Horn gets six-year extension
Pro Bowl wide receiver to sign estimated $42 million deal today
Friday, May 06, 2005
By Mike Triplett
Staff writer
Receiver Joe Horn will sign a long-anticipated six-year contract extension with the Saints today -- an estimated six-year, $42 million deal that will make him one of the NFL's highest-paid receivers.
The Saints will formally announce the deal today and make Horn available to the media at the team's training facility.
Horn, 33, said Thursday night that he would reserve his comments until today.
The Saints also wanted to wait until the contract was signed to announce the details. Horn's agent, Ralph Vitolo, would not release specifics but said Thursday that the deal was similar to what has been reported this month: a six-year extension totaling around $42 million with a $7 million signing bonus.
In five years with the Saints, Horn has caught 437 passes for 6,289 yards and 45 touchdowns, and was selected for four Pro Bowls.
Horn, a nine-year veteran who began his career in Kansas City, had said it was important for him to remain in New Orleans, where he became a full-time starter for the first time after signing as a free agent in 2000.
Horn had one year remaining on his previous three-year, $13 million contract.
NOTE: Saints will have a rookie mini camp Saturday and Sunday at the team's facility on Airline Drive.
FIELDS OUT FOR SEASON: Mark Fields was a pallbearer at Sam Mills' funeral, a difficult job for a man all too aware of his own mortality.
Even though his Hodgkin's disease was in remission and the former Saints linebacker had emerged from his treatments to post a Pro Bowl season for the Carolina Panthers last year, Fields knew his cancer could come back at any time.
He learned Thursday it was back, in its early stages, and announced through his agent that he'll miss all of the 2005 season.
"Mark is obviously disappointed that he will be unable to play next year, but he has every confidence that this course of chemotherapy will be successful," agent Jim Steiner said. "Mark would like everyone to know that he considers this 'blip' in his recovery a minor setback and that his expectations are to return to the field for the 2006 season."
Fields and Mills, his position coach, spent all of 2003 battling cancer together. They were diagnosed within two weeks of each other before the start of the season, and bonded together to discuss treatment options while supporting each other through grueling rounds of chemotherapy.
Fields came back in 2004 and earned his second career appearance in the Pro Bowl after posting 60 tackles, four sacks, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery and one interception.
Fields' illness will undoubtedly be difficult for the Panthers, particularly the linebackers who were all close to Mills and viewed Fields as their leader.
Mills died three weeks ago after his two-year battle with intestinal cancer, and linebackers Dan Morgan and Will Witherspoon joined Fields as pallbearers. All three were visibly shaken at the funeral.
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Mike Triplett can be reached at
[email protected] or at (504) 826-3381. The Associated Press contributed to this story.
