A Sackful of Money : That’s What Robert Young Wants From the Rams, Who Are Getting a Bargain This Season
Robert Young, who thinks he knows best, is determined to prove the Rams wrong this season and then make them pay dearly for a mistake in judgment.
Young, the lowest-paid defensive starter on the team, said he requested a new contract from the team in May and then again during training camp.
The Rams were not interested in talking with their 24-year-old defensive end. They had him tied up for the 1993 season and were required to pay him only minimum wage for a third-year player--$150,000.
“I’m not going to beg,” said Young, whose four sacks tie him with teammate Sean Gilbert for the NFC lead. “If they don’t think they should redo my contract, so be it. I asked them three times through my agent. If they think I am not important enough to this team to keep me here, then fine, I’m out of here next year.”
After the season, Young will be a restricted free agent, and therein lies his motivation. If he’s successful this season, the Rams will have no choice but to pay him or lose him.
“He’s extremely bothered that the negotiations with the Rams weren’t more fruitful this summer and spring,” said Steve Feldman, an attorney hired this week to represent Young. “If anything, it’s going to spur him on to greater things this season. The more sacks he gets, the more leverage he has and the more attractive he becomes in free-agent land.
“Teams will only have to give up a fifth-round pick to get him next season, and teams will be lining up all day for this kind of guy, regardless of a salary cap. To be young and to be a defensive lineman in this game is to be in demand. To be young and a defensive lineman who can sack the quarterback puts you in a whole different category.”
The Rams gave 29-year-old defensive end Fred Stokes, their former 12th-round pick who had been set free to sign with Washington three years ago, more than $1 million to play this season. They handed 30-year-old Gerald Robinson, who plays on long-yardage downs, almost $1 million.
Stokes and Robinson are still looking for their first sacks.
“Now is the time to get a contract done,” Young said. “Other teams can come in and make offers at the end of the season. If the Rams wait until then, they are telling me they don’t care.
“Let’s face it, once they get through with my body, I’m gone. My body depreciates every time I step on that field. A lot of my friends are gone now; there are lot of new faces on this team. It’s the system. Everybody looks at the glamour side of all this, but it’s a ruthless business.”
The Rams might irritate Young and even lose him, but the system still favors the Rams until Young completes his fourth season. If they offer him at least $600,000 on March 1, they will have first right of refusal or first-round compensation should another team sign him to an offer sheet.
A tender of $800,000 would give the Rams first- and third-round compensation, which would certainly deter most suitors.
“We will be evaluating all our players during the course of the season,” said Jay Zygmunt, Ram senior vice president. “We will have to look at the salary cap and analyze what makes sense to the team.”
Young might have caught the Rams by surprise this season. If they were pegging their financial decisions on the Young they knew a year ago, they might have insisted that he take a pay cut.
They had projected Young as their starting defensive end in 1992, but he reported to training camp 20 pounds heavier than he had been in his all-rookie season.
The extra weight was more muscle than fat, but it negated his quickness. Then he injured his shoulder during the exhibition season and while he recovered, the Rams began looking at other defensive ends.
When Young returned to work, they moved him to defensive tackle to back up rookies Marc Boutte and Gilbert. His future no longer appeared so promising.
“I was getting sacks, blocking kicks and was the talk of the town as a rookie,” Young said. “Then new coaches come in, we get a new system and I’m riding the pine.
“Last year at this time (while on injured reserve), I was watching the Rams (on the road) on TV. There’s no worse feeling in the world than to see your teammates depart for a game and leave you behind. The only friends I really have in L.A. are the guys on the team and they were gone. I’d sit in front of the TV hollering at it.
“I thought, ‘What in the world is going on?’ I wasn’t happy at all last year. There were times I came in where I had a chip on my shoulder that was so big. . . . I mean, I was so mad. They were sticking people in front of me--I don’t even want to get into that.”
Based on performance, the Rams had no reason to boost his pay for 1993. However, Young reported to mini-camp in May 20 pounds lighter and looking as quick and talented as he had as a rookie. In a matter of days, he re-established himself as the team’s starting defensive end, and the Rams had themselves a bargain at $150,000.
In two regular-season games, Young has put himself in position to be noticed elsewhere. And each sack provides additional negotiating ammunition.
“It’s like this: From now on, I’m just going to show them what I think I’m worth,” Young said. “They pretty much know I’m not satisfied with what I’m making now.
“I missed out on a whole lot last year, and I don’t care if I have to drag myself onto the field, I’m going to play every play. I haven’t missed a snap in the first two games, and I’m going to prove to them I deserve better.
“My all-time dream is to be a Pro Bowl player. I know Sean Gilbert is going to be a Pro Bowl player--that’s a given. I’m just trying to do my part, and achieve that same status.”
And just how much would a 24-year-old Pro Bowl defensive end be worth on the free-agent market?
“He’d have the keys to the vault,” Feldman said.