Raiders guard thinks he may be on way out
Sims was on the active roster but didn't play a down on offense vs. Bengals
By Bill Soliday
MEDIANEWS STAFF
ALAMEDA - For the first time in six weeks, Raiders guard Barry Sims was active for Sunday's game in Cincinnati.
You may have wondered why he never got to play even one offensive down. You wouldn't be alone. Barry Sims would like to know, too.
And yet, deep down, he thinks he knows. He believes his days as a Raider may be numbered and that next spring he'll be moving on. It's difficult to think otherwise, given the circumstances.
In Sunday's game, rookie Paul McQuistan was at left guard for the injured Corey Hulsey and Chad Slaughter was at left tackle for the injured Robert Gallery.
Sims, a regular at left tackle since 2001 and now in his first season as the starting left guard, was injured in the Raiders' last victory, against Pittsburgh on Oct. 29. Sims hasn't been back other than to block on special teams against Cincinnati.
Now that he says he's healthy from his abdominal strain (it has also been described as a sports hernia), why would the team hold back a player once thought to be close to Pro Bowl level?
Coach Art Shell has said he was reluctant to rush Sims back given the nature of the injury. But last week, Sims practiced all week and felt fit.
"I was ready to go," Sims said. "They wanted to see the young guy play, so ... there's not much I can do about that."
So, what gives? Why wouldn't a team that has struggled with its blocking all year want a player who, before he was injured, had started 68 straight games?
"You've been around," Sims said dryly. "You know. It's part of the business. It definitely clears things up for me about my future here."
Which is to say Sims doesn't think he has one. And it doesn't take a master sleuth to figure out why.
It's business -- or to be more specific, money. When Sims reworked his contract last season, the terms called for a base salary of $4.45 million in 2006 but only $1 million in 2007. To make up for it, the agreement called for Sims to receive a $4.533 million bonus if he was still on the roster this coming March.
All possible bonuses counted, the salary cap hit for Sims is $7.209 million this year, $7.584 million next year. Meanwhile, the estimated cost to the club by cutting him this spring is a more affordable $4 million in signing bonus acceleration.
Which amounts to virtual handwriting on the wall.
The Raiders continue to maintain that it is Sims' injury that is keeping him off the field rather than business.
Shell gave three reasons when asked why, if Sims was well enough to be on the 45-man active list against the Bengals, he wasn't fit enough to start.
The slow-to-heal nature of the injury is one, the fact Sims hadn't played in a month and a half was another, and the need to have reserve help was the third.
"Right now we need bodies," Shell said. "We have injury problems there. We needed him. He came along (health-wise) at the right time because Hulsey went down. Of the guys we have on our active roster that were available to play, he was one of those eight (designated active linemen) guys.
"More, from my standpoint, it was him not having played for a while and coming off an injury. I'm not too sure when you (should) start going. I wanted to use him as an emergency guy if we had to and also to get a look at Paul and see what he is capable of doing because he's worked very hard. And I thought he did pretty good."
Repeatedly, the coach has said his experience with similar injuries was that they were difficult to shake. Or is that a way of covering up another, more embarrassing, issue that a player is being phased out?
"Who knows, man?" Sims said. "The team never gives you a straight answer. He told me the same thing (about the difficulty of the injury)."
Asked if he expected Sims to play Sunday against St. Louis, Shell said, "I don't know, I really don't know. As time goes by, we'll see."
Asked if he thought there was any chance he might play again this year, Sims said he, too, was taking a wait-and-see approach.
"I'd like to see what happens this week," he said. "Then I can get an idea before I start spouting off. It's just disappointing not to be able to help your team out."
