June 1st cometh with no Deion?

By Sean Rogers Sports Central Columnist

For the past few weeks, everybody has been watching Deion Sanders. Deion had a great debut in baseball, and given his cold words for new Redskins coach Marty Schottenheimer, everyone figured that the Redskins would cut him come June 1st to save the money on the salary cap.

Why would they need this money? To sign their own draft picks, and presumably, to sign some veterans who could contribute in the upcoming season.

However, June 1st had come and gone with Deion Sanders still on the Redskins. The biggest NFL news was that Randy Moss was playing basketball and hanging out with Michael Jordan. What in the name of O.J Simpson was going on here?

Quite simply, there were not enough potential contributors available to warrant any teams, such as the Redskins, cutting somebody. One of the main players who may have been signed on June 1st, ex-Redskins tackle Dana Stubblefield, surprised the entire world in announcing that he had signed with the Bengals. So much for that star available June 1st.

For a team such as the Redskins, desperate for wide receivers and QB help, there was not much available June 1st. Charles Johnson and Torrance Small were potential players that could be signed, but they were gobbled up right away, and teams such as the Redskins had nowhere to turn. Super Bowl-winning QB Trent Dilfer was available, but the Redskins grew wary of his talents, and decided that they were comfortable with second year quarterback Todd Husak and first year QB Sage Rosenfels. What?

Another reason that teams shied away from making big signings and cuts on June 1st was the deep NFL rookie class this year. While the Redskins appear to desperately need WR help, they believe that they have found their #4 receiver and punt returner in fifth round pick Darnerian McCants. Darnerian McWho?

With this deep rookie class, team's are looking at their weaknesses and thinking that perhaps a late round pick that they made in April's NFL Draft is the solution to their problems. Is it? Most likely not, but it is certainly a lot cheaper than signing a proven veteran.

So, the Redskins, for example, decide to keep Deion Sanders. With Fred Smoot, Champ Bailey, and Darrell Green, where does Sanders fit? Most likely, Sanders fits nowhere. While his baseball career has dulled, Sanders still has not come to Marty Schottenheimer's "mandatory" practices, daring the Redskins to cut him, so that he can sign with a contender, presumably the Broncos. The Redskins, angry at his lack of commitment, appear to be keeping Sanders to be sure that he does not get even more money from another team, and to be sure that he does not star anywhere other than Washington. Pretty cold, you say? Yes.

You can truly tell that the June 1st signing list was weak when a team decides not to cut one of their most expensive players simply because they want to spite him.

Was there anybody worth signing? Sure. For once, ex-Jerome Bettis backup Richard Huntley of the Steelers was available. Or was he? A few weeks before June 1st, Huntley, still a Steeler, entered, what else, an arm wrestling contest. (No word on whether he won.) For his employer, he entered the Miami Dolphins. Isn't this a violation of free agency signing periods or something? Apparently not. Huntley never truly did get on the open market, taking away a running back who potentially could have helped a team quite considerably.

In an NFL offseason that included Mary Schottenheimer coaching the team that he said he could never coach, Al Davis suing the NFL, a star running back admitting that he gets nervous when people watch him, and an All-Pro wideout saying that he would like to try his hand at basketball, the strange, new June 1st tradition should not be a surprise. It should be interesting to see if the next June 1st, 2002 will be any more exciting than the boredom of this year's June 1st.

Article courtesy of Sports Central