The National Football League said Tuesday the Bears operated within league rules when they opened contract talks with draft choice Mark Carrier before Sunday`s draft.
Because Carrier did not sign the contract until the Bears picked him on the sixth spot, there was no violation of policy.
”They could have selected anyone. Nothing prevented them from drafting someone else,” said Joe Browne, NFL vice president of communications.
Browne said no other clubs have protested the manuever. The NFL Players Association criticized it because of its potential to limit first-round prices.
”We tried to be careful because we knew this would not be popular with a bunch of agents,” Bears president Michael McCaskey said. ”I just signed a check with seven digits. If that`s price-fixing, I`m amazed.”
Carrier got a signing bonus of $1.5 million. His five-year contract totals $3.65 million, a slight increase over the price paid for last year`s No. 6 pick in the draft, Tampa Bay`s Broderick Thomas. But the price doesn`t reflect the 37 percent increase for first-round salaries between 1988 and `89.