The Blind Side, Evolution of a Game
In the midst of this upheaval, the only free agent A-list left tackle, Will Wolford of the Buffalo Bills, announced his new deal: he’d be leaving the Bills for the Indianapolis Colts, who had agreed to pay him $7.65 million over three years. That was more than any lineman had ever been paid, of course, but the money wasn’t what was most astonishing. Wolford’s agent, Ralph Cindrich, later said that at least four other teams had been willing to match the Colts’ offer. What had set the Colts apart from the other bidders was a clause they agreed to insert into Wolford’s new contract. It guaranteed that Will Wolford, left tackle, would remain the highest paid player on the Colts’ offense for as long as he played on it. Better paid than the Colts’ running backs, the Colts’ wide receivers, or any of the other acknowledged stars. Even if the Colts went out and got themselves the NFL’s most expensive quarterback, Wolford’s salary would rise to eclipse his, too. “I thought linemen would get a little more money from free agency,” said Wolford later. “But I didn’t think that would happen. I was numb.”
He wasn’t the only one. The Bills were furious: how could any lineman demand a clause that guaranteed him he would be paid more than star quarterback Jim Kelly, or star running back Thurman Thomas? The NFL didn’t like the idea of any player having a clause in his contract guaranteeing him more money than his teammates, and it made noises about voiding the deal. That’s when Ralph Cindrich went on the warpath. He asked, pointedly, if the league would have the same reservations if the clause had been in some quarterback’s contract. He accused the league, in the pages of the New York Times, of “discrimination against offensive linemen.” And the NFL let the deal slide, but only after saying no such deal would be permitted in the future. “There’s a mentality about linemen that goes back to high school,” said Cindrich. “When you picked your football team, these were the last guys picked.”
There wasn’t a left tackle in the game who imagined himself to be as valuable as the star running back, much less the quarterback. How could this happen? How could the 
people paying these vast sums assign a value to a player that he wouldn’t dare assign to himself? How could they justify it, when the left tackle had no statistics to measure his value – no “production”? Bill Polian was the general manager of the Bills in 1986, when the team used its first-round pick to take Will Wolford of Vanderbilt University. When Wolford jumped to the Colts, Polian was working in the league office and found himself embroiled in the discussions over the disturbing new contract. Then in 1997 he left – to become the GM of the Colts. “You want to know why this organization gave Will that contract?” he asked. “He got it for the simple reason that he shut down Lawrence Taylor in the Super Bowl.”
people paying these vast sums assign a value to a player that he wouldn’t dare assign to himself? How could they justify it, when the left tackle had no statistics to measure his value – no “production”? Bill Polian was the general manager of the Bills in 1986, when the team used its first-round pick to take Will Wolford of Vanderbilt University. When Wolford jumped to the Colts, Polian was working in the league office and found himself embroiled in the discussions over the disturbing new contract. Then in 1997 he left – to become the GM of the Colts. “You want to know why this organization gave Will that contract?” he asked. “He got it for the simple reason that he shut down Lawrence Taylor in the Super Bowl.”
• Former NFL Player
