SPORTS UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesdav, September 21. 1994
3B
One-time NFL failure finds success with Lions
Ex-Husker Thomas has 'new lease on football career'
The Associated Press
IRVING, Texas — During his first five years in the NFL, Broderick Thomas was one of many living symbols of the Tampa Bay Bucs' futility — another high draft choice that didn't pan out.
In his sixth year, with the Detroit Lions, he demonstrated Monday night that he still can make big plays.
Thomas, signed as a free agent by the Lions this year, made perhaps the biggest play of his career against the Dallas Cowboys, racing by all-Pro tackle Erik Williams with 1:55 left in overtime, then stripping Troy Aikman and falling on the ball at the Dallas 43.
That led to Jason Hanson's 44-yard field goal that gave the Lions a 20-17 win over the Cowboys, Dallas' first loss in 11 games and their first since Leon Lett's infamous gaffe in the snow against Miami last Thanksgiving.
"He's the best right tackle in the NFL," Thomas said of Williams. "But I was able to run right by him and then I went for the ball instead of teeing off on Troy."
Thomas has something in common with Aikman — his status in the 1989 NFL draft. Aikman was the first pick overall, Thomas was the sixth.
In between was one bust, Tony Mandarich, and Thomas' superstar teammate, Barry Sanders, who had 194 yards in 40 carries Monday night. Also in the top six that year were
Kansas City's Derrick Thomas and Deion Sanders, who signed last week with San Francisco.
Broderick Thomas, by contrast,
was simply ordinary in Tampa,
suffering through five seasons of
double-digit losses with the woeful Bucs.
After 111/2 sacks in 1991, he was switched into a coverage position as a linebacker, typical of the way players were shifted under shifting regimes in Tampa.
Not in Detroit. He's strictly an upman opposite Pat Swilling.
Thomas not only made the play that won the game, he made one that might have saved it, throwing Emmitt Smith for a 1-yard loss on a third-and-goal from the 1-yard line in the third quarter. That forced Dallas to settle for Chris Boniol's 19-yard field goal that made the game 17-10 instead of 17-14.
So Smith's touchdown with 4:09 left in regulation only tied the game instead of won it.
"We have four linebackers who can really play," said Mike Johnson, another new addition to the Detroit defense.
"Broderick just flat out beat his man and instead of teeing on the quarternback, he went for the ball. It was smart tackling on his part."
The Cowboys simply gave credit to the Lions — Sanders and the defense—and got ready to take their mandated week off.
"The turnovers hurt us, especially in overtime," Aikman said. "We made some stupid mistakes and it cost us. But you can't take anything away from Detroit. They really played well tonight."
Particularly Broderick Thomas. With a new lease on football life.
Former Bulls forward makes Magic again
The Associated Press
ORLANDO, Fla. — Horace Grant, his initial contract with Orlando struck down by the NBA, signed with the Magic for five years Monday in a deal already approved by the league.
"We've done this before, and this is the last time," said the free-agent power forward who played the last seven years with the Chicago Bulls.
The contract has a two-year, early-release option clause and was signed exactly a week after a federal judge in Newark, N.J., ruled Grant's first offer from the franchise — a $22.3 million contract with a one-year escape clause — could violate the NAba salary cap.
Magic coach Brian Hill called the signing of the 6-foot-10 forward "another sign of a commitment of the Magic (owners) to build it into a championship organization."
The NBA initially took the Orlando franchise to court, claiming the Magic's owners were trying to use the one-year escape clause to skirt NBA rules.
"I think we have a great young nucleus here... to eventually win an NBA championship," Hill said at a news conference at Orlanda Arena.
No further details were released on Grant's contract. John Gabriel, Orlando's vice president of basketball operations, emphasized that the NBA backed the new contract.
Grant said he and his agent, Jimmy Sexton, had not contacted any other NBA club after the original contract with the Magic was disallowed.
"My mind was made up," Grant said.
The new contract followed a legal tussle between Orlando and the NBA over the Magic's original six-year contract offer.
That first offer called for Grant to become a free agent after playing the first year at a salary of $2.125 million. That is the most the Magic can pay under the salary cap.
Under the first proposal, Grant would then re-sign with the Magic for the remainder of the contract terms.
But on Sept. 12, U.S. District Judge Dickinson Debevoise said a one-year escape clause in Grant's contract could be a circumvention of the salary cap. The salary cap is designed to prohibit the richest teams from signing all the best players.
Grant could have agreed to a one-year, $2.125 million contract with the Magic or signed a contract with another team with money to spend below the salary cap.
Grant also could have gone back to the Bulls, who had tried to resign him to a five-year, $20 million contract. Another option he chose not to pursue would have been to ask for a full hearing before the judge to continue a fight for the first contract proposal.
"The real hero here, in my eyes, is Horace Grant, who chose the Orlando Magic — again," Gabriel said, referring to the legal tangle the Magic went through to sign Grant.
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