Ireland lied to Alex Smith

[MikeO]

Dan LeBatard on his 790 Miami radio show said he has been told after Alex Smith visited with Miami for 5 hours Smith wanted to fly back home. Ireland said stay a while, I will have an offer for you soon.  Alex said I don't want to make a big decision in a South Florida hotel room away from his people. After more convincing, Smith said ok and the Fins put him up in a hotel for the night. No offer came that day or ,the next morning so Smith said where is the offer you promised. Ireland didn't have an answer, so Smith flew home. When he got back to California, Ireland called to say no offer is coming they aren't interested and moved on.

This is the crap that gets Ireland in trouble! Don't lie to the guy, force him to spend a night in Miami when he just wants to go home, and then come off as a liar in the end.

[Pappy13]

Oh please. PUT ON YOUR BIG BOY PANTS ALREADY!!!!

This is a business. You're talking about millions of dollars at stake. You telling me that Smith is all upset that that he was told that an offer was coming and then it didn't come?

I've been a contractor for a long time. The number one rule is that until you have signed the dotted line you aren't OWED ANYTHING. They are gonna tell you what you WANT to hear and YOU have to be the one telling them to put it in writing. It's not about respect or anything else, it's about a contract negotiation. You mean to tell me that Smith never went and ate a steak on someone else's dime and then said "No thanks"? BULLSHIT. That's the nature of the beast. That's why they have these things called agents. If you don't want to deal with it then let your agent run interference for you.

I'm sick to death of these namby pamby pretty boy players getting their feelings hurt like they are 6. GROW A PAIR ALREADY!!!!

[MikeO]

Oh please. PUT ON YOUR BIG BOY PANTS ALREADY!!!!

This is a business. You're talking about millions of dollars at stake. You telling me that Smith is all upset that that he was told that an offer was coming and then it didn't come?

I've been a contractor for a long time. The number one rule is that until you have signed the dotted line you aren't OWED ANYTHING. They are gonna tell you what you WANT to hear and YOU have to be the one telling them to put it in writing. It's not about respect or anything else, it's about a contract negotiation. You mean to tell me that Smith never went and ate a steak on someone else's dime and then said "No thanks"? BULLSHIT. That's the nature of the beast. That's why they have these things called agents. If you don't want to deal with it then let your agent run interference for you.

I'm sick to death of these namby pamby pretty boy players getting their feelings hurt like they are 6. GROW A PAIR ALREADY!!!!

Still doesn't make it right to lie to the guy. The man flew in from California on short notice, Ireland should have handled it better. This is why he gets a bad rap among players. Stuff like this.

[Pappy13]

Still doesn't make it right to lie to the guy. The man flew in from California on short notice, Ireland should have handled it better. This is why he gets a bad rap among players. Stuff like this.

I take it MikeO that you've never negotiated a contract. Would I be right?

[MikeO]

I take it MikeO that you've never negotiated a contract. Would I be right?

I have but the NFL is a unique business and you have to realize that

[raptorsfan29]

I can see why nobody wants to play for Miami (unless they have no other options), Ireland doesn't respect the players. Of course the prostitute question should have been a dead giveaway about how he would conduct business with players.

[EDGECRUSHER]

Matt Flynn said one of the reasons he went to Seattle is that "it's being led by the right kind of people".

The NFL isn't a contracting business, you NEED to look good to land players here. There is a reason Peyton Manning, who has a home here, didn't even consider signing here for one second.

[Spider-Dan]

Pappy13, the question at hand is not "Is Jeff Ireland legally entitled to jerk a player's chain?"  If that were the question, then you would be correct: until you sign a contract, you are owed nothing.

The question is whether Ireland's continued assholery is having a negative impact on the organization's ability to recruit personnel.  And this offseason (starting with the failure to hire Jeff Fisher) has clearly shown that it is.

[MikeO]

I just tweeted with a SF beat writer about this story. He said it has some truth in it, but Smith never spent the night in Miami. So LaBatard might not 100% accurate with his report

take it with a grain of salt

[Pappy13]

I have but the NFL is a unique business and you have to realize that

Yeah, it's a business where half the businessmen are a bunch of overpaid steroided out pampered children. What's your point?

[Pappy13]

Matt Flynn said one of the reasons he went to Seattle is that "it's being led by the right kind of people".

The NFL isn't a contracting business, you NEED to look good to land players here. There is a reason Peyton Manning, who has a home here, didn't even consider signing here for one second.

Yes, there's a reason. No you have no idea what it is.

[MikeO]

Yeah, it's a business where half the businessmen are a bunch of overpaid steroided out pampered children. What's your point?

know who you are dealing with an adjust normal business practices!

[Pappy13]

know who you are dealing with an adjust normal business practices!

They did. They told Smith they were gonna offer him a contract, so he should stick around. He did. They didn't. Big story in the NFL, news at 11:00, etc. The rest of the world...couldn't care less. You don't understand MikeO, it's not that they told Smith what he wanted to hear that is the shocking thing, it's that Smith actually bought it and was upset about it when they didn't come through. Why do you think the Dolphins flew out to Indy to meet with Peyton? Do you think they did that because they wanted to or do you think it was because Peyton said he wasn't flying to Miami to meet with them and if they wanted to talk to him they needed to fly to Indy. Was Peyton leading them on? Certainly. Why? Probably so he could get a better contract out of Denver or someone else. Is this a shock? Was he lieing to Miami? Nope, just business. Somebody needs to explain this stuff to Smith.

[Spider-Dan]

Maybe that same person can explain "business" to Ryan Clark and Matt Flynn and Jeff Fisher and Jim Harbaugh, too.

[tepop84]

They did. They told Smith they were gonna offer him a contract, so he should stick around. He did. They didn't. Big story in the NFL, news at 11:00, etc. The rest of the world...couldn't care less. You don't understand MikeO, it's not that they told Smith what he wanted to hear that is the shocking thing, it's that Smith actually bought it and was upset about it when they didn't come through. Why do you think the Dolphins flew out to Indy to meet with Peyton? Do you think they did that because they wanted to or do you think it was because Peyton said he wasn't flying to Miami to meet with them and if they wanted to talk to him they needed to fly to Indy. Was Peyton leading them on? Certainly. Why? Probably so he could get a better contract out of Denver or someone else. Is this a shock? Was he lieing to Miami? Nope, just business. Somebody needs to explain this stuff to Smith.

LOL