Chargers, Phillips Still in Standoff Over a Contract : NFL:Team not really sure it wants him back. Player isn’t ready to say he wants to be back with the team.

SAN DIEGO — Unsigned nose tackle Joe Phillips, who has declined comment for the past two months, said Friday, “I desperately want to play.”

However, he still refused to say if he wants to play football for the Chargers. The Chargers aren’t so sure they want him back.

“We don’t want him in here right now,” General Manager Bobby Beathard said. “We’re getting ready for Kansas City and we’re tired of thinking about Joe Phillips.

“We will meet as a staff Monday and see what people think: Will he help us or hurt us? I’ve heard from his people that he has lost his aggressiveness and doesn’t want to play football here. They indicated that he did not have a very good season last year. So what kind of player would we get?”

Phillips said he is “busting a gut” to speak out, but his agent, John Adler, has advised him to avoid reporters. When asked if he has changed his mind and decided to play for the Chargers, Phillips said, “I’ll cover that later. Let’s see how everything pans out over the course of the day.”

At day’s end, however, Beathard said nothing had changed. He said the club’s offer was withdrawn and that there was no pressing desire to resolve the conflict.

“I’m really upset because we have the team to think about, not Joe Phillips,” Beathard said. “They sent us a new contract demand and it was out of line. Nothing has changed.”

Beathard also took issue with a published report that said Phillips had notified the team that he wished to play for the Chargers this season.

“I was never notified,” Beathard said. “In fact I was told the opposite. I was told that if we didn’t accept those numbers (in Phillips’ proposal) he would not even consider coming back.

“This is no different than what has happened before. He would come here, sure, but on his terms. And we’re not willing to do that.”

Beathard said nothing will happen before Monday’s meeting with his staff when it’s decided if there is interest in employing Phillips this season.

“That’s essentially what they are telling me, too,” Adler said.

Adler, asked if he was surprised by the Chargers’ response, said, “That they would cut off their nose to spite their face? No.”

Adler said he did not notify the team that Phillips had changed his mind and decided to play for the Chargers this season, but he said it was implied in a recent fax, which included salary demands.

“We indicated what it would take for Joe to be motivated and determined to play for the Chargers,” Adler said.

Beathard immediately rejected it.

“(A trade) wasn’t going to happen,” said Adler. “They were not going to do it. If a team won’t trade you, you only have one option.”

Adler has been saying for the past month that Phillips would never again play for the Chargers. He said Phillips would rather sit out than sign and play in San Diego. He said Phillips was adamant. Those pronouncements apparently no longer apply.

“At this point he would prefer not to (sit out),” Adler said. “He’ll fight not to (sit out).”

Adler declined to say how Phillips might “fight” to play this season.

The Chargers offered Phillips $650,000 this summer, but Phillips’ agent continued to call for a trade. Beathard said the Chargers lowered that offer to $550,000 recently.

Phillips earned a base salary of $485,000 last season, and Adler said he received an additional $20,000 bonus for making the roster, a $30,000 bonus for working out in the off-season and an additional $80,000 attached to the back end of the contract in incentives.

Beathard said the Chargers also provided Phillips with an additional $75,000 in compensation for the time he missed after suffering severe injuries in a beating outside a local restaurant.

“All the numbers we have proposed are off the table,” Beathard said. “I put that in writing to them. There is no offer out there.”

Beathard said that Phillips’ agent simply hasn’t gotten the message. He said Adler asked that Phillips be traded, and now when the season is set to begin, he has persisted in making an outlandish contract proposal.

Adler may have misjudged Beathard’s resolve, and now Beathard has indicated that the team’s reduced offer of $550,000 probably will be reduced again if it’s decided to pursue him.

“I think this whole thing has been about money,” Beathard said. “They made a decision and a way to handle to this situation and it seems like it has come out wrong and now they’re worried that they’ve gotten themselves into a situation they can’t handle.”