1985 Bears Coverage: NFL salary system like `slavery,' says Dent

Every day of the 2015 Chicago Bears season, Chicago Sun-Times Sports will revisit its coverage 30 years ago during the 1985 Bears’ run to a Super Bowl title.

NFL salary system like `slavery:’ Dent

Brian Hewitt

Originally published Jan. 30, 1986

Super Bowl MVP Richard Dent compares the NFL’s compensation system to “slavery.”

And, he says, he’s willing to wait until the system changes before he plays football again.

“That’s what this country is all about,” Dent said. “It’s the land of the free and opportunity. But the NFL’s not that way. It’s pretty much like slavery – if you don’t work for me, you don’t work at all.”

Defensive end Dent is preparing for Sunday’s NFC-AFC Pro Bowl game at Aloha Stadium. He is unhappy with ongoing contract negotiations between his agent and the Bears. He says the Pro Bowl may be his last game until 1987, when he expects the next player-management contract to provide for free agency.

“If the Bears don’t want me, I’ll just play someplace else,” he said. “I think any team in this country right now would be glad to have me if the Bears don’t. I’m sure the Bears could work something out. I don’t think there’s any dirt on me.”

Dent led the NFL in quarterback sacks this year with 17. But contract negotiations with the Bears have been at an impasse all season. Dent’s base salary in 1985 was $90,000.

Next season will be the option year of his contract, which means the Bears could force him to play for a 10 percent increase to $99,000 if they choose. Dent says he won’t play under those terms.

Bears general manager Jerry Vainisi says the team’s latest offer to Dent is for three years at an average base salary of $390,000 per year. “With the incentives, that can easily go to $400,000 to $500,000 a year,” Vainisi said.

But Dent, who also led the NFC in sacks last year, wants a contract comparable to the top defensive linemen in the league. Those linemen include Raider Howie Long, Jets Joe Klecko and Mark Gastineau, Cowboy Randy White and Bear Dan Hampton.

Gastineau, the NFL’s sack leader in 1984, earned a base salary of $625,000 in 1985 plus reporting and roster bonuses totaling $70,000. Long earned an estimated $800,000 this season, Klecko $695,000. White’s base salary was $400,000, but the Cowboys reportedly have cut him into a lucrative real estate deal.

Hampton’s 1985 base salary was $325,000. But the Bears re-signed him during the season to a new four-year, $2.7 million contract that begins in 1986.

“If the Bears want to continue to offer what they’re offering, I’m not planning on taking it,” Dent said. “Not this year, not next year and at no time soon.”

Vainisi conceded Dent’s postseason performance hasn’t hurt Dent’s position. “I guess it strengthens it,” Vainisi said.

Besides his Super Bowl MVP performance, Dent sacked Giants quarterback Phil Simms 3 1/2 times in the Bears’ first playoff victory. In Game 2 against the Rams, he stripped Los Angeles quarterback Dieter Brock of the ball. Wilber Marshall recovered and raced to a touchdown.

“Richard’s year was really good except for the early part,” Vainisi said. “I’ll do everything possible to sign him for next year. But I thought I already had.”

Vainisi has been frustrated with the changing tactics of Dent’s agent, Everett Glenn. “Hopefully,” Vainisi said, “everybody can act prudently and reasonably and get it done.”

Meanwhile, Dent will continue to fume. “It’s not my cash,” he said. “I can’t dictate what the Bear organization’s going to do. The rest of the players around the league treat me like I’m the best. But if the Bears don’t treat me that way, why should I continue working for them?”