Tait Comes To Terms With K.C.

September 1, 1999 / 1:46 AM EDT / CBS/AP

First-round holdout John Tait, who stormed away last week saying he'd been cursed and badgered, has agreed to terms with the Kansas City Chiefs, his father told The Associated Press Wednesday night.

Alan Tait said from his home in Tempe, Ariz., that Tait and his agents agreed to a contract faxed to them by the Chiefs.

The 309-pound tackle from BYU, the first offensive lineman taken in this year's draft, was to be in Kansas City to look over the agreement one more time and could be on the practice field Thursday.

His agents, however, will not accompany him to Kansas City at the request of the Chiefs, Alan Tait said.

"A decision was made jointly with the Chiefs that because of the problems and all the excitement last time, it might be better to try to circumvent that this time," the elder Tait said. "So his agents stayed home."

Agent Ethan Lock accused Chiefs general manager Carl Peterson of using profanity and trying to intimidate the deeply religious, 24-year-old Mormon during negotiations last week. The talks broke down primarily over the Chiefs' insistence on a clause that would allow them to get back his signing bonus of around $4 million if he did not play out the entire length of the contract for any reason.

Tait, saying he was tired of the mistreatment, stormed out of Peterson's office and left Kansas City. Peterson later called Alan Tait and apologized for using profanity. Another rift developed when Chiefs coach Gunther Cunningham was quoted as saying that Tait, because of his inactivity, would be "like a jellyfish" and that defensive players were "drooling to take a smack at him."

No Chiefs official could be reached for comment late Wednesday but Alan Tait said the entire family was glad to be done with the episode.

"Kansas City is a good town full of good people," he said. "It's time to put all this ugliness behind us and get on with mending fences and playing football. It's a great relief to John and to us. We're just glad it's over and he can get back to doing what he does best playing football."