Page 14 - Florida Sentinel 4-5-16 Edition

Sports
Jameis Winston Says He'd Take Pay Cut To Play With Jalen Ramsey
Seattle Seahawks, DE Chris Clemons Agree To Terms
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Win- ston revealed that he would love to play with former Florida State teammate and exciting NFL prospect Jalen Ramsey.
He would even take a pay cut to do so.
“[Florida State] definitely have the best player in the world in Jalen Ramsey,” Winston told Mark Cook of PewterReport.com. “Peo- ple talk about his position. But Jalen is the best corner- back, safety... I will take a pay cut to play with him again. He has a fierce men- tality. And the best thing about him is he is a Semi- nole! I have already shot [Bucs general manager Jason Licht] some texts.”
Winston offering high praise of Ramsey is nothing
JAMEIS WINSTON
new. He also spoke about the defensive back in glowing terms in December.
“He’s good enough that we probably won’t even get him,” Winston told Char- lie Campbell of Walter Football (via Cook). “That’s just one thing to talk about, his competitiveness, and his mentality to always want to be great. That is something that is going to take him a long way.”
Indeed, the Bucs likely won't land Ramsey unless they make a dramatic trade to move up the board. He is thought to be in considera- tion for as high as the top overall pick to the Tennessee Titans and seems like a pretty safe bet to be a top- five selection.
The Bucs, meanwhile, own the No. 9 pick. And that's well below where a player of Ramsey's talent and versa- tility is likely to be selected.
“He can do anything he wants to do really," Win- ston added. "He's so tal- ented in [so] many ways. He can be a lockdown corner for you like a Richard Sher- man, or he could be a safety- corner hybrid like Charles Woodson. This guy is very talented and has a lot of abil- ity.
Prominent NFL Agent Eugene Parker Dies At 60
EUGENE PARKER
The NFL industry lost a titan and pioneer Thursday night.
Agent Eugene Parker has died after a battle with kidney cancer. He was 60.
Parker represented the likes of Curtis Martin, Deion Sanders, Emmitt Smith and Rod Woodson during their Hall of Fame ca- reers, earning a reputation as a tough, innovative negotiator who wasn’t afraid to have his clients hold out.
More recently, Parker was partner and agent for Relativity Football, representing roughly 30 active clients including Larry Fitzgerald, Jason Pierre-Paul and three of the top seven picks in last year’s NFL Draft.
In 2005, Black Enterprise magazine named Parker one of the 50 most powerful African-Americans in sports.
“Eugene and I were more than business partners, we were brothers," vice president of Relativity Sports and agent Roosevelt Barnes said in a statement. "I I have known him since I was eight years old in Fort Wayne. Eugene was one of the smartest and most inno- vative people in the sports business. He handled every- thing with grace and humility. His imprint on the NFL and the men who played the game will be felt for many years to come. He will be profoundly missed.”
The Seattle Seahawks have agreed to terms on a new contract with veteran de- fensive end Chris Clemons, the team announced Friday.
Clemons, 34, spent the past two seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars, totaling 11 sacks. In 2015, he started seven games and had three sacks. The team released him in March.
This will be Clemons' second stint with the Sea- hawks. He had a successful run from 2010 to 2013, piling up 38 sacks during four years.
Clemons will likely back up Cliff Avril at the LEO spot, and he could get a chance to compete for snaps at right defensive end, with Bruce Irvin having signed with the Oakland Raiders.
Clemons' production de- clined significantly in 2015, but he played in every game
CHRIS CLEMONS
over the past two seasons (23 starts) and had four pass breakups, five forced fumbles and 50 tackles.
He has 69 sacks, 276 tack- les, 18 forced fumbles and seven fumble recoveries in 11 seasons with five teams.
The 34-year-old Clemons had two years re- maining on a four-year, $17.5 million contract he signed in 2014. He was due a $500,000 roster bonus March 13 and had a salary cap figure of $4 million in each of the next two seasons.
Colin Kaepernick Trade
Clippers Welcome Blake Griffin Back With Win Over Wizards
To Broncos Being
Held Up By $4.9M
Blake Griffin showed brief flashes of his old Lob City self in his return from a three-month absence. His Clippers teammates, who kept winning without him, were just glad to have their leader back.
"Just like riding a bike ex- cept it was a little rusty," Griffin said, corralling his young son Ford, who was chewing gum like his dad.
Chris Paul had 27 points and 12 rebounds and Griffin scored six points to help Los Angeles beat the Washington Wizards 114-109 Sunday and clinch home-court advantage in the playoffs.
San Francisco and Denver have the parameters of an agreement in principle on a trade for quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
But before a deal is com- pleted, the 49ers, Broncos and Kaepernick have to agree on who will pay the quarterback's $11.9 million guaranteed salary for this up- coming season, according to a source.
A high-level source says "it would take two seconds" for the teams to finalize the pro- posed deal. The compensa- tion in the trade is a nonissue, per sources famil- iar with deal. It will be a midround pick and sources from both teams said that will not be any holdup and they can "finalize it with one phone call." The Broncos are willing to pay $7 million, a source confirmed to ESPN. But Denver and Kaeper- nick would like San Fran-
COLIN KAEPERNICK
cisco to pay the remaining $4.9 million; the 49ers have been unwilling, according to a source, believing they should not have to pay for a player they'd like to keep on their roster. Kaepernick has also been unwilling to forfeit the $4.9 million to make the deal work, accord- ing to a source.
Adding to the pressure, the 49ers' offseason voluntary workout program starts Monday, and Kaepernick has a $400,000 offseason workout bonus for 90 per- cent attendance.
BLAKE GRIFFIN Griffin shot 2 of 7 and
contributed five rebounds and two assists while playing 24 minutes after missing 45 games because of quadriceps and hand injuries. The team went 30-15 and clinched a playoff spot during his ab- sence.
Scottie Pippen Says 1995-96 Bulls Would Sweep Warriors
The Golden State Warriors are closing in on the NBA record for most victories in a single season, set by the Chicago Bulls in 1995-96.
But Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen evidently doesn't think Golden State would match up well with his record-setting Chicago squad. In a recent interview, he said the 1995-96 Bulls would sweep the Warriors in a hypo- thetical series between the teams.
"Bulls in four [games]," Pippen said during an inter- view at an AT&T event in Houston.
Pippen was then offered a chance to clarify his predic- tion and was asked whether he thought the Bulls would have an off-night against Golden State.
SCOTTIE PIPPEN
"I don't think we'd take a night off," he said.
Pippen predicted that he would draw the assignment of guarding league MVP Stephen Curry, while Michael Jordan would guard Klay Thompson.
"I think that my size and length would bother [Curry] a little bit," said Pippen, who declared that he could limit Curry to fewer than 20 points.
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