Winslow Says He Can’t Play, Is Suspended
Suspend your credulity.
The Chargers have suspended Kellen Winslow.
That’s Winslow as in five-time Pro Bowler, probable Hall of Famer and devoted contributor to community youth and health organizations.
“I don’t get that,” said punter Ralf Mojsiejenko, when he heard about the suspension.
Mojsiejenko is the only one of three 1987 Charger Pro Bowl selections remaining on the 1988 roster now that tackle Jim Lachey is a Raider and Winslow is in professional purgatory.
“There’s got to be something more to that,” Mojsiejenko said.
A lot more. And it has to do with money.
Winslow, who underwent ankle surgery in February and knee surgery in June, said he told the Chargers last Wednesday he would be unable to play this year.
The Chargers, who cut their roster to 47 players Monday by suspending Winslow and making moves on 12 other players, insist Winslow is able to play.
They can’t force him to play against his will. And they chose not to cut him because they didn’t want to pay his $795,000 guaranteed salary for 1988.
So they suspended him and released a terse statement in which they referred to their action as a “disciplinary” matter.
“The discipline deals with a refusal to play for the club and includes a suspension of Winslow,” said the statement released by the team’s public relations department. “Indications are that this entire matter is going to be subject to litigation. On advice of counsel, the Chargers will make no further comment.”
Winslow, on the other hand, was lively, accessible and outspoken. Call it suspended animation.
He said the team offered to pay half his guaranteed salary for 1988 if he retired. He said he told the Chargers that was unacceptable. Then came the suspension. “It basically means that what I’ve meant to the Chargers (for nine seasons) means nothing,” Winslow said. “They approached this thing as a business matter.
“I was told by the Chargers’ doctors that I could compete this year and ‘get by.’ I wanted to know what their interpretation of ‘get by’ was. Did that mean I could play this year and not be able to walk the rest of my life?
“Hopefully, I will be able to leave the game with dignity. But to be quite honest, based on what has happened to others in this organization, this should not surprise me.”
The Chargers informed Winslow of the suspension Monday morning. At that time, Winslow said, they also told him that owner Alex Spanos didn’t like the idea of paying him half his salary in exchange for a retirement agreement.
“They said Spanos couldn’t understand how I could play well last year (53 catches for 519 yards in 12 games) and not be able to play this year,” Winslow said. “My answer was: ‘Two operations and one year later.’ ”
Winslow, 30, has caught 541 passes for 6,741 yards in nine NFL seasons. The highlight of his career was a playoff victory over Miami in 1981 in which he caught 13 passes for 166 yards and blocked a field goal that enabled the Chargers to get into overtime.
In their prepared statement, the Chargers cited the “club discipline” provisions of the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the league and the NFL Players Assn.
But Steve Ortmayer, the team’s director of football operations, wouldn’t specify which section of the agreement the Chargers were invoking.
The language on “club discipline” in Article VI, Section 1 says the “maximum discipline” for “conduct detrimental to club” is a “maximum fine of an amount equal to one week’s salary and/or suspension without pay for a period not to exceed four weeks.”
But Jim Steiner, Winslow’s agent, said: “In my opinion, the Chargers have no grounds to suspend Kellen Winslow. It would be a shame for Kellen’s career to end that way.”
The controversy overshadowed the Chargers waiving 10 players and placing two others on injured reserve as they pared their roster to the league limit in preparation for Sunday’s season opener against the Raiders in Los Angeles.
Among the cuts were cornerback Louis Brock and wide receiver Timmie Ware.
Brock, the son of baseball Hall of Famer Lou Brock, was a second-round draft pick in 1987. But he spent most of last season on injured reserve with a lymph infection and didn’t improve his run defense this summer.
“There will be mistakes in the draft,” said Charger Coach Al Saunders. “It’s a disappointment when a high pick has not panned out the way we had hoped.” Ware, a three-year veteran, caught 9 passes for 104 yards during the exhibition season. But he lost out for the fourth wide receiver spot to free-agent rookie Darren Flutie. Flutie led the Chargers with 12 catches for 196 yards and 3 touchdowns in the 4 exhibition games.
“And Flutie’s just going to get better and better and better,” said Saunders, who said Flutie will back up Lionel James on punt returns.
Other players released were: guard Ken Dallafior, guard Duane Pettit, linebacker Jeff Davis, running back Ken Zachary, tight end Dan Sharp, tight end Albert Reese, nose tackle Terry Unrein and defensive tackle Chuck Ehin.
The two players placed on injured reserve were rookie linebacker Cedric Figaro (back) and George Hinkle (foot). Fiagro may undergo surgery today and could be lost for the season.
The Chargers kept five running backs, including Barry Redden, and only three tight ends. Look for them to place one of those running backs on injured reserve and pick up a tight end off the waiver wire before the week ends.
“There could be some things happening,” Ortmayer said.
The Chargers already are interested in Clint Didier, the tight end released Monday by the Redskins. Didier is familiar with the same offensive system the Chargers run under offensive coordinator Jerry Rhome, who was the Redskins’ quarterback coach last year.
The Chargers will have to cut another player if they decide to activate defensive lineman Joe Phillips, who signed last weekend. Because of Phillips’ late reporting, the Chargers have a two-week league exemption to decide whether to activate him.
Gone now are quarterback Dan Fouts (retirement), wide receiver Wes Chandler (trade), Lachey (trade), Winslow (suspension), and linebacker Woodrow Lowe (release), all prominent Charger leaders as late as last year.
“This was one of the biggest changes here in any year I’ve been here,” said center Don Macek, a 12-year veteran with the team. “You miss personalities all the time. But you develop new friends.”
Asked if the Winslow developments surprised him, Macek said, “Kellen never surprises anybody.”
But Winslow’s teammates appeared resigned to the fact that his career has ended.
At his best, said tight end Eric Sievers, “It was scary that one guy could dominate a position like that.”
But Winslow was never the same after the knee injury he suffered against the Raiders on Oct. 21, 1984.
Winslow said he has looked into the possibility of attending law school and found “there are a lot of starving lawyers out there.”
Instead, he said, he will attempt to enter business school at Harvard, Stanford or the University of Chicago.
Charger Notes
Jeff Jackson will start at inside linebacker Sunday in place of injured (back) Cedric Figaro. . . . Steve Ortmayer, the Chargers’ director of football operations, reported “no progress” with holdout free-agent linebacker Chip Banks.