Green Bay Packers vice president Tom Braatz figured Tony Mandarich, the team's celebrated and outspoken top draft choice, would sign just before the start of the NFL season.
Why? That's when players are ready to receive their first-game checks. It's also the time when football players without shoulder pads get nostalgic for the game.Mandarich said he didn't want to miss all of training camp, and admits there were times during his 45-day contract holdout when he wasn't so sure he'd ever sign.
He spent the time lifting weights in California, doing talk shows and a sitcom. He even considered a fight with heavyweight champion Mike Tyson.
Finally, on Tuesday, the sides agreed on a contract that makes the 6-foot-5, 310-pound Mandarich one of the highest-paid offensive linemen in NFL history. He signed a four-year contract worth $4.4 million and also got a $2 million signing bonus.
Braatz said the negotiations began to come into focus after Mandarich visited the Michigan State campus last month.
"He visited his old teammates and I think he started to miss football. That was the breakthrough," Braatz said.
Mandarich said Braatz helped get things going. "One day Mr. Braatz decided to move up in price and that definitely helped," said Mandarich, whose contract is the largest in Packers history.
"Before, they weren't negotiating. They were saying, `This is what you get, take it or leave it.' And we were like, `All right, we'll leave it.' I think he thought we were bluffing. He can see now we weren't bluffing."
Mandarich had asked the Packers for nearly $2 million per season, claiming he should be paid as much as top draft choice Troy Aikman, the quarterback who received an $11.2 million, six-year contact from the Dallas Cowboys.
Mandarich lowered his request three weeks ago to $1.4 million a season while the Packers increased their original offer of $4.1 million over five years.
Mandarich, who attended his first practice on Tuesday, said he got the type of money he realistically expected.
"I think the number was 1.25. That was always the number," Mandarich said. "I came out saying 2 million but what am I, stupid? I know I'm not going to get $2 million, especially playing offensive lineman.
"We bent and they bent and we met at 1.1 and I'm happy with it."
Braatz said Mandarich's salary could affect what rookies make next season if the NFL doesn't establish a wage scale for first-year players. But he said the Packers were paying what the market demanded.
"I don't know if he was the best player ever drafted, but I think for the times, over the past three or four years, he was the best big man drafted," Braatz said.
Mandarich signed a week after the Packers lost tackles Keith Uecker and Mike Ariey, who were suspended for a month after testing positive for steroids. Braatz insisted that had nothing to do with speeding up the negotiations.
"We did not change our stance on what we wanted to pay him. Losing those two players didn't change our perspective," Braatz said.
"They didn't hurt," Mandarich said of the suspensions. "But they were the last things I wanted to see happen, people getting busted for steroids."