Join *Jaguars Inside Report *Senior Editor Vic Ketchman as he tackles the fans' tough questions.
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Skeeter Robie from Pharr, TX:
I agree with the NFL's stance on preventing a player on suspension from being present at the stadium/practice facilities during his suspension. However, I have a problem with their policy of "no contact" with any team officials outside the stadium/practice complex. Does this include contact with teammates? It seems to me that a person with a "problem" needs all the support they can get, and who better to support them than team members, be it officials, coaches, medical staff or players. The goal should be to straighten the player out and have him become a positive image for the team and the NFL as a whole. This "all or nothing" mentality seems counter-productive. I assume there are "loopholes or sneaky ways" that teams can check up on their player's welfare. It's not important to talk football during this time, but it is important to continue the positive re-enforcement. What are you feelings on this issue?
Vic: R. Jay Soward will be permitted to have contact with his teammates, but he will not be permitted to visit any of the team's facilities, and the team will not be permitted to have any contact with him. This is considered to be a tough-love period of introspection that will help define the circumstances of that player's life and football career. I appreciate your opinion on this no-contact rule, but football people are not therapists. In my opinion, this is a time when the player would be better served by professional therapy, rather than a continued association with a sport that had never previously been a cure.
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Marilyn Sands from Jacksonville:
How can the Jaguars afford to sign players like Sean Dawkins and veteran players waived from other teams if they have such cap woes? Not that I have anything against Dawkins. Thus far he has been an asset to the team.
Vic: Signing a player who has been waived by another team usually means paying that player minimum wage. Once that player clears waivers, his previous contract with the team that cut him is extinguished. Signing that player then becomes a matter of replacing one player making minimum wage with another player making minimum wage. In Sean Dawkins' case, the Jaguars signed him to a heavily incentivized contract that did not include a signing bonus. His base salary is $500,000, or minimum wage. He can earn another $500,000 in incentives, but those would be applied to the 2002 salary cap because Dawkins did not equal those incentives in the 2000 season, which permits the Jaguars to designate his 2002 incentives as "not like to be earned." It's a matter of cap creativity that may only serve to push more money out into the future, but, when the Jaguars signed Dawkins, the uncertainty of Jimmy Smith's medical circumstances and the four-game suspension R. Jay Soward must serve left the team in a desperate state at wide receiver.
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Paul Boucher from Jacksonville:**
When R. Jay Soward is on suspension for the first four games, will the Jaguars be able to fill his roster spot? However, won't his salary still count against the cap?
Vic: For his four-game suspension, Soward will be moved to the reserve/suspended list, which will allow the Jaguars to replace him on their 53-man roster. His salary for those four games, $144,000, will not be paid, therefore, it will not count against the salary cap. Remember: You don't pay it, you don't claim it.
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Vic Ketchman is the Senior Editor of Jaguars Inside Report, the official team newspaper of the Jacksonville Jaguars. One-year subscriptions may be purchased by calling 1-888-846-5247.
