6B
Friday, August 23, 1996
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Rams take risk on former Nebraska star Phillips
Good behavior a must for the reckless rookie
The Associated Press
ST. LOUIS — For Lawrence Phillips, the challenge is not just to display his worth in the NFL games. Phillips must also prove he has the discipline and disposition to succeed off the field.
Phillips is considered such a talent that the St. Louis Rams used the
the draft on him, then traded the incumbent the same day.
In the eyes of offensive coordinator Johnny R o l a n d , Phillips will surpass the accomplishments of
Lawrence Phillips
departed Jerome Bettis, who made the Pro Bowl his first two seasons and now is with Pittsburgh.
"If you had a Secretariat or a Cigar, you don't leave them in the barn," Roland said. "You get them out on the track and you race them."
"We're going to get him on the football field and let him go to town."
But going to town, away from the stadium, has been part of Phillips' problems.
Concern about his legal troubles led the Rams to force a three-year, $5.625 million deal — with no signing bonus — on Phillips in late July. Unlike the rest of the first-rounders who are instantly set for life with multimillion-dollar bonuses up front, Phillips — who has acted like an out-of-control kid off the football field — has to carry his new car into
"We're not going to throw money
down the drain." Rams coach Rich Brooks said back in June.
The deal, so unusual in the NFL these days, prompted Phillips to make one more ill-advised decision. He held out for the first 16 days of training camp while he and his agent confronted the realities. Then, they hammered out the contract details with the Rams.
The ramifications of the holdout — daily remedial pass-blocking seminars and backup status during the exhibition season — are nothing compared to his legal woes.
"Most definitely," he said
Last year, after an attack on his former girlfriend, Phillips received a five-game suspension, then was reinstated by Nebraska coach Tom Osborne three games before the Fiesta Bowl.
Phillips believes he'll avoid jail.
Phillips might have been the top pick in the draft, if not for his offfield problems. While on probation for his attack on a former girlfriend at Nebraska, he was arrested for drunken driving in June.
Nebraska officials said they probably would try to revoke Phillips' probation if he is found guilty on that charge, which would mean an automatic 30-day jail sentence. Phillips' initial court appearance is Aug. 28, four days before the season opener at home against Cincinnati.
Phillips allegedly had a blood-alcohol level twice the legal limit when a California Highway Patrol officer spotted him driving 80 mph on a flat tire, then pursued him for five miles before pulling him over.
For a time, the situation was so dicey the Rams signed free-agent running back Harold Green, the Bengals' leading rusher last season, just in case Phillips wasn't available. Now the Rams and Phillips' attorneys are confident that jail time, if any, won't come until after the season.
"I guess I could have been a hero by booting him off permanently, but I just didn't feel right doing it," Osborne said. "I became a win-at-
all-costs guv."
Johnny Roland
St. Louis Rams Offensive Coordinator
Starting in training camp, the Rams took pains to keep Phillips, who turned 21 in May and will wear No.21 on the field, from making any more risky moves. Besides workouts and meetings that take up most of his day, the team has four ex-Nebraska players on the roster.
"We have a close-knit group, a family-type situation," Roland said. "The players will wrap him up in their cocoon and he'll be on the straight and narrow."
"They're all older than me and I think it'll help a lot to hang out with those guys," he said.
Phillips acts like he wants the help.
Phillips is counting on big numbers, like the 165 yards and two touchdowns against Florida in the
But the Rams aren't taking anything for granted. Judging from his first news conference after signing, when he related that instead of soulsearching he decided the wisest course of action was to take a limousine the next time he went night-clubbing. Phillips remains a risk.
"You cannot help someone who doesn't want to be helped," Brooks said in June, a few days after Phillips' DUI arrest. "Lawrence has obviously got to make some very important decisions in his life as to what direction he's going to go, who he's going to trust, who he's going to put his faith in."
Fiesta Bowl and the 30 touchdowns in 27 college games, to put his shaky past to rest.
"I hope me playing well and doing the things I have to do will be enough for the fans," Phillips said. "Everybody has an opinion and not everybody is going to like you."
"But if you worried about everything that's said, you'd spend your whole life trying to defend yourself."
In his first extensive NFL action, he showed making the transition from Nebraska to the pros might not be a big deal. He ran for 37 yards and was particularly impressive on a 3-yard touchdown run, avoiding a tackle in the backfield before speeding into the end zone.
"I'm running mostly on instinct right now and my instincts are pretty good," Phillips said. "You don't want to think too much, just basically react, and when I learn the offense I'll be better."
The Rams have no doubt about that. Brooks has noticed that Phillips always seems to get the most out of his carries, falling forward.
"Lawrence is doing a great job on the field, I want to underscore that," Brooks said. "He's a pleasure to coach on the field and he's making up for lost ground."
If he can just stay out of trouble away from the action, that No. 6 pick might look like a steal.
Favre could join multimillion ranks
Deal would add drug stipulation
The Associated Press
MILWAUKEE — Brett Favre is seeking a contract extension on par with Troy Aikman's $50 million deal.
But a new pact would include a stipulation that the Green Bay Packers quarterback forfeit some of that money if he violates the NFL's substance-abuse policy, his agent said yesterday.
"Logically, the team would like to have some protection," said James "Bus" Cook, the Hattiesburg, Miss., attorney who represents Favre. "That's understandable, and Brett has no problem with that."
Favre, in the third year of his five-year, $19 million contract, entered the NFL's substance-abuse program in May to be treated for an addiction to painkillers.
Favre also can't use alcohol for two years and told the Green Bay Press-Gazette that he is being tested for drugs and alcohol as often as four times a week.
Favre, 26, was the NFL's Most Valuable Player last season while leading the Packers to the NFC title game. He threw an NFC-record 38 touchdown passes in 1995 and in the last two seasons has thrown 71 TDs and just 27 interceptions.
He is seeking a new deal that would put him on par with Dallas' Aikman, $50 million in eight years; New England's Drew Bledsoe, $42 million in seven years; and Denver's John Elway, $29.5 million in five years.
"That's what the market has dictated for the top quarter-backs," Cook said. "And I think Brett Favre is the best quarterback in the NFL. A lot of people must share that same opinion since he was the MVP last year."
Cook said he would like to reach agreement on an extension by midseason.
"We've been talking on and off for several months," he said. "Right now we're kind of in a holding pattern."
Mike Reinfeldt, the Packers' chief financial officer, said the team is intent on renegotiating Favre's deal, but he said the team has no timetable.
"It's something we'd both like to have had done already," he said. "As for a specific time frame, there's no drop-dead dates. But I think it's something both sides realize the importance of."
Reinfeld refused to confirm that the team would want a substance-abuse stipulation included.
"I really don't like to go into specifics on any of our contracts," he said.
Neither side would disclose the length of the deal they are seeking.
"We would like to extend it a number of years," Reinfeldt said. "I'm not sure of the specific number yet, but it would be a lengthy extension."
If an agreement isn't reached, the Packers could designate Favre their franchise player, meaning he would earn the average of the league's five highest-paid quarterbacks. He could strike a deal as a free agent, but the Packers would have the right of first refusal.
Reinfeldt said it won't come to that.
"We have a good relationship with Bus and with Brett," he said. "We have a good history of working together. There's no doubt we really want him. He really wants to be here. All those ingredients make everybody optimistic that we'll work something out."
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