Looking Back: Poison Pill

This weekend was an occasion for celebration. For many, the Fourth of July means heading up to the lake, cracking open some beverages, and relaxing for the weekend. For Bobby Bonilla, it means something a little more.

The New York Mets bought out the former outfielder and owed him $5.9 million upon release. The Madoff Mets decided against giving Bonilla the money up front. Instead, the Mets agreed to pay the money over a 25-year period…with eight percent interest.

Thus, Bobby Bonilla Day was born. On July 1, Bonilla receives a check for $1.2 million from the Mets — and likely opens a cold one to celebrate. It’s a bizarre stipulation that pays a 61-year-old more than many young baseball stars. Still, it’s not the only weird contract in sports.

In the spring of 2006, the Minnesota Vikings introduced the “Poison Pill” contract to the NFL. It was so bizarre that it started a war between two franchises and became illegal in 2009. The story of the Poison Pill is just as intriguing and sets off a ripple effect that could have altered the history of the league.

At that point, Burleson looked like a player destined for stardom. However, he took a step back in 2005. Teams focused on Burleson as Culpepper’s top target when the Vikings traded Moss to the Oakland Raiders. A sprained left knee didn’t help his cause, and Culpepper’s own brutal knee injury shipwrecked the Vikings’ season (no pun intended).

That didn’t stop the Seahawks, who were still filled with rage over Hutchinson’s deal. A restricted free agent, Burleson signed a 7-year, $49 million offer sheet with Seattle. But his offer didn’t have just one poison pill; it had an entire toxic pharmacy.

One clause dictated that Burleson would get his money if he played five games in the state of Minnesota. Another would guarantee the contract if Burleson was paid more than the average of all of the Vikings’ running backs on the roster combined. Seattle made the offer before the Vikings drafted Peterson in 2007, so the stable of Onterrio Smith, Mewelde Moore, and Chester Taylor wasn’t going to cut it.

Ultimately, Burleson went to Seattle, but the Vikings were the only team that got what they wanted.

Hutchinson continued his Hall of Fame career with the Vikings and paved a blazing start to Peterson’s career. Minnesota reached the 2009 NFC Championship game with Hutchinson protecting Brett Favre before Hutchinson left in 2012. Overall, Hutchinson was a three-time All-Pro and four-time Pro Bowler in Minnesota, which is more than what the Seahawks got in Burleson.

Injuries played a significant role in Burleson’s decline, but so did the deterioration of a veteran roster. The Seahawks lost in the divisional round of the playoffs each of the next two seasons before falling to 5-11 in 2008. They fired Holmgren after that year, and Burleson rebounded for 812 yards and three touchdowns in 2009. Still, he didn’t play at the superstar level he had reached in 2004.

The Seahawks cut Burleson after the 2009 season. The Vikings clearly got the better of the deal. The NFL outlawed the poison pill in 2011, but what would have happened if the Vikings had never introduced it?

Hutchinson was such a big part of Minnesota’s offensive line that it’s fair to wonder if we would have still been asking Can he play guard? back in 2006. Anthony Herrera was the starting guard on the opposite side of Hutchinson during the Vikings’ run to the NFC Championship. No Hutchinson could have meant another string of failed draft picks at the position.

But the Vikings would have also kept Burleson. Would they eventually have offered Burleson the type of money that the Seahawks did? Would that money have prevented them from signing Bernard Berrian? And would having nobody else on the roster and Tarvaris Jackson at quarterback sunk the Vikings with a bad contract?

All of these things could be true. But it also would have left the door open for another team to take advantage.

Imagine if the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had used a poison pill to lure Tom Brady out of New England or the kinds of clauses that would exist in today’s NFL. Sure, you could sign a top free agent to a contract, but if they eat three Juicy Lucys or go fishing on four different lakes during the offseason, you better be ready to back up the Brinks truck.

It’s an entertaining scenario, one that Bonilla would approve of.