RENTON, Wash. – T.J. Houshmandzadeh was stunned. He had no time to process that a guy he just met was asking him to hand over his custom-jeweled, multi-thousand-dollar watch."I respect you as a man and I think you should honor your commitment to go to Minnesota — but you need to take that watch off and leave it here as collateral," Seahawks coach Jim Mora told Houshmandzadeh on Saturday, just before the top wide receiver in free agency departed Seattle to follow through on his promise to visit the Vikings.
Houshmandzadeh dutifully handed his watch to his prospective new boss.
"I didn't even think about," he said. "I just took it off. I was so surprised."
Three stressful and sleepless days of indecision later, the former go-to guy for the Cincinnati Bengals got his watch back — along with a huge, five-year contract to be the centerpiece of Mora's revamped offense in Seattle.
"Had he chosen to go to Minnesota, I would have certainly and gladly mailed it to him. But I'm glad he came back to pick it up in person," Mora said with a wry smile.
Multiple reports say the contract is for five years and $40 million, with $15 million in guarantees for the 31-year-old, who dismissed the Bengals for being too late and too insincere.
"I never had stress in my life — until this weekend. I was waking up in the middle of the night," Houshmandzadeh said.
Read more..
0 comments:
Post a Comment