Pasquarelli: Rumor control

Pasquarelli: Rumor control: "It's unclear how the Herman Edwards-to-Kansas City rumors started. But one thing is clear: Edwards should keep his focus on the Jets for now."

When you pay people to counsel you on your future, it sometimes doesn't hurt to heed their expert advice about your present circumstances too, New York Jets coach Herman Edwards demonstrated during a rather bizarre series of events Wednesday.

Early in the day, Edwards, the subject of unsubstantiated but wildfire rumors that he might be interested in succeeding coach Dick Vermeil if the Kansas City sideline boss retires after this season, didn't exactly deny interest in the potential opening. In a rather ham-handed fashion belying his usual smoothness and aplomb, Edwards acknowledged Wednesday morning that Jets owner Woody Johnson had a right to "go in another direction" if he so desired, and one could apparently almost see the New York coach casting a glance in the general direction of Kansas City.



Herman Edwards is 37-36 in four-plus seasons as the Jets' head coach.Later in the day, Edwards contacted New York media folks to clarify his remarks and to insist that his desire is to remain with the Jets and take the team to a Super Bowl title.

What transpired in the hours between Edwards' public remarks, and private clarification is anybody's guess, we agree. But since we're an anybody, and thus entitled to a guess, our bet is that the folks at IMG, the ones retained by Edwards to steer his career in the proper direction, urged him to repledge his allegiance to the Jets. One reason is because they understand that the Jets aren't inclined to jettison Edwards after this season, even though the year has deteriorated into a disaster. The injury to quarterback Chad Pennington, they know, is going to earn Edwards a pass on the catastrophic 2005 campaign.

Another reason: Well, the IMG Football offices are located in Kansas City, and maybe the folks there also knew that Chiefs president/general manager Carl Peterson, despite being a close friend of Edwards and having formerly employed him, wasn't considering the Jets coach as a replacement for Vermeil. Fact is, Peterson told the Kansas City Star precisely that on Wednesday, albeit in a rather convoluted way.

"On my short list and on my long list [of potential Vermeil replacements]," Peterson said, "there is no current NFL head football coach. That should answer [any questions about possible interest in Edwards]."

Yes, it should, since Edwards is a current NFL head coach who is under contract through the 2007 season. One other critical element of all this: Vermeil hasn't officially said yet that he is exiting after this season. He did a bit of a moonwalk on the issue earlier this week, noting that he could stay if the Chiefs make a playoff run. It's not good form, Edwards seems to understand now, to hover vulture-like over a body when it's still got a pulse. Especially when the body belongs to a longtime friend like Vermeil, who once coached Edwards when he was an NFL defensive back and who is a weekly telephone correspondent with the Jets coach.

Neither is it wise for a coach who is under fire, despite taking his team to the playoffs in three of his first four seasons, to pour gasoline on the flames of fan unrest by courting vacancies that don't even yet exist.

Beyond the always fascinating but typically flawed exercise known as "connect the dots" -- Edwards worked six years (1990-95) in the Kansas City organization, is clearly close to Peterson, and remains popular among the fans there -- we're not nearly smart enough to decipher how the Herm-to-the-Chiefs rhetoric originated. And how it suddenly took on a life of its own. Once all the rumors became more than an innocent brush fire, however, Edwards certainly could have done a much better job of dousing the flames. He didn't do that until after his uncharacteristically awkward performance Wednesday morning.

The smart money says that Edwards, who has retained the loyalty of Jets players, will be back in New York for 2006. Since he is under contract, any team that wants to pursue him, including Kansas City, would have to ante up financial or player compensation to the Jets to pry him out of his deal. It's not likely, even for a guy as widely respected as Edwards, that any club would want to do so to entice the Jets to let him depart.

The one interesting wild card in this is that Edwards is said to be growing weary of the pressures inherent in coaching in New York. He and his wife, Lia, had their first child in August and might be interested in a more benign setting for their family. That has led to whispers that Edwards could walk away from the Jets job. The only problem is that since he is under contract through '07, the team could hold him to his deal and legally preclude him from working for anyone else.

Now, on the subject of smart money, or even dumb money for that matter, there is little doubt Edwards would like to see more of it. His contract, negotiated before he retained IMG to handle his career, is believed to be below market value. Some estimates -- and, admittedly, coaching deals are hard to flesh out in the NFL, so we're placing a lot of faith in sources here -- value it in the bottom one-third of current head coach deals.

In addition to the fiscal elements, Edwards' contract is said to include stipulations that call for him to make a considerable number of personal appearances for the franchise and to participate in time-consuming promotional activities. Noted one source with inside knowledge of many NFL head coach contracts: "The Jets basically own his marketing rights. It's not a very good deal in a lot of ways." So make no mistake, Edwards would like his contract's shortcomings addressed at some point, preferably soon.

While the executives at IMG share that goal, they aren't much into publicly rocking the boat, and would prefer to quietly revisit the deal. They understand that if Edwards ever becomes a big winner in New York, he'll be rewarded. They also know that if the Jets can him at some point, Edwards won't lack for job opportunities, both in the NFL and in the college ranks.

We're betting that at some point following his Wednesday morning media session in which Edwards stopped just shy of allowing he might want a shot at the Kansas City job, the IMG folks who counsel him told the Jets coach to renew his vows with his current employer. A smart guy, Edwards would likely have figured out the need to do so on his own, after carefully reviewing his earlier remarks and the intimations they spawned, whether purposely or unwittingly.

But he hired experienced people to shepherd his career, so why not listen to them, right?