The Green Bay Packers asked safety Darren Sharper to accept a major pay cut Friday, and Sharper's initial reaction indicates he'll probably be a free agent relatively soon.
If Sharper doesn't agree to the cut, the Packers are expected to release him before he is due a $2.6 million roster bonus March 12.
According to a source familiar with both sides, Packers general manager Ted Thompson informed agent Joel Segal two days ago that the Packers want to reduce Sharper's 2005 earnings of $6 million to around $2 million, thus saving the team $4 million in salary-cap room.
Whether that is the Packers' bottom line number for Sharper to remain with the team isn't known, but it's clear they want to reduce significantly Sharper's $8.633 million salary cap number in '05. More discussions between Thompson and Segal may be forthcoming, and Sharper said Saturday night he wants to see where they lead.
"I'm not pleased with the first discussion," Sharper said, declining to confirm what the Packers were seeking. "This could just be the beginning. In contract negotiations you always start low. But that's not really even a start to the conversation. I hope we can get to a point where we're agreeable."
Chances are the Packers aren't going to come up much more on their offer and Segal might request that they cut Sharper right away so he can take advantage of the free-agent market. Neither Segal nor Thompson, who were both attending the scouting combine in Indianapolis, was available for comment.
Sharper, 29, said the hardest part to swallow regarding the request for a major pay cut was that he could have sat out more than one game last season because of a sprained posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee suffered against Dallas Oct. 24. He returned to play against Minnesota and Houston in the dime package and rejoined the starting lineup against St. Louis Nov. 29.
He said he played hurt because of his loyalty to the team.
The Packers can wait until the March 12 deadline before making a final offer, but odds are that a decision will come much sooner. If they are able to re-negotiate with guard Mike Wahle and sign him to a more cap-friendly deal or re-sign free-agent guard Marco Rivera, the Packers would need Sharper's cap money to make it happen. They do not need his cut to get under the $85.5 million cap for the start of the fiscal year March 2.
By cutting Sharper, the Packers would gain $3.4 million in cap room. Sharper's $6 million salary ($2.6 million roster bonus and $3.4 million base) would be wiped off the books, but a $2.6 million cap charge from the remaining portion of Sharper's pro-rated signing bonus would come due immediately.
The Packers did not offer to guarantee any portion of Sharper's $6 million salary this year, which would have allowed them to push some of the '05 cap charge into the future. They also did not offer him an opportunity to earn back the proposed salary reduction through incentives.
If Sharper accepts the Packers' terms, his salary-cap number would be cut in half, dropping him behind quarterback Brett Favre ($11.733 million) and running back Ahman Green ($5.625 million) for highest salary-cap number on the team. If he is cut, he will count $5.2 million against the cap this year even though he wouldn't be on the team.
The Packers already have $4.6 million in so-called "dead" money on the books for 2005.
Sharper, a two-time Pro Bowl selection, would become a free agent if he is cut and would have a chance to sign a new contract with another team. If he rejects the Packers' demand for a cut, Sharper will be banking on another team paying him a signing bonus worth more than the $2 million the Packers are offering.
Sharper's six-year, $30 million signed in February of 2001 included a $7 million signing bonus, which was a record at the time. Philadelphia safety Brian Dawkins received $8 million in bonuses two years later.