Today marks the first day of practice. As we discussed earlier in the week, one of the more important positional battles will be at WR. Rookies Santonio Holmes and Willie Reed have both signed and are ready to go. Reid received a signing bonus of $453,100 on a three-year deal. He'll make annual salaries of $275,000, $360,000 and $445,000. This is obviously lots of money, but it's got to be WAY less than what Holmes will be receiving (the terms are still undisclosed I believe).
I'm wondering if there will be any animosity between the rookies coming in together. I'm sure Reid's a competitive guy and doesn't think there's too much of a talent gap, if any, between him and Holmes. Their contracts suggest otherwise.
Reid also had one quote I thought was mildly amusing. It seems he thought training camp was going to be a cushy experience. He said:
"It was kind of mixed feelings when I first saw it, different from what I expected," Reid said. "But it seems like a real nice place. It's in the middle of nowhere, it looks like, but it's somewhere to have a good camp." I wonder what he was expecting? Did he never watch SportsCenter and catch a Sal Palantonio camp 'report'?I hope both are ready to push each other in the coming weeks. I have no doubt Cowher & Co. will have everybody working hard, but it'd be nice to have some internal competition within the team creating additional intensity and focus.