Cloak and dagger in New England? Stephen Neal

Texans | Casserly feels Neal was never really a free agent
Sun, 2 Apr 2006 10:28:18 -0700


Ron Borges, of the Boston Globe, reports Houston Texans general manager Charley Casserly felt agent Jonathan Hurst never really allowed New England Patriots OL Stephen Neal to truly become a free agent. Casserly was among several teams pursuing Neal and he thought the Texans had a good chance of landing him. Casserly grew suspicious of the legitimacy of Neal's free agency after Hurst canceled a meeting with the Texans. According to Casserly, Hurst told him, ''It's just not going to work out." Casserly asked how it could since the team had yet to meet with Neal or make a formal offer. When Hurst refused to bring Neal to Houston, Casserly said he was going to call the player directly. ''I left a message on his cell phone," Casserly said. Neal never returned the call and he re-signed with the Patriots for what Casserly said was less money than the Texans would have offered him.

---sorry, wrong forum. Mods, feel free to move this.

Dang.....for a minute I thought our old friend Jean (CND) was back ... oh well. Maybe he's here but just incognito?

aj. said:

Dang.....for a minute I thought our old friend Jean (CND) was back ... oh well. Maybe he's here but just incognito?

Click to expand...

That's exactly what I thought.

Sorry guys. Brain fart.

I remember CnD from way back. It's been awhile.

I'm sure he had nothing to do with any of this Patriot duplicity.

Took the below copy and paste from a website. What could have been.


Truly a 'free' agent?
Hometown discounts are one thing. Unfair advantages are something else. Houston general manager Charley Casserly believes he knows the difference. Casserly was among several teams pursuing Patriots guard Stephen Neal and he thought the Texans had a good chance of landing him. Then the negotiations ended before they ever started, and Casserly smelled a rat. Neal is represented by Jonathan Hurst, an associate whose office address and phone number are the same as his employer, longtime agent Neil Cornrich. Cornrich is under a one-year suspension by the Players Association for using NFLPA information against the estate of the late Derrick Thomas in a wrongful death suit following the auto accident that took Thomas's life. He has long been closely associated with Patriots coach Bill Belichick, once boasting on his website that he was Belichick's agent and acknowledging that he did work as his attorney. Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri fired Cornrich after Cornrich's suspension and said he was ''going with someone in Neil's office." That was Hurst, but Vinatieri turned to Gary Uberstine (Willie McGinest's agent) after having doubts that Hurst was considering all the options available to him. It seemed to Vinatieri that Hurst was pushing him back to New England. Whether Hurst was or not, Vinatieri told people in Green Bay he feared that was the case. After two weeks of getting nowhere, Uberstine was hired, and less than a week later, he had Vinatieri signed to the fattest contract for a kicker in NFL history. With that as background, Casserly grew suspicious of the legitimacy of Neal's free agency after Hurst canceled a meeting with the Texans. According to Casserly, Hurst told him, ''It's just not going to work out." Casserly asked how it could since the team had yet to meet with Neal or make a formal offer. When Hurst refused to bring Neal to Houston, Casserly said he was going to call the player directly. ''I left a message on his cellphone," Casserly said. ''I don't know if he got it or not. I never got to talk to Steve. But our offer was a signing bonus between $5 million and $6 million. It probably would have ended up at $5.5 million. The average of the [four-year] deal would have been $3 million a season, including the signing bonus. Go look what they signed him for." The Patriots signed Neal to a four-year contract worth $10.5 million that included a signing bonus of $3.2 million and base salaries of $600,000 in 2006, $1.7 million in '07, $2.1 million in '08, and $2.5 million in '09. The contract includes four yearly workout bonuses of $106,160. The bigger point, in Casserly's mind, was that such deals usually end up being only two-year contracts before they're renegotiated or the player is terminated. If that happens, Neal's deal will bring him a total in bonuses and salary of $5.7 million from the Patriots, only $200,000 more than his signing bonus alone would have been in Houston. ''You figure out what happened," Casserly said. ''He was never really a free agent. It was all just for show." Whatever it was, it was a good deal for the Patriots, who signed Neal to a deal roughly $1.5 million less than he would have received in Houston.

Do you have a link for the actual site? Might as well get it out now if you can since the Mods are going to be asking for it next.

If it's true, that's very interesting and suspicious. Can't really call anyone out on it with just that information, but it's still interesting.

ledzeppelin269 said:

Do you have a link for the actual site? Might as well get it out now if you can since the Mods are going to be asking for it next.

If it's true, that's very interesting and suspicious. Can't really call anyone out on it with just that information, but it's still interesting.

Click to expand...

Not the exact link, however...it back's it up.....below


http://www.kffl.com/player/1176/nfl

its a shame because neal is a disgusting athlete.

i followed him in college and after. the guy won world's in 1999 and was the favorite to win the olympic gold in 2000. he had a ferocious double leg takedown on monster 285lb guys.

no college experience and just walked into the NFL.

aj. said:

Dang.....for a minute I thought our old friend Jean (CND) was back ... oh well. Maybe he's here but just incognito?

Click to expand...

That was what I was thinking too, aj !

There's a lot of bull that goes on when money is involved.Goes to show you it's not always Casserly's fault that the Texans don't get the players they want in the FA market.

I'm pretty sure this was on ESPN Insider (at least I thought I saw it there yesterday) as well but nonetheless this is where all this buzz is orignating from:

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/articles/2006/04/02/a_poison_in_the_system/?page=3
(Scroll dwon to mid-page)

Article:

Truly a 'free' agent?
Hometown discounts are one thing. Unfair advantages are something else. Houston general manager Charley Casserly believes he knows the difference. Casserly was among several teams pursuing Patriots guard Stephen Neal and he thought the Texans had a good chance of landing him. Then the negotiations ended before they ever started, and Casserly smelled a rat. Neal is represented by Jonathan Hurst, an associate whose office address and phone number are the same as his employer, longtime agent Neil Cornrich. Cornrich is under a one-year suspension by the Players Association for using NFLPA information against the estate of the late Derrick Thomas in a wrongful death suit following the auto accident that took Thomas's life. He has long been closely associated with Patriots coach Bill Belichick, once boasting on his website that he was Belichick's agent and acknowledging that he did work as his attorney. Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri fired Cornrich after Cornrich's suspension and said he was ''going with someone in Neil's office." That was Hurst, but Vinatieri turned to Gary Uberstine (Willie McGinest's agent) after having doubts that Hurst was considering all the options available to him. It seemed to Vinatieri that Hurst was pushing him back to New England. Whether Hurst was or not, Vinatieri told people in Green Bay he feared that was the case. After two weeks of getting nowhere, Uberstine was hired, and less than a week later, he had Vinatieri signed to the fattest contract for a kicker in NFL history. With that as background, Casserly grew suspicious of the legitimacy of Neal's free agency after Hurst canceled a meeting with the Texans. According to Casserly, Hurst told him, ''It's just not going to work out." Casserly asked how it could since the team had yet to meet with Neal or make a formal offer. When Hurst refused to bring Neal to Houston, Casserly said he was going to call the player directly. ''I left a message on his cellphone," Casserly said. ''I don't know if he got it or not. I never got to talk to Steve. But our offer was a signing bonus between $5 million and $6 million. It probably would have ended up at $5.5 million. The average of the [four-year] deal would have been $3 million a season, including the signing bonus. Go look what they signed him for." The Patriots signed Neal to a four-year contract worth $10.5 million that included a signing bonus of $3.2 million and base salaries of $600,000 in 2006, $1.7 million in '07, $2.1 million in '08, and $2.5 million in '09. The contract includes four yearly workout bonuses of $106,160. The bigger point, in Casserly's mind, was that such deals usually end up being only two-year contracts before they're renegotiated or the player is terminated. If that happens, Neal's deal will bring him a total in bonuses and salary of $5.7 million from the Patriots, only $200,000 more than his signing bonus alone would have been in Houston. ''You figure out what happened," Casserly said. ''He was never really a free agent. It was all just for show." Whatever it was, it was a good deal for the Patriots, who signed Neal to a deal roughly $1.5 million less than he would have received in Houston.