Rams See No Return of Ellard
The Rams, in an statement issued Tuesday night, said that holdout wide receiver Henry Ellard probably would not play for the National Football League team this season.
The announcement came after a Tuesday meeting in Los Angeles that included Ellard, his agent Mike Blatt, Ram owner Georgia Frontiere, Coach John Robinson and the team’s vice president of finance, John Shaw.
The meeting was called in the hope of resolving Ellard’s 66-day holdout, but the Rams said afterward that it had not done so.
The Rams said in the statement that Ellard’s contract demands Tuesday were higher than his initial request in May of 1986.
“It appears Henry Ellard won’t play for the Los Angeles Rams this year,” the statement read. “As a result of Ellard’s contract demands, the respective parties are further apart than ever and no further negotiations are anticipated in 1986.”
The Rams said Robinson was not available for comment.
Reached Tuesday night, Blatt rebutted the Rams’ claim that Ellard was asking for more money.
“It’s the same as the lie that said Henry didn’t want to return punts,” Blatt said.
The agent said that at Tuesday’s meeting, Shaw asked for Ellard’s final offer.
According to Blatt, he said that Ellard should receive a three-year deal worth $1.39 million--$400,000 this season, $460,000 in 1987 and $530,000 in 1988.
Ellard made $145,000 last season.
Blatt said Shaw accused him of raising the figures, though Blatt insists his other two offers to the Rams were $2 million for four years or $1.5 million for three.
“The only positive thing that came out of this was that Georgia (Frontiere) said that if Henry doesn’t want to play for the Rams that they would not hold him back. I think that they’ll trade for him now.”
The NFL trading deadline is Oct. 14.
Ellard led the team in 1985 with 54 receptions, the most by a Ram wide receiver in 20 years. He was also the NFC’s leading punt returner last season and, statistically, the best in NFL history with a career average of 13.5 yards a return.
The Rams have stood firm on their offer to Ellard of $1.2 million for four years, a figure Ellard has called “a joke.”
Blatt said recently said that the Ram offer would make Ellard the 45th highest-paid receiver in the NFL.
Ron Brown, the highest-paid Ram receiver, will make $437,500 this year and $487,500 in 1987, including bonuses. Shaw, who handles negotiations for the Rams, met with Blatt in Stockton back in late August, but those meetings also prove fruitless.
Blatt claimed that the Rams had not increased their offer, though Blatt later revealed that they had offered Ellard a $25,000 incentive if he led the league in punt returns and a $10,000 bonus if he led the team in receiving, touchdown receptions and total yards receiving.
The Ellard contract issue intensified since the signing of former Purdue quarterback Jim Everett.
The Rams acquired the rights to Everett in a trade with the Houston Oilers two weeks ago, and it took just three days to sign him to a four-year contract worth about $2.7 million. Some Ram players took exception to the logic of the deal.
“How can we sign this guy (Everett) and not Henry?” Ram running back Eric Dickerson said the day after the deal that brought Everett to Los Angeles. “We all know what Henry can do.”
