BillsFever
07-10-2003, 12:19 AM
A league source tells us that the Pittsburgh Steelers have been giving tight end Mark Bruener plenty of time to decide whether he'll take a dramatic pay cut for the 2003 season -- but that the team soon will ask Bruener to poop or get off the pot as to the pay-cut-or-else ultimatum (or, as they say in the 'Burgh, "old tomato").
Per the source, the Bills and the Browns are among the teams who are interested in Bruener if he refuses to swallow a reduction from $2,050,000 to $750,000 in salary for the coming season.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that Bruener is "getting pretty close" to accepting the lower payments.
"The schools here are great for my kids," Bruener said. "There is so much positive about the city of Pittsburgh. The football aspect, to me, I felt it was a really unique situation that I didn't believe I could get anywhere else."
(Sounds like "getting pretty close" in Bruener-speak means "done freakin' deal" in the King's English.)
The Steelers will use the extra money to sign their remaining 2003 draft picks, including first-rounder Troy Polamalu.
One player who won't be sniffing any of the extra jack is $650,000 starting quarterback Tommy Maddox, who's already been told that he won't get a new deal until 2004, at the earliest.
And that's the real irony here. The Steelers are twisting the well-muscled arm of Bruener to take a huge pay cut that will still result in the veteran tight end pocketing $100,000 more than the man on whom the fate of the offense primarily will rest.
http://profootballtalk.com/rumormill.htm
Per the source, the Bills and the Browns are among the teams who are interested in Bruener if he refuses to swallow a reduction from $2,050,000 to $750,000 in salary for the coming season.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that Bruener is "getting pretty close" to accepting the lower payments.
"The schools here are great for my kids," Bruener said. "There is so much positive about the city of Pittsburgh. The football aspect, to me, I felt it was a really unique situation that I didn't believe I could get anywhere else."
(Sounds like "getting pretty close" in Bruener-speak means "done freakin' deal" in the King's English.)
The Steelers will use the extra money to sign their remaining 2003 draft picks, including first-rounder Troy Polamalu.
One player who won't be sniffing any of the extra jack is $650,000 starting quarterback Tommy Maddox, who's already been told that he won't get a new deal until 2004, at the earliest.
And that's the real irony here. The Steelers are twisting the well-muscled arm of Bruener to take a huge pay cut that will still result in the veteran tight end pocketing $100,000 more than the man on whom the fate of the offense primarily will rest.
http://profootballtalk.com/rumormill.htm