Slater Only Gets Promise, Rejoins Rams

When it comes to playing football, the Rams are pretty good. When it comes to playing hardball, nobody does it better.

Tackle Jackie Slater ended his 28-day holdout Wednesday and reported to Rams Park. The six-time Pro Bowl selection didn’t get his contract renegotiated, however. He obviously didn’t get the trade he demanded three weeks ago, either. And he apparently didn’t get the Rams to waive the fines levied against him, which could total $42,000 if he was fined the NFL maximum of $1,500 a day.

Slater, 36, a 14-year veteran who will earn a reported $550,000 this year, was seeking a deal that would put him on a level with the league’s highest-paid offensive linemen. Anthony Munoz of the Cincinnati Bengals, for example, earns $875,000 a year.

Instead, Slater apparently got an oral guarantee that he would be better compensated in 1991, when he will set a club record for longevity, breaking the mark of 15 seasons established by Charlie Cowan, Joe Scibelli and Merlin Olsen.

“I had the opportunity to sit down with the organization, and we mutually agreed on some things that addressed the problem that I was having, so here I am,” said Slater, who answered direct questions about his contract and the fines by saying, “It’s Rams’ policy not to renegotiate contracts” and “It’s Rams’ policy not to waive fines.”

That much, of course, he knew before he decided to hold out. So why did he return?

“We had a meeting of the minds, and everyone concerned feels that my goals are realistic, and I should be given the opportunity to obtain them,” he said. “We agreed on the fact that I will be playing here next year. All the details haven’t been ironed out, but I’ll be here and I’m very pleased with the way the Rams ended up handling my situation.”

However, Slater said he was “certainly serious” when he requested that the Rams trade him.

“My feeling was that I was able to play two more years, regardless of where it was,” he said. “When I felt I wasn’t going to be here, I looked at it as an opportunity to see what was inside me, to go to a different system at my age, be impressive enough to make the club and then start in a different offense. It was a challenging thought, to say the least.”

During the early days of the holdout, Coach John Robinson lashed out at Slater, pointing out that Slater was under contract and ought to think about his obligations to the team. But Slater said he carried no ill will with him when he returned to Rams Park.

“I don’t have any hard feelings about what was said in the past,” he said. “Hopefully, this will all be put to rest now and we can concentrate on trying to accomplish some of the team goals that we have.”

Robinson, not surprisingly, was behind that line of reasoning.

“I’m sure I irritated and frustrated him,” Robinson said. “But I was frustrated at the time, too. Relationships between human beings have frustration involved. Unfortunately, (our relationships) undergo the scrutiny of the press. Those are things you just have to get by.”

Slater, who has been working out on his own during the holdout, said he plans to play in Saturday night’s exhibition against the Phoenix Cardinals.

“Football shape and just what I’ve been doing are a lot different, though,” he said. “The next couple of days will tell the story to me about how much I can play (Saturday). But I’ve got two solid weeks of work before the season opener, so I’ll be ready by then.”

While admitting he was angry and very frustrated at times during the past month, Slater said he never gave up hope of reaching an agreement with the Rams.

“There was always dialogue and there was never a closed ear, on my part or theirs. Fortunately, there was always a thread of hope, despite the gloomy circumstances that existed at one time. That thread turned into a couple of strands and from there into a rope.”