Lions Win Grievance Against Charles Rogers

by Sean Yuille on Oct 9, 2008 12:54 AM EDT in News

Almost three years after the Lions filed a grievance against Charles Rogers, an arbitrator has finally made a decision on the case. That decision is that Rogers owes the Lions $8.5 million for violating his contract by getting suspended under the NFL's substance abuse policy.

Even though the ruling is in favor of the Lions, getting the money back is easier said than done. Not only do the Lions have to get it themselves, but does anyone honestly believe that Rogers has anything remotely close to $8.5 million? Chances are he has much, much less than that, so the Lions probably won't ever see that money or even a portion of it.

I imagine many believe that it's no big deal if Rogers does give the Lions the money back or not, but it actually is. The amount of money the Lions get back from Rogers will be added to next year's salary cap. If the Lions were able to recover all $8.5 million, then they would have much more cap room, allowing them to make more moves to the roster. That is something that will have to happen to make this team better, and if a new GM is hired, there will be many moves made anyways, so the more cap room the better.

With this grievance out of the way, I really wish it was possible to go after Matt Millen. It's not possible since he didn't violate any terms of his contract as far as I know, but the man really should not be able to keep $50 million after doing such a poor job. It's the Lions' fault for keeping him around and paying him that much money, but can't the league level with us fans? After all, our owner has proven to not be the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to football, so maybe we could get a pity ruling or something. Then again, William Clay Ford would probably just put the extra money to poor use anyways, so why even bother?

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How is this fair?

The money teams can spend under the salary cap is the lifeblood of building a good team.

Salary cap money is not “real money”. It’ is FAR, FAR MORE VALUABLE than “real money”, because it’s all you have when you want to acquire good players.

$8.5 million could pay for several quality veterans. It could really help the Lions rebuild, and they obviously need help.

The NFL really needs to reevaluate rules governing the use of money awarded for salary cap violations. If $8.5 million in salary cap dollars really, truly, rightfully belongs to the Lions, then the Lions should be allowed to pay $8.5 on next year’s salary cap, regardless of whether they somehow manage to recover it from Rogers or not.

How is it fair that when an individual player violates his contract, his old team has to suffer for it long after he’s released, IF he manages to screw up his finances and blow through all his money?

Obviously, a team’s ability to recover it’s money depends on the personal financial decisions of the player (in this case, recreational pothead draft bust Charles Rogers).

If a player manages his money well, invests it safely, and then he is ordered to repay it, then his old team benefits by being able to take it out of his investment accounts.

If a player doesn’t manage his money well, blows it all on bars, cars, weed, whatever, and then he is ordered to repay it, then his old team gets screwed over because, through no fault of theirs, they can’t recover the money.

In a fair and just world, a team’s future—their ability to rebuild—should not depend on the personal financial decisions of a former player, and whether the team can collect money or not. Right?

If an amount of money is awarded by judgement to a team, shouldn’t the team (since it is rightfully their money) be allowed to add that amount to their salary cap, whether or not they are somehow able to collect the money (which is totally out of their control)?

Or am I missing something? I’m not an expert at all on these rules.

by n4ry4 on Oct 9, 2008 10:40 AM EDT 1 recs

Well said

I agree that it’s dumb that the money is only added if it is physically recovered. On paper it sounds great that the Lions won this grievance, but there’s no way they’ll get very much from Rogers, who no doubt has blown most or all of it. Because of that, they’ll get to say Rogers owes them $8.5 million, but if they never see it they still get screwed. Just seems dumb to me, too.

Check out Pride of Detroit, SB Nation's Lions Blog

by Sean Yuille on Oct 9, 2008 12:02 PM EDT up 0 recs

A win is a win

And that is the first one in a while! So what if it wasn’t on the field, or the organization won’t see much is any of it, when was the last time “Lions” and “Win” were together in a headline?

by vocksrocks on Oct 9, 2008 2:00 PM EDT 0 recs