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| Wednesday, November 17 | ||||||||||||
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Suspended running back Lawrence Phillips remained with the San Francisco 49ers on Tuesday as the team tried to determine how cutting him will affect the salary cap.
Mariucci said the team was having talks with the NFL's management council to help decide the best time to release Phillips, given salary cap ramifications. If Phillips is released and signed by another team, the $212,500 half of his bonus to be counted against next year's cap figure would be counted this year, taking up nearly all available room the team has under the cap at present. Phillips was suspended because of his refusal to take part in practice and his general loss of interest once he lost playing time to Charlie Garner. Mariucci said there were no incidents of social misconduct off the field. "I believe he became very frustrated and disenchanted with his role here," Mariucci said. "He began to find reasons and ways why he shouldn't practice." Mariucci said Phillips took part in special-teams practice last week but declined to work with the offense. "It got to a point where we were unable to work together," Mariucci said. Phillips could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but he released a statement to the media."The turn of events since practice on Friday, November, 12, 1999 has surprised me. I have tried to play and succeed at whatever role asked of me by the organization, hoping that my hard work each week would increase my role," Phillips said in the statement. "I share the level of frustration experienced by my teammates, our coaching staff, management and fans, as we have not played the level of football we are capable of playing. "Through all this frustration, until Friday, I have never refused to practice or questioned its need, despite nagging injuries, fully understanding that missing repetitions can decrease my role as it did during training camp. I never intended to mock coach Mariucci or disrespect the coaching staff, nor was I ever thrown or kicked off the field. I have admittingly been unhappy, as any competitive player should be. I appreciate the opportunity to play for the San Francisco 49ers." On Saturday, general manager Bill Walsh said he saw no circumstances under which Phillips, who was signed by the 49ers despite his past problems, would return to the 49ers."The key was that he refused to practice," Niners general manager Bill Walsh said. "His remark was, 'Why practice? You don't put me in anyway.' So I think Lawrence was deeply distressed over not playing as much as he expected to. There was a lot that led up to him finally saying that." Walsh, who was not at practice last Friday, said there had been a pattern of insubordinate behavior, although Phillips was not disruptive. "Really, he hasn't been difficult," Walsh said. "He hasn't been militant. He hasn't been that difficult to deal with, just in recent days and recent weeks. The lack of playing time I think has really affected him. He hasn't been able to handle a substitute kind of role and it's unfortunate." Reportedly, over the last several weeks, Phillips had ignored running back coach Tom Rathman's instructions and sometimes refused to run practice plays when directed to do so. "Tom Rathman has had to work extra hard -- as all of us have -- over a period of time with Lawrence to assimilate him into the group," Walsh said. "I think Tom has shown a lot of patience and so has Lawrence. He tried." During one stage of the team's final practice Friday, the pass protection broke down and the quarterback was sacked. A source told The Associated Press that Mariucci took the team to task, and Phillips burst out laughing. "I've been told that he laughed. I can't tell you what kind of laugh," Walsh said. Phillips failed to pick up a blitz in September, leading to a devastating hit on quarterback Steve Young that left the two-time league MVP with his fourth concussion in three years. Young hasn't played since. Mariucci called a coaches-only meeting after practice Friday, and the decision was made to suspend Phillips. At one point during the meeting, Rathman said that if Phillips came back, he would leave, according to the source. Phillips had washed out with the St. Louis Rams and the Miami Dolphins after repeated disciplinary problems and run-ins with the law. He was an NFL outcast after being released by the Dolphins last year after he was charged with hitting a woman at a Plantation, Fla., nightclub. He pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor battery charge for twice striking and threatening Michelle Black, and was sentenced earlier this year to six months probation. Still, Walsh said he would not be surprised to see Phillips with another team if the 49ers release him.
"Lawrence has indicated to a number of other of players and to other people that he did not want to play for the 49ers and was expecting to play for Buffalo in the very near future," Walsh said. "So I think that, in a sense, that Lawrence knew that there would be an incident such as this at some point." While in college at Nebraska, Phillips was arrested and charged with domestic violence for beating his ex-girlfriend and sentenced to probation. The St. Louis Rams chose Phillips as the sixth overall pick of the 1996 draft, but he was arrested three times and spent 23 days in jail during 19 months with the team. Phillips revived interest by NFL teams this past spring, when he rushed for more than 1,000 yards in NFL Europe. The 49ers, who lost star running back Garrison Hearst indefinitely because of a severe ankle injury, outbid several other NFL teams for Phillips and hoped he would fill the void left by the loss of Hearst. Before signing him, the 49ers said they interviewed Phillips repeatedly and had him talk with a counselor. While acknowledging the risk of further problems, they said he appeared to have put his troubles behind him. In the absence of Hearst, Phillips had hoped to become the 49ers' featured back. But he was slowed by a hamstring injury in training camp and another free agent, Garner, won the job. "He's accused us of lying about what he'd do," Walsh said of Phillips. "I think it's pretty evident that Charlie Garner has played especially well." Phillips has been seeing only spot duty in recent games. He has rushed 30 times for 144 yards, including a 68-yard touchdown run, the 49ers' longest rush from scrimmage this season.
"I'm not surprised, but I didn't see it coming," Walsh said.
"But I'm not surprised because Lawrence has been more and more
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