Walls Walks Out on Cowboys

Veteran cornerback Everson Walls walked out on the Dallas Cowboys Thursday and said he will boycott Monday night’s nationally televised season opener against the New York Giants unless his contract demands are met.

Walls, 26, whose nine interceptions led the NFL last season, was at practice Thursday but said it would be his last until the Cowboys fulfilled a 1983 promise to renegotiate the 1986 and 1987 years of his existing five-year contract if he met specified performance goals.

Cowboy President Tex Schramm said: “I don’t think we’ll negotiate under blackmail conditions. If he makes the decision not to play in the game, then that’ll have to be his decision. He will have to accept the responsibility of deserting his team on the eve of what might be one of its biggest games.”

Walls becomes the second member of Dallas’ starting 1985 defensive backfield to walk out. Dextor Clinkscale also sought a renegotiated contract for more money and has never reported for the 1986 season.

Schramm said if Walls carries out his threat, “he would be subject to an automatic fine, but this goes beyond that. I think when you get to the point of four days before the opening of the regular season and you walk out, that’s a little different from not reporting on the first day.”