie to Dunta. Dunta has gone on record and said that he did not want to be franchised. If smith thought that telling dunta the truth about his intentions of franchising dunta would be enough for Dunta to walk away from the table, then I am all for lying to keep dunta at the negotiating table. I am in the belief that the Texans wanted to negotiate a long term deal but they could not come up with a number and franchising was a last resort.We franchised him at the last possible at 10 in the morning. I agree with you in that this was the best move for both parties. The texans need to make sure he has returned to probowl form if they are going to give him probowl money. For Dunta He is going to get a raise from what he expected. If he gets franchised again next season then he will get more money because of the contract the corner got from Oakland. If he returns back to form, I think the Texans will pay him because that is their motto(play well get paid)
Feb 20, 2009 at 07:22:02
Well it seems the worst case scenario I was suggesting yesterday might happen.
We’ll need to deal him and get draft picks/solid people in free agency next year.
For being such a “great teammate” he really showed a different side.
How can you want to be paid like an elite corner but haven’t backed it up statistically?The franchise tag proves he worth that 9 mil and change.If he can perform it becomes the regular.
Julius Peppers for Dunta Robinson….someone call Carolina!
Feb 20, 2009 at 09:48:33
For the last time…we are absolutely not, under any circumstances, getting Julius Peppers. He is a selfish player who quits on games and wants to go to a 3-4 Defense where he can be a pass rushing OLB and not have to do anything except jog in the general direction of the QB instead of actually having to fend off an offensive lineman. He may love Houston, but we would make him earn his dinner, and he’s not on board with that.
Now, as for Dunta Robinson, I hope he reads these boards, because he, like every other professional athlete, has to understand that THIS IS A BUSINESS!
did Rick Smith promise him no franchise? No one will ever truly know, and if he did, that was dumb on Rick’s part. From the Texans organizational standpoint, this was EXACTLY how to handle this situation. We try to negotiate what we think he is worth, and, if he doesn’t, we franchise him to either trade him now or at least have one more season with him to think it over and hammer something out.
“betrayal”…What a load of crap. It is absolutely inexcusable for a player paid TEN MILLION DOLLARS to complain about ANYTHING!
I look at it like this. I am in the U.S. Army, and, for those who don’t know, it can be compared to the free agent market of sports in that people move around all the time, and, at least in the band field where I am in, people know each other and negotiations happen. However, if I was set to go to another military base, and my commander told me that he had to delete my orders because he needed me there (and since an Army Band can’t function without specific instrumentation, this is entirely possible), if I told him I felt “betrayed” he would slap me upside the head and tell me to “suck it up and drive on. This is business.”
I’m sorry if this post has some anger tinted into it, but, well, I’m angry that Dunta is trying to play the victim because he was just given a PHAT (albeit one-year) contract.
At this point, I want us to trade down with Minnesota (the best deal I can come up with is: Our 1st and 6th rounder for their 1st and 2nd rounder, and we swap places in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th). We grab Alphonso Smith in the 1st round and Paul Kruger in the second.
This gives us a year to make a future without Dunta Robinson, because, if this guy is going to whine because he wasn’t given Asomugha money, then he needs to walk, because we may not have ever made the playoffs, but we have always been a classy organization full of character, and I’ve always held onto that. And, so far, this season is looking to completely unravel all of it. Trust me, folks. The playoffs are NOT so important that we should stop being the ONE TEAM that our kids can actually look up to.
Feb 20, 2009 at 09:51:16
Dunta is emotional. That’s part of what we like about him. But a lot of emotional people say things in the heat of the moment and then back away.
If Rick Smith is as smart as we think he is, he will talk to Dunta face-to-face and Dunta will either a) keep his mouth shut on this until a deal is done; or b) make some kind of Clinton Portis-esque statement saying that he was misquoted or taken out of context or he’s talked it out with Smith and they had some supposed miscommunication or something like that.
Dunta has to realize that he’ll get a better deal out of the Texans than any other team because of the mutual loyalty between the city and him. No other GM is going to look at a cb who is coming off a horrible injury and throw the kind of money that he wants at him.
I would be highly surprised if Dunta doesn’t sign a deal. And he’s either going to walk his previous statement back some way or keep his mouth shut while it’s happening. However it irks me that I had to compare Dunta to a prima donna like Portis.
And yeah, I can imagine Dicky Justice is having to wipe the saliva off the keyboard with a sponge right about now.
Feb 20, 2009 at 10:31:50
Why would you give up the leverage that a franchise tag provides?
You wouldn’t unless you were telling Dunta that he wasn’t worth the franchise tag and 10 mil a year that comes with it. If that’s the case (and I suspect it is) then it is no wonder Dunta is upset.
Feb 20, 2009 at 12:53:15
All evidence proves thus far that he isn’t worth the 10Mil. a year contract.
And by his own submission it could even be said that maybe he rushed back in an attempt to sweeten the pot for the off season deal he THOUGHT he was going to get.
My overall point is no person is more valuable then the team.Someone who is wanting top money but has failed to be ranked among the elite at his positions.
Lets be honest even when he was healthy before the injury he had great upside, but was he mentioned in the same breath as Champ Bailey, Nmandi Asmougha, or other top corners?Nope.He was/is a good player on a defense that is mainly recognized as Mario’s squad who in my opinion is the leader of the D.
AND AND….currently he’s not even in the top 3 when you talk about people on our Defense,and our defense has been inconsistent at best…a case can only be made for him at no.4
Super Mario, DeMeco, Xavier, and Dunta.
Feb 20, 2009 at 13:43:35
@Dan
You may be right, but I don’t think players see the franchise tag as a sign of their greatness. It may pay them handsomely for a year, but if they get injured in that year then there are no guarantees. They WANT the long term contract, and they DON’T want the F-tag. It seems, to me at least, that the reason he’s pissed is that he wanted long-term stability, was told he wouldn’t get the tag, but ended up with it anyway.
Feb 20, 2009 at 15:47:14
I wish someone would lie to me and give me $10 million.