The Cut

After only his second year with the New York Giants, T. J. Brookman has become the best tight end in professional football. His stats are nothing short of amazing---and what's even more amazing is that he was only a sixth-round pick in the first place. With one season remaining on his rookie contract, his agent, Barry Sturtz, wants to renegotiate and get a more lucrative deal---a common practice among players who have exceeded expectations.
But the Giants refuse. They want Brookman to play through his last year, "then" they'll talk about a new contract. Sturtz, however, doesn't trust them. He wants the deal now--and if he doesn't get it, he's going to instruct T.J. to boycott the team's upcoming training camp. Head coach Alan Gray doesn't flinch at the threat--if T.J. doesn't show, he says, they'll simply bench him. Sturtz thinks it's a bluff---the Giants have had problems with offensive production, and T.J. is their only bright spot. But Gray insists he's serious.
No one is more stunned by this development than offensive coordinator Dale Greenwood. Having struggled in polite subordination under Gray's megalomaniacal leadership, the talented Greenwood is concerned that he will now lose his most productive receiver. He suspects Gray's true motivation is that he simply doesn't want to spend the money on a tight end---Gray is a defensive-minded coach with little interest in the offensive side of the ball.
What Gray really wants is for everything to stay just the way it is. And to create the necessary leverage, he orders Greenwood to bring in three "camp bodies"---decoys, essentially---to compete for T.J.'s job. Greenwood has no choice but to comply, and he assembles a trio ofunsigned players from the bottomless pool of league wannabes.
What no one anticipates, however, is that these three recruits have more drive and talent than anyone expected. Delighted, Gray believes Sturtz will soon be at his mercy. But neither Sturtz nor any the three hopefuls are willing to be a part of Alan Gray's plan. Many variables are in play here, both on and off the field. And as any student of the game knows, there are more losers than winners on the last day of preseason---a day known as the Cut. "One of the hardest parts about covering the NFL is getting inside the real nitty-gritty stories of today--holdouts, players reaching the end of the line, how family issues impact play on the field. Wil Mara has done a terrific and insightful job in "The Cut "of taking you inside what really happens in the seamy side of modern pro football."
-- Peter King, Senior Writer, "Sports Illustrated"
""The Cut" is like a summer raft trip that takes you deep inside the holdout of an NFL star, and shows you the waves its causes in the locker room and the front office. Wil Mara does a great job of going inside an NFL issue, giving the reader the true-life experience of what happens on a team. It's fiction meeting reality in an entertaining fashion."
---John Clayton, ESPN's NFL analyst and senior writer
"Mara's writing, with its vivid description and painstaking attention to detail, has the effect of a video camera and microphone following every step of every person in the high-stakes world of professional football---players, coaches, general managers, and agents. It's fiction, but it has a 'real' feel. I often had the sense that I was hearing many of the conversations that go onbetween the sound bites. The depth of Mara's knowledge of the game, on and off the field, comes through loud and clear on every page."
---Vic Carucci, national editor of NFL.com and former president of the Professional Football Writers of America
"When you dive into "The Cut," Wil takes you places inside the NFL that very few really can. His research and relationships around the league put you behind the closed doors of the coach's office. This one's a must-read for any serious fan."
--Pat Kirwan, NFL.com senior analyst and co-host of "Movin' the Chains" on NFL Network / Sirius Satellite Radio