Ruling Penalizes Vermeil, but He Can Take Chief Job

Hiring Dick Vermeil will cost the Kansas City Chiefs two draft choices as compensation to St. Louis, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue ruled Wednesday.

Tagliabue also said the Rams must be reimbursed the $500,000 they paid to Vermeil last year. Chief President Carl Peterson said Vermeil, not the Chiefs, will pay the $500,000.

Peterson also said the team will move ahead with hiring the man who led the Rams to the 2000 Super Bowl title.

The Chiefs reportedly have agreed to pay Vermeil more than $2 million per year.

“I thought they made it fair. I feel good about it. I’m glad the Rams got something,” Vermeil said from his home in the Philadelphia area. “They were good to me for three years. This is a way of paying something back to them.”

“In any dispute like this probably neither party is totally happy with the outcome,” said Peterson, who had argued that the Chiefs did not owe St. Louis anything in compensation.

“But as members of the National Football League we respect the authority of the commissioner and we will certainly be bound by his decision.”

The Rams will be awarded the Chiefs’ second-round pick in 2001 and Washington’s third-round selection in 2002--which the Chiefs acquired from the Redskins as compensation for their recent signing of Marty Schottenheimer as coach.

Tagliabue held a two-hour hearing in New York on Tuesday as officials from the Chiefs and Rams argued their cases.

The commissioner announced his ruling Wednesday, clearing the way for the 64-year-old Vermeil to take over a Kansas City team that went 7-9 this season under Gunther Cunningham, who was fired after the Chiefs missed the playoffs for the third consecutive season.

Peterson, one of Vermeil’s closest friends, maintained the Chiefs should not have to give the Rams anything because of the way his contract as a consultant was written. The Rams reportedly were asking for first- and fourth-round picks.

Vermeil announced his retirement from St. Louis last February with two years remaining on his contract, turning the head coaching job over to offensive coordinator Mike Martz. Vermeil then entered into a new four-year agreement with the Rams that terminated and superseded the 1997 contract.

In his ruling, Tagliabue found that, although the Rams-Vermeil agreement in February 2000 did not prohibit Vermeil from seeking a coaching position with another club, “the clear purpose and effect of the agreement . . . was that Vermeil would remain retired from coaching through the 2001 season.”

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Free safety Orlando Thomas of the Minnesota Vikings will not play in the NFC championship game against the New York Giants on Sunday because of hamstring and shoulder injuries.

Rookie Tyrone Carter will replace Thomas. Carter has started seven games, forcing two fumbles and making 40 tackles.

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Corey Dillon has turned down an eight-year contract offer from the Cincinnati Bengals that would have made him one of the highest-paid running backs in the NFL, his agent said.

The Bengals can automatically keep Dillon for one more season by using their transition tag on him and matching any offer. General Manager Mike Brown has said repeatedly and emphatically that he will do so.

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Denver quarterback Brian Griese had surgery on his separated right shoulder and could be ready for the team’s first minicamp next season.

Team officials said there were no complications, and the recovery time is about four months.

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Tom Donahoe was named president and general manager of the Buffalo Bills.

Donahoe, 53, is only the second president of the team, following owner Ralph Wilson, who held the title for 41 years.

As general manager, Donahoe replaces John Butler, who was fired by the Bills last month before becoming general manager of the San Diego Chargers.