[sportscurmudgeon]

There is really a fundamental difference between the Champ Bailey situation here in Washington and the Ty Law situation in Boston. Champ's contract was up; he had to get a new contract in order to be eligible to play for anyone in the league - including the Redskins even if they hung a franchise tag on him. Ty Law has a contract with two more years on it. While both players are excellent cornerbacks and both want to do some negoitating this off-season, the differences in the two situations are greater than the similarities.

However, there is a lesson here for fans to see. Ty Law signed a classic NFL contract with layered signing/roster bonuses and a large backloading so that the first few years were "cap friendly". His is not the only contract like that; virtually every huge contract for a top flight player in the NFL is the same kind of thing. And now, he is in a situation where he stands to make a lot of money on his contract (but it will be a cap burden for the team) or to make a lot of money renogiating his contract with his team to make it more cap friendly or to make a lot of money negotiating a new deal with some other team.

We'll see how this one plays out in New England. But, do not be surprised when this happens to some of the Redskins' players such as:

Chris Samuels
LaVar Arrington
Clinton Portis
Fred Smoot (after he signs his second contract here)
Lavernaeus Coles
John Jansen (maybe?)