Russell Joins Charles Rogers on Grievance List __ Don’t Expect Lions to Collect a Cent, Though
NFL Countdown | by Mike O'Hara | 05.28.2010/7:13AM
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Charles Rogers is in good company – make that bad company – with JaMarcus Russell.
Both players are first-round flops whose teams have filed grievances to reclaim some of their signing bonus.
What a combination – quarterback (Russell) and wide receiver (Rogers). Two flops.
Rogers, drafted second overall by the Lions in 2003, already has lost his grievance. An arbitrator has ruled that Rogers must repay $8.5 million of the nearly $14-million signing bonus he got. In the grievance filed in 2005, the Lions claimed Rogers damaged his ability to perform by testing positive for drugs. He was suspended for four games by the NFL in 2005 and later said in an interview with the NFL Network that he had smoked pot.
The Raiders drafted Russell first overall in 2007 and recently released him after a dismal three seasons of trying to play quarterback. The Raiders are seeking to reclaim $9.55 million of Russell’s signing bonus.
A Lions official recently said that the franchise has no expectation of getting any money back from Rogers. The major reason: he’s had so many personal and legal problems that he doesn’t have the dough to pay back the money.
However, the Lions felt they established an important precedent by winning the grievance.
In that regard, Rogers has a place in NFL legal history – as well as a place as one of the least productive high draft picks in history.
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