NFL Receiver May Have to Pay to Play
Aug. 24, 2006 — -- There have been many players in NFL history, although not recently, who have suggested they love the game so much that they would play it for free.
Wide receiver Ashley Lelie, traded from the Denver Broncos to the Atlanta Falcons on Tuesday as part of a three-team swap that also included the Washington Redskins, might go beyond that.
Depending on how Broncos officials resolve various fines and potential penalties pending against Lelie as a result of his decision to boycott all the team's off-season activities, and his failure to report to training camp despite having a contract, the four-year veteran could go into the red for 2006.
And we're not just talking about the primary color in the Falcons' uniforms.
Under the terms of his original contract, signed as a first-round choice in the 2002 draft, Lelie was to have made $700,000 for the 2006 season -- an off-season workout bonus of $100,000 and a $600,000 base salary.
Lelie forfeited the workout bonus, though, when he chose to skip the Broncos' off-season program. He was then fined slightly more than $11,000, the maximum allowed by the collective bargaining agreement, when he was a no-show at Denver's mandatory three-day minicamp July 6-8. And his failure to report to camp drew daily fines of $14,000, totaling $378,000.
In addition, it is believed that the Broncos will seek to recover a prorated share of the $3.3 million signing bonus that Lelie received in 2002. The total for fines and potential penalties accrued by Lelie is close to $1.1 million and, as part of the trade agreement, the wide receiver reportedly signed a document that allows the Broncos to seek that amount.
There is a chance that, finally rid of Lelie, the Broncos might forgive a portion of that amount or be willing to negotiate a lower figure. To this point, however, Denver officials have not been inclined to do so. Conventional wisdom is that Denver coach Mike Shanahan wants the penalties against Lelie to have some teeth, in part to dissuade other players from adopting a strategy similar to the wideout's failed approach.
