Sheldon Brown Wants to be Traded

Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Sheldon Brown is unhappy with his contract and wants to be traded. But here’s the problem — there are three years left on his current deal. He feels underpaid and as he put it, “disrespected” by the team. So he thought the world should know about it and made his feelings known:

Sheldon Brown, Philadelphia Eagles / Photo: Newscom

“Without a doubt there are going to be more problems. I’m not the first guy and I’m not going to be the last guy. What’s the incentive for guys like Trent Cole and Mike Patterson to play above their heads? Everybody’s situation is different and everybody handles their business in a different way. This situation could have been handled in a different way. I was forced to put it out there.”

It didn’t take long for the Eagles to get wind of Sheldon’s remarks and they quickly fired back:

“It’s very unfortunate and counterproductive that Sheldon has chosen to go public with his feelings about his situation. After thorough evaluation by himself and discussions with his family and agents, he chose to accept an extension of his rookie contract early that provided his family financial security for the rest of his life. It removed any concerns about health or performance that all other players in his Draft class had to worry about. He has three years remaining on that contract and, after taking the signing bonus and his first two years of salary into account, we feel that Sheldon is being paid fairly. Focusing only on a player’s salary for a given year is not a valid analysis.

There have been league MVP’s, Super Bowl champion quarterbacks, and perennial Pro Bowlers who have been in a similar situation. All of their teams have required them to wait until their contract expired or there was only one year remaining before any adjustment took place. It is only in the most extraordinary, in fact, less than a handful of circumstances in the last ten years that any players two new years into a contract with three years left have been adjusted. We don’t think this qualifies as an extraordinary circumstance.”

This comment from the Eagles was extremely defensive. Almost a bit childish. But I don’t fault them entirely here. In fact, I’m not taking either side because I think both parties are handling this the wrong way. First and foremost, Sheldon needs to honor his contract. Whether he deems his deal fair or not at this point ultimately doesn’t matter. It’s about honoring the contract you signed. He knew what he was getting himself into when he signed it. And while he’s a fine corner, he’s not among the elite in the league so as to even be considered to get a reworked deal with three years left on his current one. Get real. He thinks he’s playing so well that he deserves a new contract. Isn’t he supposed to play well? That’s what he’s already been paid for.

Bottom line — this whole incident should’ve been kept in-house. The Eagles even used the word “counterproductive,” as though this public outburst hurt Sheldon’s chances of getting anything he wants in the future. I guess Sheldon should’ve paid more attention to former Eagles teammate Lito Sheppard, who spent several years in the team’s doghouse before jetting to New York last month. It might seem as though the squeaky wheel has been getting the attention lately (particularly with Jason Peters and Jay Cutler), but that’s usually not the way to go. As a player, you can’t just start complaining and automatically get what you want (most of the time — Chad Johnson understands this). And it wasn’t the way to go in this case. All it did was create more bad feelings and animosity within the organization.

Source: Philly.com