|
Summarized by Kent Larsen
Steve Young's Status Still Uncertain
San Francisco Examiner 1May00 S2
By Bruce Adams: Examiner Staff
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA -- 49er football star Steve Young had been
told that he wasn't needed at 49ers minicamp this past weekend, but
he appeared on Sunday anyway, in a gesture that makes it clear he
still thinks he is on the team. Young, who missed the last 13 games
of last season following a concussion, was on the field greeting
teammates and visiting with coaches, but didn't actually take part in
the practice. He was scheduled to talk with coach Steve Mariucci
following the practice.
The 49ers General Manager Bill Walsh hasn't told Young that he can't
return, but he has repeatedly hinted that life would be simpler if
they didn't have the 38-year-old quarterback and 37-year-old star
receiver Jerry Rice. The 49ers are facing difficulty staying under
the NFL's salary cap, and getting rid of the high salaries of the
veteran players, who are near the end of their careers by all
accounts, would relieve the problem.
"Obviously Bill has postured a lot in the spring -- without any input
from me," Young said, adding, "I probably made a mistake in not
conversing with him earlier." But he thinks things will somehow work
out, "What I have is a sense we're going to be able to talk it out."
Young also told the press that the hurdle is high for the 49ers to
keep him and Rice, "Bill doesn't want to have Jerry and I flopping
around the last few years of our careers. That's an important part of
it. That's something I'd have to answer with him."
Meanwhile, the press in Colorado are still hoping that Young could be
picked up by the Broncos if he is released by the 49ers. They hope
that the 49ers physicians won't give Young a clean bill of health,
leading the team to release him, effective June 1st. But Young
laughed off the rumor, as well as one that he may become a television
commentator for Monday Night Football. "I catch wind of it every once
in a while," he said of the rumors.
But Young does say that he still loves the game, "The juices flow,"
he said. "It's a complex issue, being older and the team is in a
place it hasn't been before."
|
