There’s a reason Chris Cooley was so popular in Washington, and why his comeback triggered a media tour.
Upon his return, Cooley said, among other things, that he tried to get the Redskins to add a special incentive into his contract when he signed to replace the injured Fred Davis.
“Literally, I have text correspondence trying to negotiate a case of beer into my contract,” Cooley told the Sports Junkies on 106.7 FM (via Sarah Kogod of the DC Sports Bog). “They wouldn’t do it. I wanted it in writing so much.”
Whether a “Likely to be consumed” clause would have impacted the Redskins’ salary cap is unclear. We’re trying to get to the bottom of that now.
Cooley also got a laugh out of initial reports that said he’d sign, pending a physical.
“I’ve had so many people text, ‘How’d the physical go?’” he said. “Literally, you go into the training room, and the doctor’s like ‘How are you feeling, man? Good? Good. Okay, you passed.’
“I think it might be different if I went to another team, or somewhere where they don’t know me. The doctor that did it is the doctor that did my knee surgery before. . . . I mean, he knows me. So it’s not up in the air. I’m healthy. My knees not swollen; I’m not overweight. I’m sure if I was a fat slob when I walked in there yesterday, someone would be like, ‘Hey, let’s run a little bit.’ But I’m in good shape right now.”
Of course, if he had gotten what he wanted in the negotiation, it might have been another story.