Contract Dispute (1980)
During training camp in July 1980, Riggins requested to renegotiate his $300,000-a-year contract and the Redskins refused. He then chose to leave camp and the Redskins placed him on the left camp-retired list, a move that made him ineligible to play for any other team in the league. He sat out the 1980 season and didn't rejoin the Redskins until 1981, when new Washington head coach Joe Gibbs traveled to Kansas to make a peace offering.
"He had a camouflage outfit on", Gibbs recalled.
| “ | He had been hunting, him and a buddy. He had a beer can in his hand. It was 10 o'clock in the morning and he's meeting his coach for the first time and I'm thinking, 'This guy really impresses me.' But I went in there, and halfway through the conversation he says, 'You need to get me back there. I'll make you famous.
I thought to myself, 'Oh, my God, he's an egomaniac.' I thought, 'I'll get him back and then I'll trade him. I'm not putting up with a fruitcake.' So I fly back to Washington, and two days later he calls me. He says, 'Joe, I made up my mind, and I'm going to play next season.' I thought it was great. I've got him back, and I'll trade that sucker. But then he says, 'There's only one thing I want in my contract.' I ask what it was. He says, 'A no-trade clause.' |
” |
Riggins's return also came at the suggestion of Ed Garvey, who was the executive director of the NFL Players Association.
Eleven months after he left, Riggins returned to training camp in 1981 with a new contract, telling the media "I'm bored, I'm broke, and I'm back."
Read more about this topic: John Riggins
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