So why was Culpepper’s name missing from the announcement that the Steelers had signed Leftwich? Apparently Culpepper wants to be more than just a backup: John Clayton of ESPN reports that Culpepper was hoping for a chance to compete for a starting job. Frankly, it should be obvious to Culpepper that Ben Roethlisberger is the starter in Pittsburgh, and that the reason the Steelers called him is that they wanted a fill-in for the injured backup Charlie Batch, not because they wanted a quarterback who could challenge Roethlisberger for the top job. If Culpepper really believed he was going to get a chance to start ahead of Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh, he is about as ignorant of the way the NFL works as it’s possible for a nine-year NFL veteran to be. But he apparently did, in fact, think he would be given a chance to compete for a starting spot when he boarded the plane on his way to Latrobe. http://www.profootballtalk.com/category/rumor-mill/
Wow the rapid descent of Culpepper is amazing from a 41 TD campaign about 4 years ago to this. Hopefully he finds a home somewhere.
LMAO...... This guy is a space cadet. He's pompous and dumb as a stump if this report from Clayton is true. Take the backup spot Culpepper, it's all your good for.
See, this could go two ways. A). He really thought he could start in Pitt B). He just went to the Steelers, took their physical, but turned it down.
It's speculation but.... What I'm thinking is, Culpepper was called up by Pitt. He knows he doesn't have a chance to start, but decides to take their physical. That way, when he turns down the offer, the other teams know that he is healthy after he passes the physical, thus more teams interested. Again, this is speculation.
Like I said, it could be either way. But since I believe that Culpepper is a whole lot more smarter than what a lot of people would say.....
Regardless, IMO he's "dumb as a stump" as coral reefer so eloquently put it because it's in his best interest to #1 Hire an agent!!!! Pardon me....but Culpepper is out of work, but both McCowns have a job. Brock Berlin has a job. Cleo Lemon has a job.etc, etc. #2 Take a back up position. So what. You never know when you'll be needed. At least you're able to remind people that you're a QB in the NFL. Culpepper is bringing about his own downfall. If he had an agent he would probably be on a team somewhere.
Well I agree it was dumb to think he would have a shot at starting in Pittsburgh. I don't see the pompous part though
C-pepe is not dumb, quite the opposite, he played us like fiddles by refusing to be traded to Jacknsonville, then landing a job with Oakland. Where C-pepe falls down is in the "conceit" department, but even still, Qb's in the NFL are a valuable commodity, he knows sooner or later, someone will get desperate and give him a phone call. He didn't sign with Green Bay because 1 million bucks is really to little money when on the other hand, some team may need a Qb badly enough to offer him far more then 1 million. Don't underestimate the C-pepe.
He should have been starting for the Dolphins last season instead of Trent Green. What a fiasco. I agree that he should leave contract negotiations to an agent or at least hire a sports/entertainment lawyer. If I have to choose between Josh McCown or Daunte Culpepper, give me Daunte Culpepper
Someone will be calling him. If not soon, later. With the way Qb's get hurt as said earlier, someone will pay him what he wants.
There was a stat done on the amount of different starting Quarterbacks in the league. I want to say it was 33 but I can't exactly remember, it was a high number though. I think that stat shows that these QB's on the market will be given the chance to perform on Sundays at one time or another, they just have to be patient.
Wow. Does he have a passport? Well if he does he need to get in contact with his travel agent and see if he can get the next flight to Canada.
A.) Honestly, Culpepper should've hired an agent and he should've taken a backup position. I mean you gotta take a hint here when every team passes on you no matter how sorry their QB positions are (which could possibly show how sorry Culpepper is).
IMO any team will only call him as an absolute last resort at this point. It has nothing to do with his talent, either. He's more talented than quite a few QBs in this league. But most likely he's not very good at being an agent. And in my opinion that's why he's still unsigned. He's probably been really difficult to deal with, because he doesn't know how to do that job. I mean, after all there's a reason why players, coaches, GMs, etc all have them. If doing the agents' job was so easy, very few would bother employing them.
I agree with that. Plus he's a mobile QB who's talent has taken a huge blow over the past couple yrs.
Very good points. 1 million was too little to sign with GB - but he's supposed to fall over backwards to sign for less than 750K with Pittsburgh? Look, it's not like Ben R got hurt and he had a chance for playing time. Let Leftwich pick up the scraps and possibly get cut when Batch comes off of PUP in 4-6 weeks. In my opinion, it was smart to: (a) let people know he could pass a physical; (b) let people know that reports were that he looked sharp in his tryout; (c) keep his name a float as a candidate in case a starter (not a backup) goes down; and (d) not get tied up in a spot where he wouldn't be available if a starter spot DID become available. He made $3.5M or so last year with the Raiders, $7M with the Dolphins the year before - missing out on less than $750K this year may be a gamble - but one that may pay off for him.
Mortensen reported tonight on why Culpepper didn't sign with the Steelers. He said that the Steelers basically told him that he's on the team until Batch comes back which is week six or seven. When Culpepper was told that, he basically said no thanks because he wants to have a full-time job. However, the initial report stated that Culpepper wants to start. Mortensen says that Culpepper said he is willing to be a backup on a team.
Wouldn't he still have gotten paid? And what does that say for Leftwich if he was only signed after Culpepper turned it down.
Exactly, he had nothing to lose, everything to gain by going through the motions with the Steelers, 750k vs a team that loses it's starting qb in week 2? 14 games, 500,000 per start or something similar...3 million easily....
Thanks, Alen. I was at a bar and saw Mortensen speaking - with the caption "Culpepper willing to be a backup" at the bottom, but couldn't hear what was being said. I really thought PFT took Mortensen's Culpepper quote: and extrapolated it to somehow mean that that Culpepper thought the Steeler's starting job was open - not that he wasn't real keen on taking a short term backup gig. I thought Michael David smith did a pretty shoddy job on that - Florio is usually a lot better on that kind of stuff.
When Mortensen was asked about Leftwich, he said that Leftwich knew the situation he was getting into and basically told the Steelers that he just wanted some playing time in a couple pre-season games to show off what he can do. He wanted that playing time to basically showcase so when he is cut after week seven or whenever they choose to make the move, he can have some potential suitors. Yeah, they reminded me of the ESPN writers after I heard Mort speak lol. Even though Mort does work with ESPN. EDIT: Michael Smith is part of ESPN so that explains the screw-up.
