John Thornton interview

[Dback Jon]

Former Titan John Thornton was on the local sports radio show talking about his signing with Cincy.
Thornton said going into FA, his first choice was ARIZONA - his wife really wanted to move out west.
He said the Bengals were the first to contact him (first day of Free Agency), and were the first to bring him in for a visit.
He said by the time he visited Arizona he was so sick of traveling around, visiting teams, going through the same junk that he told his agent to get a deal done right away, and since he had an offer from Cincy, that deal got done first.
I got the impression that if the Cards had offered him a contract then and there, he would have signed in Arizona.

 

[pinnacle]

this is surprising..thanks for the info..maybe we should only recruit married guys

 

[JeffGollin]

Think about it for a second. Dude visits AZ and considers us his first choice. Another team submits an offer in within an hour or two after his visit to AZ. But instead of giving the team he really wants at least the overnight period to put together an offer, he signs with the Bengs anyway.

Something doesn't square. Either the guy's head isn't screwed on right or he's full of bleep.

 

[Dback Jon]

Originally posted by JeffGollin
Think about it for a second. Dude visits AZ and considers us his first choice. Another team submits an offer in within an hour or two after his visit to AZ. But instead of giving the team he really wants at least the overnight period to put together an offer, he signs with the Bengs anyway.

Something doesn't square. Either the guy's head isn't screwed on right or he's full of bleep.

To me it sounded more like the Bengals were aggressive in pursuing this guy, and the Cards weren't. The Bengals got him in first, and had an offer on the table well BEFORE he even visited Arizona. By the time the Cards scheduled a visit with him, he had already been to 3-4 other teams, and was ready to get it over with. The Cards apparently didn't make him an offer right there, and so Thornton called his agent and told him to get a deal done ASAP.