Thursday, August 01, 2002
NFL Notebook: Dallas mum on Smith's future
The Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO - Jerry Jones isn't ready to talk about what happens to Emmitt Smith after this season, when the Dallas running back should be the NFL's career rushing leader.
The Cowboys owner, who before last season cut three-time Super Bowl champion quarterback Troy Aikman, talks somewhat evasively on Smith's future.
“What we're interested in is what happens this year, and Emmitt's under contract for next year,” Jones said. “We don't need to get into what's going to happen next year at this time.”
Jones knows it's a sticky subject.
Smith is just 539 yards shy of the late Walter Payton's record of 16,726 career rushing yards. He has an NFL-record 11 straight 1,000-yard seasons and played with Aikman in those three Super Bowls in the first half of the 1990s.
Going into his 13th season, Smith, 33, remains one of the most popular players ever to wear a Dallas uniform.
When Aikman was cut because of health and salary-cap concerns, he was coming off a season in which he played just half the games because of concussions and chronic back pain. Plus, Aikman was due a $7 million roster bonus and a contract extension through 2007 if he was still on the roster past that date.
There is no such deadline or potential extension in Smith's contract. But it would count about $10million against the team's salary cap in 2003.
Smith knows that some people, perhaps including Jones and the Cowboys, see the record as the capping achievement of his career. He doesn't.
“It doesn't just start and end with the record,” Smith said. “My love for football is still there. My desire to go to the Super Bowl is still there.”
When Aikman was let go, the Cowboys didn't have a successor prepared. But Smith's replacement already might be on the roster.
Troy Hambrick, a 6-foot-1, 233 pound back with deceptive speed, had 579 yards rushing last season. That was the most by any Cowboys back other than Smith since Herschel Walker in 1988.
Hambrick also averaged 5.1 yards a carry (third-best in the NFL) and started 11 games - two at tailback when Smith was injured, and the rest at fullback.
There has been plenty of speculation that Hambrick's role will increase substantially once Smith becomes the NFL's top career rusher. The team denies that.
“I don't think you can put it in those terms. We're trying to win games, we're not just out there to get Emmitt the record,” said coach Dave Campo. “I think Emmitt is going to get the record (while) winning us games. What I've said before is that whatever the best combination is for us to win, that's what we're going to do.”
CHIEFS: Offensive tackle John Tait will miss two weeks of training after needing 17 stitches to close cuts sustained in a fight with a rookie teammate.
Tait, the starting right tackle, also had his nose broken in the fight with defensive lineman Eddie Freeman Tuesday.
“He had my helmet and hit me with it. It wasn't his fist,” Tait said Wednesday.
Freeman, a second-round draft pick from Alabama-Birmingham, has been involved in several scuffles since the Chiefs opened camp Friday.
“I'm the young new guy on the block. It was just in the heat of battle,” the 310-pound Freeman said.
BEARS: Safety Mike Brown broke a bone in his right hand during practice Tuesday and could miss the first two preseason games.
“If there's no problems healing, then I'll be all right,” said Brown, who wore a cast over his hand.
Brown will return to practice next week for conditioning but won't be allowed to participate in contact drills.
COLTS: Safety Cory Bird, a projected starter, injured his hamstring while covering a kickoff during practice. He joined four other defenders - linebacker Mike Peterson (knee surgery), defensive tackle Josh Williams (hamstring), defensive end Chukie Nwokorie (sore back) and safety Idrees Bashir (hamstring) - on the sidelines.
“Obviously, when you're trying to put in a new scheme, to have five potential starters go down this early in practice, it slows down their progress,” defensive coordinator Ron Meeks said. “But you've got to adjust.”
Bird ran a bit after pulling up lame but did not participate in any other morning drills.
RAIDERS: The team will seek a new trial in the team's $1.2 billion conspiracy lawsuit against the NFL, citing alleged juror misconduct. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Richard Hubbell will consider the claim at a hearing scheduled for Sept. 18, said Larry Feldman, an attorney for the Raiders.
In a 9-3 vote, a Superior Court jury rejected the Raiders' claims last year that the NFL sabotaged their plan to build a new stadium in the Los Angeles area and that the team still owns the NFL rights to the Los Angeles market. The team returned to Oakland after the 1995 season.
The misconduct allegation was raised after five jurors in last year's trial said they overheard one member of the panel say he hated the Raiders and team owner Al Davis and would never vote in their favor, Feldman said.
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NFL Notebook: Dallas mum on Smith's future
