Soldier With Fortune

Yesterday, Kellen Winslow signed a new six-year, $36.1-million contract with $20.1-million guaranteed and incentive clauses that could push it over $42-million. CNNSI says it makes him the highest paid tight end in NFL history. That’s the second offensive player in two years for which the Bucs have set the high water mark in contract value.

Let me get this out of the way first. I was bitching last week about Winslow not participating in practices after that first one on Tuesday morning. Winslow’s father-in-law, who has Alzheimer’s disease, went missing Wednesday morning, which would explain why he wasn’t around for the remaining practices (although it doesn’t explain why he didn’t practice Tuesday afternoon.) His father-in-law was found safe on Saturday as he was trying coming back to the United States from Mexico. So any speculation I made that his absence was contract-related probably wasn’t true. It’s just this HUGE coincidence that he landed a record-setting contract the next week.

The new contract wasn’t a surprise. We kind of knew he was going to get something when the Bucs traded for him because that’s just the way Winslow is. The two remaining years he had on his contract weren’t exactly going to force him onto welfare, though. He was scheduled to make $4.5-million in 2009 under his old contract, which seems like it would have been a nice “prove it” number, making him stay healthy and productive in order to land the big deal in the 2010 offseason. But I guess after a broken leg, shredded knee, a staph infection and a career of being intentionally inflammatory, there’s nothing left to prove.

Man, how pissed is Antonio Bryant right now?

Bryant was asked to “prove it” in 2008 for the league minimum. He stayed healthy, kept his mouth shut, and practically was the offense for the season, racking up 1,248 yards and seven touchdowns. He proved it and wanted a long-term deal. I guess the team wasn’t ready to give it to him so they franchised him, which I always proclaimed as totally fair under the system. But that was until the Winslow deal. Now I wouldn’t blame him one bit for holding a grudge. If he hadn’t already signed his franchise tender, I’d have told him not to until the Bucs stepped up for him, too.

If this was a player at any other position, it would be different. You can justify spending different amounts at different spots based on need and various conditions around the league. But despite being listed as a tight end, Winslow is a receiver and everybody knows it. The Bucs chose to make a six-year commitment to the brand new receiver in the locker room and leave Bryant wondering what he has to do to be considered part of the family. That’s fucked. The only reason this would make any sense is if Bryant’s contract demands were so outrageous that there was no way a middle ground could be reached. But were Bryant’s demands any more outrageous than being the highest paid tight end in league history?

Did I mention that Winslow has played in 55% of his games? Bryant has played in 83% of his. It seems like if you’re going to make someone the highest paid anything, you should be able to use him more than half the time.

It’s going to be interesting to hear what Bryant has to say about this. Someone is bound to ask him. In the meantime, I’m sure we can all count on Winslow not only producing at record levels but also being a good little soldier and the mature team leader that a contract of his magnitude would imply that he is.

**cries**