Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Now T.O. Has Something Else To Cry About


For premier athletes, money isn't really an isssue. When you're getting roster bonuses with multiple zeroes attached at the end you don't have a hard time paying for things. But even for an athlete of T.O.'s caliber, $770k has to be a little bit hard to part with. However, that's about how much he owes the Eagles.

Terrell Owens should set aside part of his roster bonus from Dallas to pay his old team a debt. An arbitrator ruled in favor of the Philadelphia Eagles last Friday on a grievance that was filed by the NFL players' union on Owens' behalf in 2005, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Tuesday, citing a league source.

A team spokesman said the Eagles wouldn't comment. Owens' agent, Drew Rosenhaus, didn't immediately return a phone message.

The union disputed the Eagles' effort to recover $1.725 million of the $2.3 million signing bonus the team paid the wide receiver when it signed him to a seven-year, $48.97 million deal in 2004.

Owens was kicked off the team seven games into the 2005 season for a series of infractions, including repeated criticism of quarterback Donovan McNabb and lashing out against management. He was suspended four games without pay and the team withheld his final five paychecks, totaling $955,880. That means Owens still owes the Eagles $769,120.

Owens will be receiving a roster bonus of $3 million from the Cowboys, so he has money to spare. Though, taking a hit the equivalent of a Pagani Zonda plus a couple hundred tanks of gas can't feel all that great.

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