Saturday, June 26, 1999Bengals nab Dallas' Sualua off waivers
Phillips offer likely Monday
BY GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Bengals President Mike Brown, known for giving troubled players second chances, did it again Friday when the club picked Dallas backup fullback Nicky Sualua off waivers.
Nick Sualua
Sualua, a third-year player from Ohio State, was with former Cowboy Mark Tuinei when Tuinei died May 6 of an accidental overdose of heroin and an amphetamine.
Sualua, 24, also was charged with drunk driving Jan.15 when he was stopped about 4:30a.m. with a blood-alcohol level of .20, twice Texas' legal limit.
The Bengals' move comes on the heels of extending safety Tremain Mack's contract Thursday despite two DUIs in his two NFL seasons.
Plus, the club is thinking of making an offer Monday for running back Lawrence Phil lips, a free-agent who was arrested three times and spent 23 days in jail during 19 months with the Rams.
The move also comes at the end of an offseason when Brown and coach Bruce Coslet have stressed finding players with solid characters.
“What I know from the league office, nothing has happened (in Dallas) that would sideline him,” Brown said of Sualua.
“It is the fact that he found Tuinei, but the league office said he has done nothing that would cause his suspension. At Dallas, they thought he could be OK on and off the field. In our scheme, we need a blocking back, and Nick Sualua is a possibility.”
Brown defended taking risks because of the possibili ties they can pan out.
“If you're afraid to gamble, you don't have a chance to win,” Brown said. “But if you do, there's that chance you're going to help yourself. He'll come in, and we'll look at him and size him up, and if we determine he's a risk, we'll make the move to protect the football team.”
Sualua wasn't charged in the events surrounding Tuinei's death. Sualua told investigators he spent the night of May 5 with his former Cowboys teammate in a Dallas apartment and that Tuinei used heroin and Ecstasy.
When the 6-foot-5, 320-pound Tuinei had trouble breathing, the 5-foot-11, 257-pound Sualua dragged him to his car and drove to Tuinei's home in suburban Plano. They slept in the car until 5:30a.m., when Sualua discovered Tuinei had stopped breathing.
Although Sualua had questionable work and study habits at Ohio State, where he missed the 1996 season because of academic problems, former coaches and teammates were stunned to hear about his night with Tuinei.
“Nicky cared about things that were important to him,” former Buckeyes teammate Josh Jackson told the Columbus Dispatch last month. “Sometimes those weren't the same things that were important to Ohio State coaches. He was a California guy who would rather play volleyball sometimes.”
Sualua had a roster fight on his hands in Dallas before Tuinei's death, and Brown said he is an underdog in beating out Brian Milne or rookie Nick Williams for the two spots the Bengals reserve for fullbacks.
“Maybe he'll become more serious now,” Brown said.
Sualua, set to make $196,000 this season, is expected here soon to take a physical. But the Bengals doubt Phillips is headed here, because they don't plan a huge offer and their backfield is full.
The club continues to refuse to discuss Phillips because of tampering, which indicates they plan to at least contact his agent Monday. The Bengals will wait on negotiations until after Sunday's World Bowl pitting Phillips' Barcelona Dragons against the Frankfurt Galaxy.
With Corey Dillon their starting running back and Ki-Jana Carter No.2, the Bengals don't think Phillips will be interested. They figure a team such as the Raiders, who have spoken openly about him, has the inside track.
Mitch Frankel, Phillips' agent, hasn't returned calls from The Enquirer.
The Bengals have more money under the NFL salary cap than all but two teams ($2 million-$3 million left for veterans) and figure it won't hurt to bid on a player who is the first 1,000-yard rusher in NFL Europe history and has scored 14 touchdowns.
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