Charger Notebook : Agent Says Lachey Will Accept Any New Home the Team Selects
The Chargers, not Jim Lachey, will determine where Lachey continues his NFL career. That was the word Friday from Lachey’s agent, Leigh Steinberg.
“Jim will report wherever they trade him,” Steinberg said. “We’ve got to let them make the best trade for the San Diego Chargers. It’s only fair.”
The Chargers announced Thursday that they had decided to grant Lachey his wish to be traded. At least they said they’d try. Lachey, 25, played in the Pro Bowl last year and is the best offensive lineman on the team’s roster.
He recently told friends he wanted to be traded to a team closer to his home of Columbus, Ohio. And he told Chicago Bear quarterback Mike Tomczak, a former college teammate at Ohio State, that he wanted to go to a team that figures to be a playoff contender in the near future.
Now Steinberg, who has studiously avoided public statements on the Lachey matter, is saying Lachey will go wherever the Chargers send him.
“The reason I’ve been reticent on public comments is to give the Chargers the opportunity to do something for their ballclub,” Steinberg said.
Steve Ortmayer, the Chargers’ director of football operations, wouldn’t specify what teams are actively bidding for Lachey. But Ortmayer, who said Thursday that the number of teams was seven or eight, said Friday that it had been cut “at least in half” since then.
Teams believed to have made the strongest overtures for Lachey are the Raiders, the Bears, the Colts, the 49ers and the Redskins.
Ortmayer said doubt still existed over whether Lachey would be traded this year. But Steinberg said he expected a trade to be worked out “reasonably rapidly.”
The Chargers expected Lachey to report to their training camp at UC San Diego on Monday. Thursday, Lachey spoke with Ortmayer and told him he wasn’t going to report. Moments later, Ortmayer announced that the Chargers would attempt to trade him.
Memo from Mark Herrmann to Jim Lachey: The grass isn’t always greener.
Herrmann is the quarterback the Chargers traded to Indianapolis in April. Last week, the Colts signed their third-round draft pick, Washington quarterback Chris Chandler. And Herrmann figures he knows what that means.
“The decision has been made,” Herrmann told the Lafayette (Ind.) Journal & Courier. “The only question left to be answered is where I’m going to be when the season opens. I’ve been in professional football for eight years, and I know enough about how these things work to know I’ll be traded.
“This is the last year of my current contract, and I know there are a lot of places I can play. That’s why this has been the toughest training camp of my life.”
Colt Coach Ron Meyer presented a radically different version of Herrmann’s status.
“He is doing fine,” Meyer said. “In fact he’s doing better than fine. I wouldn’t hesitate for a moment or even be concerned about playing Mark Herrmann.”
The Colts’ top two quarterbacks are Gary Hogeboom and Jack Trudeau.
Ortmayer said the Chargers were “really, really close on a couple” of their five unsigned free agents. Those players are outside linebacker Chip Banks, running back Curtis Adams and defensive linemen Joe Phillips, Lee Williams and Mike Charles.
Ortmayer seemed particularly irritated with Banks and his agent, Harold Daniels. The Chargers have reached an agreement on a new five-year contract. But the sticking point is Banks’ insistence on a $300,000 reporting bonus.
“If the guy (Banks) can’t send somebody who will make a deal, he ought to get his butt in here and do it himself,” Ortmayer said.
Charger Notes
The Chargers have signed free agent inside linebacker Jeff Davis, who was most recently with Tampa Bay. Inside linebacker Gary Plummer has a fractured hand but should be ready (with a cast) to practice today. . . . Injuries from Thursday’s scrimmage against the Cowboys in Thousand Oaks: running back Ronnie Williams (groin, out 7-10 days), linebacker David Brandon (shoulder separation, 1-2 weeks), offensive lineman Duane Pettit (ankle, 1 week) and wide receiver Anthony Miller (hamstring tightness, 1 day).