Although some tried in March to spitball an explanation for the delay in the signing of Jimmy Garoppolo’s contract with the Raiders, the truth didn’t come out until Saturday, when PFT obtained and reported on the existence of “Addendum G,” a key waiver that potentially allows the Raiders to walk away from the deal without any financial obligation, due to Garoppolo’s foot injury.
So why did the information remain under wraps for so long?
My own spitball of a guess is that someone in the national media knew about Addendum G and squatted on it, as a favor to Garoppolo and/or agent Don Yee and/or the team. It’s really not good for anyone for this to come out; not mentioning it becomes part of the timeless dance that allows an “insider” to remain in position to report transactions five minutes before they are announced.
Addendum G potentially takes millions out of Garoppolo’s pocket, and it makes the Raiders seem to be woefully unprepared for the possibility that Garoppolo won’t be able to play this year. To anyone who would say they’re optimistic that he’ll be good to go, Addendum G does not read like a glass-half-full assessment.
So how did Addendum G come to light? We became curious about the actual contractual language when word emerged this past week that Garoppolo had foot surgery after signing with the Raiders. Unable to pass a physical without going under the knife, Garoppolo surely hopes that the procedure will make him healthy enough to play. Remembering the clunky manner in which Garoppolo’s press conference was delayed (although some would dismiss such curiosities as “the usual nonsense”), it was time to have a look under the hood.
And there it was. Addendum G. The clause that explained everything about the delayed signing of the deal, and that creates real doubt about the player’s short- and long-term future with the team.
Once we reported on the existence of Addendum G, others chimed in with confirmation, or whatever. The story at NFL.com, an outlet owned and operated by the NFL, actually gave NFL Network national insider Ian Rapoport for the story, even though the article at NFL.com clearly copied and pasted language from our story, because they also copied and pasted my failure to include the letter “i” in the word “medial.” (It’s the first time in 22 years that a typo has actually been a good thing for us.)
Although stuff like this has been going on for 22 years and will go on for at least 22 more, I called out NFL.com last night for creating the impression that they broke the news regarding the existence of Addendum G. More than 12 hours later, they haven’t changed it. (They also haven’t fixed the typo.)
To his credit, Paul Gutierrez of ESPN.com handled it the right way.
All in all, this becomes a prime example of why it’s always important to not take things at face value, and to always be curious and to push for the truth. After 22 years of doing this, I’ve developed a pretty good sense as to when something doesn’t seem right. Sometimes, those instincts are accurate. Sometimes, they’re not.
This time, the instincts were dead-on balls accurate. For a change.
And if the price of such practices is to be labeled a “conspiracy theorist” by those who desperately want to keep the truth hidden, so be it.
UPDATE 3;59 p.m. ET: NFL.com has revised the story to fix the typo. And to provide proper credit.
