Cooley aiming to cash in this year

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By

Bounding up a flight of stairs yesterday afternoon following a Washington Redskins minicamp practice, tight end Chris Cooley sounded surprised at himself when asked if he has successfully separated his on-field work from his agent's contract talks with the team.

"Actually ... I think I have," he said.

Cooley couldn't be faulted for thinking about his future. He has entered a new world, one of negotiations, a likely multimillion dollar signing bonus and long-term financial security. This for a player who was a third-round pick from a non-power school (Utah State) and arrived at training camp in 2004 just hoping to play any kind of role.

In three years, Cooley has played a big role in the Redskins' offense, becoming a go-to target for each of the three quarterbacks he has played with. He has 165 catches and 19 touchdowns as a pro, which means his pay day is coming.

Cooley has an $850,000 base salary in the final season of a four-year contract, a bargain for a player of his caliber. The Redskins have engaged in discussions with his agent, Gary Wichard.

"We discussed it early in the offseason and I was very excited about it," Cooley said. "It's something you definitely play for. But it's been a slow process. I guess that's understandable. I can't think about it every day."

While some players request that negotiations end when training camp or the regular season begin, Cooley, who talks two to three times a week with Wichard and wants to be kept in the loop, didn't place a deadline on the talks.

Cooley's numbers since 2004 don't match up with franchise tight ends like Tony Gonzalez and Antonio Gates but are comparable or better than those posted by Todd Heap, Dallas Clark and Bubba Franks.

Gonzalez is the NFL's highest paid tight end (his new contract includes $17.75 million in guaranteed salary). But Cooley could be in line for the kind of deals signed by Franks (seven years, $28 million) or Gates (six years, $24 million) before the 2005 season. If he's lucky, Cooley will get a deal like Denver gave blocking tight end Daniel Graham this offseason -- five years, $30 million ($15 million guaranteed).

"It's not something I'm super involved with right now," Cooley said. "I trust my agent and it's between him and the team. Ultimately, I have to make the final decision on what happens. But as of now, it's been a slow back and forth so it hasn't been a big worry for me."