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Today it was announced Cullen Bryant, the man who took Pete Rozelle and the NFL to court, and beat them, passed away this week.
Per The Detroit News:
Cullen Bryant, who spent 11 seasons with the Los Angeles Rams, was a running back on their 1980 Super Bowl team and fought the NFL's trading rules rather than go to Detroit, has died. He was 58.
Unknown to his family, Bryant had been under a doctor's care when he died Tuesday at his home in Colorado Springs, Colo., said his sister-in-law, Wanda E. Bryant. She did not supply other details.
Bryant should be remembered for being one of the men who changed sports, be it for better or worse, by changing the rules of free agency. Obviously better for the players, who were all but considered indentured servants to the NFL owners.
The teams should have been reversed in this pic of Bryant...
The 70's were a time of huge upheaval in sports, and Bryant was at the forefront.
Why?
Essentially...because he didn't want to play for the Detroit Lions.
Figures, doesn't it?
Back in the 70's, the Detroit Lions had a reputation not much better than they do today. They usually finished under .500, and were run by a William Clay Ford lackey, GM Russ Thomas. (the only GM ever worse than Thomas was Matt Millen, which should tell you how hard it was to be a fan of this godforsaken team) It's fair to say the Lions weren't a very good organization, poorly run, and worst of all, in the eyes of NFL players, cheap.The Lions were a penny pinching organization, to the point of absurdity, to the consternation of fans and players alike.
Player holdouts were common for the Lions in those days, as Thomas was more concerned for the team's bottom line than putting a competitive product out on the field. I still have a fear to this day over draft picks not reporting to camp, as it was a yearly occurrence while Thomas was running the Lions into the ground.
1975 was the early days of NFL free agency. Lions WR Ron Jessie, who had a career year in '74, signed a free agent deal with the LA Rams. At the time, the NFL had the "Rozelle Rule" in regard to free agents. If a team signed a player, they were required to send the team whom lost the player one in return. If an agreement couldn't be reached between the teams, the commissioner, the all powerful Pete Rozelle, would make the decision for them, and give the team losing the free agent a "comparable player."
Rozelle often punished teams for participating in free agnecy by giving painful amounts of restitiution.
In the case of Jessie, an agreement couldn't be reached. Which is not surprising, as we're talking Thomas, who was a hard liner in any negotiation. (I think Thomas actually took pleasure in being a hard ass) Thus, Rozelle declared the Lions would receive the Rams' highly thought of young RB, Cullen Bryant. As you might guess, the Lions and their fans were thrilled. But the Rams and Bryant? Not so much. Obviously, LA wouldn't have signed Jessie if they though Bryant would have been lost.
Bryant was like any NFL player at the time. No one wanted to play for Detroit unless they were forced. The 2nd year back refused to report to the Lions, and took the NFL to court.
When it looked to the NFL Bryant was going to win, they caved. Bryant was allowed to stay with the Rams, as was Jessie.The Lions received the Rams' 1st round pick in 1976 instead. (they ended up flipping the 1st round pick to the Bears, who turned out to be OT Dennis Lick, for Chicago's 1st and 3rd, who were a couple of names old school fans would remember, DB James Hunter and OL Russ Bollinger)
Bryant ended up having a good, long NFL career, spending the majority of it with the Rams, who were one of the elite teams of the 70's. The Lions...were still the Lions.
Prodded by the Bryant decision, free agency was changed forever. By 1977, the Rozelle Rule was all but dead, and free agency rules were relaxed...leading to the free for all you see today.
All thanks to the Detroit Lions and Russ Thomas.
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Pretty wild that the Lions have been "the Lions" for as long as they have. Logic would state that due to the law of averages the team would have enjoyed some sort of success over the course of 50 years, but the franchise defies 'logic'. The only constant denominator: the senile Old Man.