Home >  Sports >  Notebooks

Sunday, June 10, 2001

While the Steelers have been busy signing all those rookies, talks continue to move along on what could be their biggest signing of the off-season:

Coach Bill Cowher.

Negotiations are continuing on a contract extension that both sides hope will be completed before training camp opens July 19.

Two prominent executives on other NFL teams told the Post-Gazette that the Steelers and Cowher are talking about a two-year contract extension worth $7 million.

That would give Cowher an average just around $3 million annually for the next four years. He is scheduled to be paid $4.8 million over the next two years on his current deal that ends with the 2002 season.

The Steelers and Cowher declined comment, but club sources say no signing is imminent.

An annual average of $3 million has become the going rate for top coaches in the NFL. The Cleveland Browns lured Butch Davis away from the University of Miami with a contract that averages $3 million. Jim Fassel, who coached the New York Giants into the Super Bowl last season, received a new deal that averages nearly $3 million.

Art Rooney II began the negotiations for the Steelers in February with Cowher's agent, Phil de Picciotto. Rooney has said he hopes to have a contract extension in place before training camp begins.

Cowher and Minnesota's Dennis Green will enter their 10th season as head coaches, the longest tenure of anyone with the same NFL team. Cowher's record is 86-58 during the regular season and 5-6 in the postseason.

Mitchell returns

Either Jim Haslett knows something the rest of the NFL doesn't, or he's so desperate for a tight end that he signed one who hasn't played football in four years.

Haslett's Saints signed Johnny Mitchell, who last played football in 1996 and who spent the past two years lounging in southern Brazil.

Mitchell, a former first-round pick, is 30. He walked out of two training camps, one with Miami in 1996 and one with the Jets in 1999. But his verve to play again was stoked while watching NFL games on Direct-TV in Brazil.

"I'm just glad to be back on the field," said Mitchell, who will play for the veteran minimum of $477,000, if he makes the team.

"I realized I let an opportunity slip away," he said. "I let outside distractions take me away. But I'm 30 now. It's now or never. But I think this is a great opportunity for me."

No word on whether Haslett's Saints will work out another retired tight end, Mike Ditka.

Thanks, but no thanks

The Chicago Bears, long known for mucking things up in their personnel department, lost their top candidate for general manager when Tom Modrak withdrew from consideration last week.

Modrak, the Steelers' former college scouting coordinator, helped revive the Philadelphia Eagles as their director of football operations the past three seasons. He was fired in a move that reeked of office politics and envy, and he quickly became the favorite to be hired as GM in Chicago.

But Modrak became frustrated by a process that was turned over to a New York executive headhunting firm. He had been interviewed twice and as the search kept dragging on, he decided he'd had enough.

He withdrew from consideration and accepted Tom Donahoe's offer to become director of football operations in Buffalo. Modrak will continue to live in Cherry Hill, N.J., while he works for the Bills. Donahoe hopes that Modrak can work a year for Buffalo, then be able to take a bigger job in the league in 2002.

Modrak wasn't the only one frustrated by the Bears' strange search for a GM. Phil Savage, Baltimore's top scout, also withdrew from consideration because he thought the process dragged on too long.

Prime time mistake

The Redskins are trying to make up for the big mistake they made last year by signing Deion Sanders to a contract that paid him an $8 million signing bonus.

They want some of that back, as much as $6.8 million of it.

Sanders is doing a poor imitation of a baseball player with the Cincinnati Reds, where he's not hitting his weight. If the Reds cut him, and no other baseball team signs him, Sanders is obligated to report on time for training camp with the Redskins. If the Reds keep him, he must report to the Redskins one week after their season ends.

If he does not fulfill that, they can put him on a reserve list and begin demanding their money back.

Sanders recently said that he does not trust Washington Coach Marty Schottenheimer. That is seen by the Redskins as an attempt by Sanders to force his release. However, Washington would take too big of a salary cap hit to release him, and there's also that signing bonus.

Go figure

Kansas City recently released one of the worst free-agent signings ever. The Chiefs panicked in 1999 when they lost cornerback Dale Carter as a free agent to Denver.

So, they turned around and signed Carlton Gray, a journeyman who had played with three teams in six years, to a five-year $17 million contract. Gray started one game in two years with Kansas City.

He did not last long on the open market again, though, because the Cincinnati Bengals rescued him with a two-year deal.

One that got away

Seattle, like the Steelers, have a gaggle of young receivers and would like to have signed a veteran to help influence them.

The veteran got away, though, to Oakland. They wanted Jerry Rice.

It's the first time Seattle Coach/GM Mike Holmgren failed to get his man in free agency. He already has signed Matt Hasselbeck, John Randle, Chad Eaton, Levon Kirkland and Marcus Robertson. But he was unwilling to pay the price for Rice.

The Steelers also had hoped to talk to Herman Moore, but he re-structured his contract with the Detroit Lions rather than become a free agent.

The rest of the available veteran receivers still without contracts is less than appealing. They include Keith Poole, Leslie Shepherd, Andre Rison, Courtney Hawkins, Andre Reed and Yancey Thigpen.

"I wanted to bring in a veteran wide receiver, but I'm not just going to bring in anybody just because he's old," Holmgren said.

Quick slants

Washington Coach Marty Schottenheimer, on linebacker LaVar Arrington: "LaVar has great pride. That's a very important quality. When you combine it with great skill, you have a special player."

The extension of the labor agreement the past week doubled the pension benefits for the old, retired players from $100 to $200 per month per year of service. "We're still at the low end of all pro sports in that era," said Ordell Braase, a former Baltimore Colt who is involved with Pro Football alumni.

Former Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar was such a hockey fan that he often made the trip from Cleveland to watch the Penguins play. Now he's part owner of the Florida Panthers, having joined in a partnership that paid $101 million for the NHL team.

The Browns will create a Legends Club to honor their former star players. Their 14 Pro Football Hall of Fame members along with three to five other former Browns will be in the first class.

By signing fullback Sam Gash, the Ravens have kept 19 of their 22 Super Bowl starters on the club for this season. The only losses were safety Kim Herring, center Jeff Mitchell and quarterback Trent Dilfer.

Baltimore will be the first -- and last -- AFC Central Division team to defend a Super Bowl title since the Steelers of 1980. The division will shrink to four teams in 2002 and become the AFC North.