Players on 'cycles are risky business

Browns GM Phil Savage wonders why players take risks riding motorcycles.
BEREA (AP) -- Motorcycle accidents involving Ben Roethlisberger and Browns tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. have left Cleveland general manager Phil Savage more worried about what happens to his players off the field than on it.
"I wish all our players liked board games or low-risk hobbies," Savage said Tuesday, a day after Roethlisberger was injured in a motorcycle accident in Pittsburgh. "Unfortunately, that's part of the reason that makes these guys professional athletes. They have a little bit of an edge to want to do more, seek more. Where's the line? I don't know that."
Roethlisberger, the Steerlers' quarterback and a Findlay native who played at Miami of Ohio, was upgraded to fair condition Tuesday with a broken jaw, nose and other facial bones. He also had multiple head lacerations, suffered a mild concussion, and lost two teeth and chipped several others. He wasn't wearing a helmet, Pittsburgh police said.
Steelers coach Bill Cowher warned Roethlisberger about riding in May 2005 after Winslow flipped over the handlebars of his high-powered motorcycle while practicing stunts in a parking lot.
Winslow tore up his right knee and suffered other injuries, forcing him to miss last season. He has been rehabbing and will participate in the team's minicamp this weekend.
Here's the question
"That's probably the biggest disappointment for any team that goes through a situation like this," Savage said. "You just ask, 'Why would someone put themselves at this risk?"'
NFL teams now have less power to recoup money from players hurt in dangerous off-the-field activities under terms of the league's new collective bargaining agreement, Savage said.
The Browns could have recouped $10 million from Winslow because of language regarding off-the-field activities contained in their player contracts. But if the same situation occurred this season, the most the Browns would be able to recover is about $2 million, Savage said.
"It's quite a change in the new agreement in terms of this high-risk clause that's in the contract," Savage said.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the language has not been finalized and that the collective bargaining agreement remains under negotiation.
Also, if a player is put on injured reserve with a non-football injury or illness, he is not eligible to be paid for the time missed, Aiello said.
Withheld bonuses
The Browns withheld about $3 million in bonuses from Winslow, who can recover most of that money if he meets performance-based incentives in a new contract he negotiated with the team.
Savage said the Browns organization has tried to educate the players that they have an obligation to each other to stay accident-free off the field.
Still, he will continue to worry.
"Every day we leave here in a normal business framework," Savage said. "You wonder what's going to happen overnight."
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