John Smallwood: Sheppard's defense of Rosenhaus a slap at Brown
I'LL TAKE Lito Sheppard at his word when he says he did not know ahead of time the tack his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, would take in his battle with Eagles management.
But by yesterday, Sheppard was well aware that Rosenhaus had disseminated a video last week in which he said his client has to "deal with the disappointment" that Sheldon Brown is starting.
It was a not-so-subtle inference by Rosenhaus that Brown isn't the cornerback that Sheppard is and doesn't deserve to start ahead of him. That is an unwritten rule that players know should not be crossed. You can demand a trade. You can threaten to hold out. You can make your dispute with management as contentious as you want.
But you don't involve your teammates. You don't let your agent belittle one of your teammates, and in this case, one of your friends, in an effort to promote your own cause.
Sheppard might not have known that Rosenhaus was going to do that ahead of time, but yesterday he certainly knew what happened. He clearly did not care.
"I ain't got no problem with nothing [Rosenhaus] does," Sheppard said when ask directly if he thought his agent had overstepped his bounds.
At another point, Sheppard said: "I back Drew, whatever he does and however he does it. Otherwise I wouldn't have hired him."
Sheppard only cares about one thing, and it's not Brown or the Eagles. His locker stall is right next to Brown's. He was there at various points when Brown was put in the uncomfortable position of being peppered with questions about what Rosenhaus said and whether he was angered by it.
"Hey, well, I'm upset," Sheppard said.
Again, I believe Sheppard didn't create this situation. Rosenhaus did. But a true teammate, a friend, would have told Brown: "Hey man, I'm sorry my agent got you mixed up in this. He shouldn't have went there."
Sheppard gave no indication that kind of thought had even entered his mind. Clearly, the only thing that matters to him is that Rosenhaus either gets him a better contract with the Eagles or gets him traded to a team willing to give him one.
If a teammate, friend or someone who is supposed to be both gets demeaned during the process, so be it.
"I have no control over how [Rosenhaus] forms his argument about my situation," Sheppard said. "Stats are stats. It is what it is. If it takes him to say stuff like that, then obviously, he feels like it's a point to be made.
"As far as me, I'm never going to talk bad about somebody else, especially on my team, to try to uplift myself. I'm not that kind of guy."
Apparently, however, Sheppard is the kind of guy who will let his agent, the guy who is employed by him and not the other way around, trash a teammate and file it away as him just doing "his job."
Conceptually, I have no problem with Sheppard feeling as if he is underpaid and being upset about it. I have no problem with him hiring a shark agent like Rosenhaus to promote his cause. Like him or loathe him, Rosenhaus has a reputation for getting things done for his clients.
But Sheppard was here in 2005 when "Hurricane Drew" raged through the NovaCare Complex and helped destroy the Eagles' season in the service of disgruntled wide receiver Terrell Owens.
Sheppard didn't personally drag Brown into the maelstrom the way Owens did with quarterback Donovan McNabb, but he saw how that situation ripped a team coming off a Super Bowl appearance to its core.
That Sheppard would excuse what Rosenhaus did to Brown as just being part of business shows he has little concern about his teammates or how this team performs this season.
I am in no way saying that Sheppard will dog it when he takes the field. In fact, I would say that it will be the exact opposite because Sheppard has a bur up his rear and will be out to prove how good he is.
Not that management deserves it, because this situation should have been resolved long ago, but the Eagles actually would benefit from Sheppard auditioning for another team to make a play for him.
Sheppard, however, will be doing whatever he does exclusively for himself.
"If it does, it does," Sheppard said when asked if his situation could hurt the team the way Owens' did. "If it don't, it don't. I'm just playing football and doing my best and letting everything else take care of itself."
It doesn't matter who gets stepped on during the process. *
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