Raiders owner Al Davis is continuing his tweaking of the team's front office with former Raiders players by luring Lions president/CEO Matt Millen from Motown. Millen will replace Bruce Allen, who left Oakland for the Buccaneers after the 2003 season.
Although the Lions have continued to upgrade the roster in the 2004 offseason, Millen's position hardly has been secure. He was hired by the Lions prior to the 2001 season, and the team has been horrendous in his three seasons at the helm. Millen also has been a source of controversy, drawing a six-figure fine for violating the minority hiring guidelines in early 2003 and for calling Chiefs receiver Johnnie Morton a "faggot" after the regular-season meeting between Detroit and K.C.
Technically, it's not a termination, but a "mutual decision" by Millen and the Lions to part ways.
"I'm a Raider," Millen said. "Once a Raider, always a Raider. Mr. Ford understands that, and to his credit he didn't stand in my way."
Then again, Millen's departure allows the Lions to avoid paying Millen his overblown salary in 2004 and 2005, the final two seasons of a five-year, $20 million deal. Millen declined to address his deal with the Raiders, which is believed to be a three-year package.
"It's less than what I made in Detroit," he said, "but it's a helluvalot more money than an overgrown cement-head reasonably can expect to make in any other line of work, that's for sure."
http://www.profootballtalk.com/rumormill.htm
04-01-2004, 11:58 PM
And then I read a little further...........April Fools. Got me.
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