PA Season Ticket Holder
03-03-2003, 12:36 AM
Having spent most of his football career beating the odds, New Orleans strong safety Sammy Knight knows a promising gamble when he sees one, and that is why the Saints star is confident his roll of the dice in free agency will not come up snake-eyes.
In what figures to be a tentative market, one in which veteran players are increasingly opting for security over adventure, Knight is the rare breed. He actually opted out of the final season of his Saints contract, turning his back on a $1.925 million base salary, to test the free agent waters.
And not surprisingly, given the degree of confidence with which Knight has always operated, he figures things will work out swimmingly for him.
"I feel good about things," said Knight, one of the NFL's most productive safeties over the past six seasons. "A lot of times, it's easy to just settle for the status quo, but I'm at the point in my career where I wanted to shake things up a little. Time for a change, time for something new, you know?"
There are some who have suggested that, had Knight not voided the 2003 portion of the five-year, $10 million contract he signed in 1999, the Saints would have released him anyway before the start of the free agency period. One team official denied that, when queried at last week's combine sessions, but did indicate the Saints might have requested a contract restructuring.
MORE (http://espn.go.com/nfl/columns/pasquarelli_len/1515428.html)
In what figures to be a tentative market, one in which veteran players are increasingly opting for security over adventure, Knight is the rare breed. He actually opted out of the final season of his Saints contract, turning his back on a $1.925 million base salary, to test the free agent waters.
And not surprisingly, given the degree of confidence with which Knight has always operated, he figures things will work out swimmingly for him.
"I feel good about things," said Knight, one of the NFL's most productive safeties over the past six seasons. "A lot of times, it's easy to just settle for the status quo, but I'm at the point in my career where I wanted to shake things up a little. Time for a change, time for something new, you know?"
There are some who have suggested that, had Knight not voided the 2003 portion of the five-year, $10 million contract he signed in 1999, the Saints would have released him anyway before the start of the free agency period. One team official denied that, when queried at last week's combine sessions, but did indicate the Saints might have requested a contract restructuring.
MORE (http://espn.go.com/nfl/columns/pasquarelli_len/1515428.html)