Rams Give Dickerson $3-Million Extension
SAN FRANCISCO — Whatever the Rams’ other problems, Eric Dickerson was free of financial worry Monday night.
The Rams gave him the deal he held out for last summer: a three-year contract extension that’s worth an estimated $3 million to $3.5 million, or better than $1 million a year through 1989.
Earlier Monday the Rams issued a statement announcing the agreement, saying it put Dickerson “among the highest-paid running backs in football.”
His agent, Jack Rodri, said that Dickerson was now the highest-paid running back, topping the $3.74-million, four-year contract the Raiders gave Marcus Allen last summer. The total is less than Allen’s contract, but the average per year is slightly larger. Dickerson’s current contract, worth $2.2 million, runs through ’86.
It’s believed that paying Dickerson more than Allen was a matter of principle not only for Rodri but for the Rams. They may even have compared figures to be sure.
None of the money is deferred, and the Rams also are believed to be paying the premium on a $4-million disability policy insuring Dickerson against a career-ending injury for the duration of the extension.
Rodri said that his agreement with the Rams would not permit him to disclose details, but it’s believed that Dickerson is to receive an immediate signing bonus of perhaps $500,000, with the balance due in salary starting in 1987.
The agreement followed a season of discontent for Dickerson. After last season he fired his agent, Jack Mills of Boulder, Colo., and hired the Ken Norton Personal Management team of Rodri, former heavyweight boxing champion Norton and lawyer David Epstein to represent him in his business affairs.
They soon sought a contract extension from the Rams. The Rams at first refused to discuss it until after this season, so Dickerson held out through training camp and the first two games of the season and has been relatively unproductive, compared to his first two record-breaking seasons.
He reported in September on owner Georgia Frontiere’s assurance that John Shaw, club vice president, would “negotiate in good faith” starting immediately.
The negotiations bogged down with Dickerson’s disappointing season but suddenly picked up last week--perhaps spurred by the Rams’ increasingly desperate situation.
“That I cannot assume because I don’t know what motivated John Shaw to do it at this time,” Rodri said. “All I know is I could get my client a very good deal as the highest-paid running back in football.”
Rodri indicated that there were “tough, hard negotiations . . . (and) it all happened in the last few days. Just this morning we had the final details wound up.
“John Shaw and I were able to do some real good and sincere negotiations, which led to an agreement. From day one, the negotiations were in good faith. I won’t say we’re buddies, but it got to the point where we were getting along pretty well.”
The signing bonus will permit Dickerson’s representatives to invest a large part of the new contract immediately. Rodri indicated that the money would be put into annuities and commercial or industrial real estate.
