- 2 days ago
Players are speaking out on the Frank Ragnow situation.
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00:04did the lions handle it wrong asking for bonus money back a portion of three million dollars
00:09back from frank rag now many around the league are slamming them petty cheap bad optics just
00:16because you can doesn't mean you should there's good business and there's bad business we have
00:21a ton of feedback we've got open lines 248-539-9797 before i read them and some of them are
00:28mocking me
00:28and some of them are mocking john one just innocent little text that squeaked through
00:36i've eaten soup while driving
00:40so that all depends on the type of soup no it doesn't this is egregious oh no no no no
00:47if it's
00:47a pureed soup let's just say it's like a broccoli cheese soup and the broccoli's all pureed in there
00:52which is quite yummy but is it in a bowl with a about the only way that i'll have broccoli
00:57um
00:58but it's but if you're drinking it out of a thermos because it's all pureed like it's just
01:01it's no different than drinking a coffee when he says he's eating soup i don't picture it's in a
01:04thermos i picture it's a bowl and a spoon and you're driving with your knee and it's hot soup
01:11is that that's got to be the most egregious thing i saw maybe i saw him eating his soup yeah
01:16could be
01:16yeah yeah or a bowl of cereal somebody was eating something with a utensil some of us are really good
01:21driving with the knee and some people are bad driving with two hands on the steering wheel i can't
01:25imagine them also with a you know a bowl of soup it's one thing to reach into the bag of
01:29french
01:29fries and take a couple out at a red light but or to have a sandwich in one hand probably
01:33isn't great
01:34but soup uh-huh that's why i need the cup back um from five guys because it fits in the
01:40cup holder
01:40not this bag that i can't do anything with text coming in what normal job do you get to keep
01:46money
01:47for jobs that you didn't finish welcome to the real world frank yep uh another text says good news jim
01:54i
01:54signed a contract to work for a company for two years i got a large signing bonus they said i
01:58have
01:58to work to two years but i think i'm going to quit halfway through and just keep the money
02:01mm-hmm this isn't someone you hired for one job this is a long time employee who on the way
02:09out you
02:09give a little bit of a a little pat on the back and hey you can keep a small portion
02:14of the money
02:17this was not the bulk of his earnings this is a small amount of money even smaller to the team
02:23than to him the idea that you're clawing back for it you don't need it well in terms of percentages
02:29of the cap and all it's it's a small amount of money it's we're still talking millions of dollars
02:35okay but if we're going to scale it it'd be like yeah the contractor you let him keep a hundred
02:39bucks
02:40he's been working on your house for a decade he's done all kinds of projects you're going to screw
02:44him over because he rolled an ankle and couldn't finish the job and you give me a hundred bucks
02:47back that's kind of what this is for an organization with billions again i don't see it that way and
02:53from coming from a former player i don't see it that way i had the same opinion about calvin johnson
03:01and if you're going to hang the cleats up and not finish something that you said you would do
03:08this isn't the team saying we don't want you anymore if that's the case then you get to keep
03:13everything that we that we paid you this is you saying i don't want to do this anymore
03:19and and especially in the context of if the day burkett piece is right right a couple of days before
03:25he hangs him up he says i want a new contract if you want a new contract then you believe
03:30that you
03:30could play so i i don't know what's what took place that it's i have a lot of questions i
03:34don't
03:34think we have a lot of answers but i do know he tried to come back and play professional football
03:37and medically was not cleared so from his standpoint like if he tried to come back this year right now
03:44because the hamstring is healed right would they welcome him back with open arms i bet they would
03:49but doesn't it get into this like what do you want to allow on the physical like we just went
03:52through this with max crosby they could fail a team could fail frank rag now on a physical right now
03:57if
03:57they wanted sure like i said at the time like if you are four or five years into the league
04:01so but
04:02if i'm the lions every physical there is so if i'm the lions what stops me from failing frank if
04:06he
04:06wants to come back today nothing because i want to keep my two million bucks well what but also what
04:11prevents him from coming back and saying oh i'll go ahead and feel that physical i mean i suppose
04:17nothing right it just becomes a fighting it becomes a fight between the two yeah text says that alex
04:25anzalone's right legally they can demand the money back but the whole grit family run through a wall
04:29attitude is based on some empathy thanks for donating your throat brain foot give me back my
04:34three million it's the opposite and it sabotages the locker room john you sound ridiculous defending
04:40this organization sol forever lions are cheap as hell always have been except when they fall in love
04:47with their own okay frank became one of their own because they extended him they gave him they rewarded
04:58him to use the terms that brad holmes uses yeah four years 54 million dollars and of that 42 of
05:09it was
05:09totally guaranteed this offseason the lions have put together from signing no-name players treating past
05:16players like crap has really thrown me off as a fan i was still all in even at the debacle
05:21last year
05:22after all the crap i'm sickened in a way i don't want to waste my money on tickets i don't
05:27have
05:27confidence we can do anything past a wild card round to be honest i'm just lost as a fan right
05:32now
05:32all caps what are we doing so i have issues with their free agency i have issues with them you
05:41know
05:41wanting to continue to pay their own draft develop and sign and not go out in free agency and make
05:48this team better i have issues with all of that i've i've been very vocal about that this is one
05:55i don't have an issue with
05:59texas cookies he didn't say it was a bowl with a spoon you can assume anything
06:03right another on this and i can't believe that we're getting soup text now uh another one says you
06:08can't legally drink or eat anything while driving that's from steve oh you can't it's illegal to
06:15eat while you're driving i didn't know that i don't think it is i knew the cell phone thing
06:20is that ever enforced i don't think i don't think because i mean okay then every every person who's
06:25ever had a cup of coffee on the way to work right or had a bottle of water like i
06:31don't think that's
06:31that's not right so what were the line like if you drew the line because like i have no issue
06:35the
06:35guy getting a swig of water or sip of coffee where would you draw the line well legally i think
06:40it's
06:40just distract to drive it as cell phones right as i understand it so so you'd be for someone eating
06:45a bowl of soup behind the wheel i'm not necessarily for it but i'm not going to sit there and
06:49say they
06:49need to be arrested officer this guy i saw him chicken noodle doing 55 yeah 55 and a 40 uh
06:58text
06:59coming in i wonder if brad was wearing his villain hoodie when he called frank to get the money back
07:03patrick and grand rapids wow john is the last one i thought would side with the company
07:10and not the player shame on him tim and adrian why because i have an opinion that differs from yours
07:16oh shame on me shame john they figure you're the player you don't we stick up for the players
07:21right i stick up for what i believe is right frank screwed the team over with his retirement
07:26team has every right to do this i would have taken it to john in a car
07:31do you think that's part of it are you going to walk away after the draft when did calvin retire
07:38i think it was at a more appropriate time because when he played his last game people had whispered
07:42that could have been his last game and i'm pretty sure he retired was it before free agency i think
07:46it was in march yeah yeah my brain thought march before free agency let me ask you this what would
07:53happen if frank tried to return i think he'd fail the physical but but if he does that and they
08:01fail
08:01he fails the physical then it's it it throws into question what they can actually do with recouping
08:08the portion of that three million dollars right so maybe he calls their bluff and says i'm back
08:15can you imagine him doing that after the draft
08:19i speculated or just after free agency because they decide kate mays now kate mays can't play guard
08:24yeah but what if they after the draft and money's all allocated and stuff then he tries to come back
08:30what's that do to the cat well nothing because they'll just have him fail the physical right but then
08:35he has legal recourse to say well i'm going to keep my three million or whatever the portion is just
08:41remember guys and for the audience andrew luck back in 2019 famously kept all of the money that
08:47the colts did not try to recoup any of 24.8 million dollars and they would have a better argument
08:53to do
08:54it because that's that's not you know end of the roster guy i mean especially well there was frank
09:00no no but the dollar amount right i'm saying the money they're saving on frank could get them a long
09:05snapper the money that you can get from taking all the money back from andrew luck could have been a
09:11starting edge receiver corner safety or two of a key position they would have had a better argument
09:17to do it just for hey nothing personal we got to run a business we want to field the best
09:21team next
09:21season andrew we do have to take some of that money back and and you could do indie radio and
09:27debate that
09:27my point is for the lions this wasn't some big coup this wasn't some big savings like hey frank we
09:34hate
09:34to do this to you but we're doing it so we can go out and add our starting will linebacker
09:38like it's not
09:39even enough to do that so then what are you doing it for you're doing it because you did it
09:45to calvin
09:45you did it to barry i'm sure fans love hearing that i'm sure that's a great reputation that you're
09:50reinforcing around the league right and and i get that they're going to take a pr hit on it i
09:55get that
09:55hey maybe there's going to be some people that that obviously they've texted in they don't like
09:59my take on it but but is it i don't care but is it my question is is it worth
10:03it like yeah they do
10:05they at some point they lose more than two million dollars of value but do they get another year or
10:11two out of a guy that that at you know sometime in june says you know what i don't want
10:17to do this
10:18anymore so i'm gonna you know what frank did it i'm gonna go ahead and say that i can't play
10:22anymore
10:22due to the injuries that i've suffered and i want to keep my bonus like frank did
10:28but or does he says i don't want to pay back any of that bonus so i'm gonna give i'm
10:32gonna play
10:32another year so on that debate it's it's funny i i don't know if this is the thought process in
10:40the
10:40league but tj tj lang said yesterday everyone knows if you want to protect your money you make
10:45them release you right you lose all the money when you retire and that's why i said yesterday do
10:50it the way decker did it make them release you decker's not going to have to pay anything back
10:54nope marcus you're on 97 one good morning gentlemen good morning
11:01uh a lot of people have given jobs flocked this morning but john i agree with you and like i
11:07told
11:08the screener uh first of all it's football but it's a business i don't know i don't understand why
11:16these people is mad at the lions you know like you say he signed the contract they paid him his
11:22money
11:22he got a bonus and he couldn't fulfill it so you know i mean let's be honest you owe them
11:28that money
11:29back no one's disputing that they're allowed to do it exactly it's just should you do it well i i
11:39work for a company i'm not gonna say what the company and they gave me a nice bonus and i
11:46worked for
11:46him for six months and like you say i had to work for him for a whole year to keep
11:51the bonus sure but
11:53i found another i found another job paying 25 000 more and you know they asked they asked for the
12:01bonus back and you know i didn't get mad about it because like i said it was it was business
12:06if i
12:07wanted that money that they gave me you know that bonus i would have stayed and then you know went
12:12somewhere else but i understand it the business no i know the business can do it but is there ever
12:20a
12:21point as a business where you go there there's a pr win here or there's a morale boost here or
12:26we're
12:26going to give the guy a gold watch on his way out it's going to cost us money but it's
12:30a morale thing
12:31it's it's a culture that we set as a company it's a first class standard that we want to set
12:37there
12:37are those there are things that businesses do that cost them money that are expenses that are good
12:42for their brand they don't have to do them they do them because they want to be known as that
12:49type of
12:50organization you could you could truly just go hey we don't have any expenses that that are
12:56unnecessary we're going to have as tight a balance sheet as possible we're going to get every nickel
13:01that comes through and it's going to go into our pocket you can run your business that way you
13:05absolutely have a right to do that people don't have to like it yeah i mean no they don't have
13:11to
13:11like it and i think a lot of people don't like i don't like how the lions operate this um
13:15i do okay
13:17so it's it's it's it's a difference of opinion and sometimes it's a difference of experience
13:23is that you saying because you played well i think that it's part of it our experiences
13:29form some of our opinions in the future right and i i i was one that hey yeah i okay
13:36i had an
13:37achilles injury i had a dislocated ankle broken bones broken hands torn muscles and if if i could
13:44have taken a wheelchair to work and they would have said yeah we'll give you this money for another year
13:49i would have done it and i'm not but i'm not but i'm not i'm also not saying hey i'm
13:55mad at frank
13:55for not doing it it's it's he made his own decision and like tj said i can't believe he said
14:00hey the way
14:01you got to exit every player knows if you're going to if you want to keep all your money or
14:07at least
14:07not put any of it at risk that you got to force the team to release you somehow and maybe
14:12there's
14:12just a conversation that he needed to have with them and says hey i i i can't do this anymore
14:18i can't actually help you win then that's a conversation that the team has to have with him
14:25tj did say it is what it is i never said i agreed with it it's just the way it
14:29is right
14:32but the idea of like well john has the perspective because you play you have your experience but there
14:37are other people who played that have their own issue who have an issue with this so it's not as
14:41black and white as like no yeah i'm not i'm not that's not what i'm saying i'm just saying
14:45my own personal opinion is shaped by my wants needs desire in my history and when you're looking at
14:54the the modern contracts it is not the only guaranteed money that these players get
15:02we got people on hold we are late this is a good conversation we'll get heather's news in the mix
15:06coming up at 7 41 then we're into red wing hockey and i i know it sounds like a threat
15:11but we're giving
15:11away hockey tickets red wing tickets in the eight o'clock hour it's 97 1
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