Sam Young Details (From Winnipeg Paper)

Hamilton Tiger-Cats
1

[i]New DB riding roller-coaster
Winnipeg Free Press
Mon 16 Jul 2007
Page: C3
Section: Sports
Byline: Ed Tait

EXCUSE Sam Young if he is running the emotional gamut right now, feeling
both ecstatic and angry, wanted and scorned at the same time.

Three days ago the veteran CFL defensive back was readying to suit up
for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for Saturday’s game against the Montreal
Alouettes. But after a bizarre turn of events Young instead spent Sunday
on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers practice field as one of two new recruits
after the club also added long-snapper Mike Mahoney while cutting Nate
Davis, Gabriel Fulbright and Blair Atkinson.

Young, the former B.C. Lion who joined the Ticats last season, blew out
his Achilles with two games remaining and spent the winter recuperating.
According to the 28-year-old Chicago product, he was cut before training
camp and told by Ticat brass he would be brought back later.

Young joined the practice roster but, after seeing his base salary
sliced from $65,000 to $41,000, opted to renege on the deal.

“I felt like that seeing as this is my fifth year in the CFL I just
couldn’t do it so I was willing to walk away with no hard feelings,”
Young said after his first workout as a Bomber. "Fortunately, my agent
put a call in to see if somebody needed my help and luckily I landed
here.

Best interests

"It’s nothing I tried to do against the (Ticats) because me and all the
guys there are tight. I didn’t try to hurt the team at all, I was just
looking out for my best interests as a player.

“It was unfortunate in Hamilton… they disparaged my character a little
bit.”

Yeah, you could say that. Young’s decision to balk at the Ticats’ new
contract offer left the club scrambling to find bodies for their
depleted secondary this weekend and GM Marcel Desjardins was, well…
miffed is the cleanest way to put it.

“(Young’s agent) said Sam had decided to reject the contract that we had
agreed to at which point I told him what I thought of both of them,”
Desjardins told The Hamilton Spectator. "We had agreed on something last
week and two days before the game he decides it’s not good enough. I
don’t know if he thought he was in a position of strength and was going
to be able to corner us into something but I just told him, ‘we don’t
need that and you can go home.’

“He has not painted himself into a good position. I understand that he
feels he is worth more but he should have told me that two weeks ago.”

Young started his CFL career in Calgary and was a West Division all-star
with B.C. in 2004. He appeared in 10 games with the Ticats in '06,
finishing with 26 tackles and two interceptions.[/i]

65K for a starting DB isnt too much IMO, yes he signed an agreement but all of the sudden he is good enough to start? Shouldnt that be enough to warrant a re-negotiation?

Why is it that when a player backs out of a contract its such a bad thing but when Marcel cut and traded all of the guys that he deemed were “making too much money” its ok cause we’re “trimming” salary.

Expecting him to play for 41K Canadian is low balling as far as im concerned, he could make more as a personal trainer in the US.

Im upset it came to this but as far as im concerned, he doesnt look as bad as Marcel made him out to be.

2

Well seeing how the team signed him after a season ending surgery and then he bails. Also remember that 41,000 would be a pro-rated contract seeing how the season is 4 games in.

3

if thats his “Base” salary as the article suggests… its a pro-rated amount FROM 41k.

I agree that its a tough move, but as far as im concerned if hes good enough to start, hes good enough to get paid.

4

you sign a contract, you stick to it, no matter what. The guy is slime, pure and simple. Note that it is a winnipeg writer trying to make him not look so bad.

5

He signed a contract and should have stuck to it.

But.. 40k is a pretty insulting pay even for a rookie let alone a 5-6 year vet. I mean.. its pro football! 40 thousand is pathetic for any player period.

6

He agreed to a contract and should be made to honour it. The gist of the story I got was that he and his agent went shopping AFTER agreeing to the offer and that after he got an offer from Winnipeg he went in with his new demands. I'd say the bad guys here are the Bombers and they should be investigated for tampering if in fact there was a contract in place. If not the Bombers a still slim but well within their rights to poach the players we have cut.

7

What did he sign the deal for then? Let’s not forget he’s coming off a serious achilles injury? A slime like him probably asked to change his contract a few times during the course of that week.

8

Well said.

It’s that simple.

9

It should be interesting if he will be ready to play.We face them back to back after tomorrows gane against BC

10

[quote="nekjos42"]It should be interesting if he will be ready to play.We face them back to back after tomorrows gane against BC[/quote Why it will be like every other one that leaves us he will burn us too. And i dont think marcel is as good of gm as every one thinks he is, he did not improve our team much from last year except for Chang and taffe wont play the kid, Mass has no power in his arm at all imo

11

Marcel Desjardin had no choice but to do what he did. If he gave Young more money that could set a precedent and every player who had a few good games would be back at the trough looking for a bigger payday.
And, as stated above, when you make a deal you should honour it. Where is the professional in backing out of a deal when all of a sudden you think you can get more money?

12

I liked Young, but if he didn't think the contract was sufficient he shouldn't have signed it. And if he thought about asking for a re-negotiation, he should have waited until after he did something on the field.

13

Personally, I don't think Young looks good for not honouring the contract, and then trying to take advantage of the 'Cats when we all know they could use some DB help, but I also don't think Marcel looks too good offering Young a contract of 40K particularly when he knows we needed this guy.

Regardless of the personal issue, in the end we are still missing some more talented DBs, and that's what bothers me most.

PJ

14

PJ Have you noticed that the defence played better after losing "some more talented DBs"

15

We also have to remember that he was added only because Tay Cody was injured and wouldnt be in the starting lineup when he returns and they will probably stick with the younger players .

If he was that good he would of been on another teams roster already wouldnt he ??

16

There seems to be some confusion between agreeing to terms of a contract and actually signing it.

From what has been written it seems he never signed anything other than a contract for the practice squad. When pressed to be activated and presented the new contract offer 2 days before the game he refused to sign it.

Young joined the practice roster but, after seeing his base salary sliced from $65,000 to $41,000, opted to renege on the deal.
What's really dumb is for Marcel not to offer him a fair deal beforehand.
" I understand that he feels he is worth more but he should have told me that two weeks ago."
One's left to wonder if Marcel would have offered more had Young asked for it when he signed on to the practice squad.

With Young walking, Shaw shipped out, Cody hurt and unfamiliar faces in the rest of the backfield I’m sure BC knows what to do.

It also appears Young will be starting at RCB
not HB for the Montreal game according to todays depth charts.

17

If you'll take note my response has always been a big IF he signed Winnipeg was guilty of tampering. He DID agree to the 41000 so he's still reneging on a deal at the very least and as such his release is justified

BTW the defensve backfield looked better last game than all season so how exactly does his release hurt?