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Yes, the 49ers signed a potentially decent, often-injured running back last Friday. Unfortunately for 49er fans, Hearst has been mostly potential and little performance. Hearst has amassed just 2,350 yards and only 3 rushing touchdowns in his 4-year career. One of the few times Hearst did perform was for 88 yards against San Francisco last October 20th, probably the main reason the 49ers went after him.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect to the signing is that Hearst turned down a $1.3 million offer from the Bengals and a shot at making as much as $2.5 million on the free agent market to play for the 49ers at a base salary of $200,000. It looks like, once again, the media's influence in hyping the 49ers as "the best/classiest team that treats their players the best" paid off. And to think 49er fans actually have the gall to continue claiming how tough it is for them to stay on top in the era of free agency and the salary cap when people like Hearst are willing to take a 85% pay cut for them. Even if you factor in the $600,000 signing bonus, Hearst was willing to take nearly a 40% hit simply for the privilege of playing for the 49ers.
The main reason Hearst will make so little this year is the salary cap. As usual, the 49ers structured the contract to circumvent this year's cap with a multi-year deal and a signing bonus, plus incentives. Hearst is paid little now but the contract carries the promise of millions later. According to the San Jose Mercury, "He could earn $2 million in 1998."
Note that key word: "could." With the 49ers, it's never a sure thing.
The real question will be whether Hearst's agent was worth his salt or did he allow Hearst to get snookered like Tommy Vardell? If you recall, Vardell thought he, too, would do the 49ers a favor by playing for the peanuts in his first year of service and then get repaid with a million dollar contract in return the following year. What a laugh! The 49ers promptly thanked Vardell for his sacrifice by cutting him. As of now, we have no information what Hearst was guaranteed; odds are, he, too, will probably get his $200,000 salary, signing bonus, and his walking papers next year. But naturally the 49ers treat their players better than any other NFL team, right?
Dwight Clark hinted that this was probably the case, "(Hearst) is taking less money -- I know that for a fact -- and that's refreshing in this age of 'Show me the money.'" In other words, it's refreshing to Clark that their are still players dumb enough to allow the 49ers to get rich off of them.
The early word from 49er-fantasyland is positive; i.e., most 49er fans and their media are excited. After all, it is an improvement over last year's moves. Before the start of last season, the 49ers brought in two people that gained a combined zero yards of rushing in 1995: Johnny Johnson and Bill Walsh. It ended up that Walsh had a better chance of strapping on a helmet for a game than Johnson, but still, the running game was pathetic.
Hearst will immediately be the 49ers' number one back by virtue of his 847 yards gained for Cincinnati last season. Terry Kirby led the 49ers in rushing with a disgusting 559 yards. With the recent signing of Kevin Gogan to supposedly address the offensive line woes, the 49ers are quickly earning back the interest of all the fans they alienated with the George Seifert debacle. With all the excitement, maybe they can leap frog the Raiders and once again become the most expensive football ticket in the country!
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http://www.49erhaters.com/hearst.html -- Created: March 10,
1997
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