Pittsburgh Steelers, National Football League - CBS Sports.com
Bettis said he faked injury situation so Steelers wouldn't cut him
Aug. 22, 2007
CBSSports.com wire reports
PITTSBURGH -- Jerome Bettis, the No. 5 rusher in NFL history, claims in a new book that he faked a knee injury during training camp in 2000 so the Pittsburgh Steelers wouldn't cut him and install Richard Huntley as the starter
Bettis was worried offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride favored Huntley over him and the Steelers were ready to let Bettis go, partly so they wouldn't have to give him a new contract. Huntley had just signed a $4 million, three-year deal.
"Man, did I do a nice job of acting," Bettis wrote in the book, The Bus: My Life in and Out of a Helmet. "The thing is, I wasn't faking that I had an injury. I was just faking that the injury happened on that short-yardage play. I had to fool the coaches and the team's medical department into thinking the injury had occurred on that play. Otherwise, the Steelers would have had their reason to cut me and my salary."
Bettis said he faked injury situation so Steelers wouldn't cut him
Aug. 22, 2007
CBSSports.com wire reports
PITTSBURGH -- Jerome Bettis, the No. 5 rusher in NFL history, claims in a new book that he faked a knee injury during training camp in 2000 so the Pittsburgh Steelers wouldn't cut him and install Richard Huntley as the starter
Bettis was worried offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride favored Huntley over him and the Steelers were ready to let Bettis go, partly so they wouldn't have to give him a new contract. Huntley had just signed a $4 million, three-year deal.
"Man, did I do a nice job of acting," Bettis wrote in the book, The Bus: My Life in and Out of a Helmet. "The thing is, I wasn't faking that I had an injury. I was just faking that the injury happened on that short-yardage play. I had to fool the coaches and the team's medical department into thinking the injury had occurred on that play. Otherwise, the Steelers would have had their reason to cut me and my salary."