Marion Butts Reports to Charger Training Camp : Football: Beathard says club made no changes to running back’s contract.

Running back Marion Butts purchased $1 million in career-ending injury protection from Lloyd’s of London Monday morning, then ended his 39-day holdout by reporting for duty at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

General Manager Bobby Beathard said the club made no adjustments to Butts’ three-year contract, and will deduct $55,500 in fines from his pay over the next 17 weeks.

“I always think of it being a victory to consider one’s own best interests and not be shortsighted,” said Leigh Steinberg, Butts agent.

“One could argue that in a game of chicken, that as a driver, you have every right to possession of the road,” he said, “and that person shouldn’t be headed toward you. On the standpoint of principle, it’s your right of way, but in a short life it seems to me preferable not to crash.”

Butts, who is scheduled to earn $225,000 in base salary this year, will pay between $20,000 and $25,000 for his injury insurance. He has already forfeited $30,000 in exhibition season roster bonuses.

“You can’t put a price tag on something you really believe in,” Butts said, “but it was a very expensive principle.”

Butts, who rushed for a club-record 1,225 yards, said he was promised a new contract by Beathard prior to last season if he had a good year. Beathard said no promise was made.

“I don’t look it as the Chargers won this battle,” Beathard said. “ . . . Every player on this team is going to feel much more confident of our chances now that Marion is in.”

The Chargers have received a two-week roster exemption for Butts, but he pronounced himself ready for Sunday’s regular-season opener in Pittsburgh.

“I represent a quarterback (John Friesz) who I’d like to see not get decimated in his first start,” Steinberg said. “The key to Marion’s compensation is his performance on the football field, and in order to perform this year in a way that continues to make a point, he needs to be here.

“I have known Bobby Beathard for a long time and ultimately he will take care of Marion.”

Butts’ recent decision to release attorney George Schultz and sign on with Steinberg appears to have paved the way for his timely arrival. Butts made a late-night telephone call seeking Steinberg’s help shortly after being visited at his home by a representative of the Chargers.

Schultz said he “has strong suspicions,” that the Chargers advised or forced Butts to change agents. He said the team did the same thing a year ago in dealing with defensive lineman Lee Williams.

Williams, who has been traded to Houston, said, “I was told in no uncertain terms the problem was (agent) Steve Feldman and if I severed ties with him, I’d probably be taken care of.

“It was pretty straightforward,” he said. “(Chargers’ security consultant) Dick Lewis came to me. Now when someone affiliated with the organization tells you something like that, it’s the only decision you can make. I interpreted it as coming from a higher source, and everyone knows who I thought it was.”

Feldman was at odds with Beathard last summer, and shortly after Williams met with Lewis, he fired Feldman. He hired agent Mike Merkow, who is an associate of Schultz.

“Two or three days later my new agent called me,” Williams said, “and told me fruitful discussions on a new deal were under way.”

Lewis confirmed that he visited Williams and he said he also met with Butts recently. However, he said he did so without the knowledge of the Chargers’ front office, and met the players only in an effort to assist them as friends.

“I was just trying to help,” Lewis said. “I went on my own, and all I was saying was something like, ‘If you’re not getting any place, why not change and go where you can get assistance.’ I was just trying to bridge the gap.”

Assistant General Manager Dick Daniels also met with Butts and briefly discussed the pros and cons of a number of agents, including Steinberg. However, he said he made no recommendation to Butts on whether to hire or fire any agent.

“It just shows the team cares about you being a part of the team,” Butts said. “They (Lewis and Daniels) visited me, but if I were to say they influenced me I might be lying. And if I said they didn’t influence me, I might also be lying. I’d rather not elaborate any further.”

Butts telephoned Steinberg just hours after meeting with Daniels, and then he told the media he was making a change in agents to open the lines of communication with the Chargers.

“I think it’s absolutely outrageous that they went over and met with Marion,” Schultz said. “We had specifically written them and asked them not to do it. It’s the kind of thing that if another lawyer did, he would literally get disbarred for it.

“What I make of it is that the club is so arrogant that they think they not only have the right to dictate salary completely, but a right to actually dictate who their players are personally represented by.”

Beathard said Lewis was never given an assignment to meet with Williams or Butts. He said he was one of the last to hear of Daniels’ visit to Butts, and was under the impression that Butts had contacted Daniels.

Schultz, meanwhile, was scheduled to appear on XTRA radio’s “The Business of Sports,” last Sunday morning. The announcement of his live appearance was in the San Diego Union Friday morning.

However, Schultz said he received a call Friday from the show’s host, Rick Amato, and Amato told him the Chargers had exercised their influence and had asked that he be removed from the show. San Diego State athletic director Fred Miller was scheduled to replace Schultz.

“He told me the Chargers were their biggest client and they were putting pressure on,” Schultz said. “He said if he was asked about it, he would have to deny it because he would lose his show.”

Amato could not be reached for comment, but XTRA program director Howard Freedman, and “The Business of Sports,” co-host, Phil Getman, said the Chargers had nothing to do with Schultz being canceled from the program.

“We felt that it would not be in the best interests of everybody to get Marion into camp, so that was a decision that was made amongst ourselves,” said Getman, who is also an account executive for XTRA. “Personally, I need to have Marion Butts back into camp, obviously to sell radio time. But the Chargers had nothing to do with the situation.”

Beathard expressed dismay at the suggestion the Chargers would strong-arm XTRA to knock Schultz off the air.

“That’s not the way we operate,” he said. “I saw the announcement in the paper that he was going to be on, and I was planning on listening.”

CHARGERS MAKE CUTS: The Chargers on Monday cut their roster to the required 47 players, but some of those waived are likely to be asked back onto the team. C7