Teams open their training camps on July 26th, so I thought
we’d take a look at some of the big names who might not make an appearance that
day. Why would they be absent? Well, some of these players are still trying
to reach deals with their current teams on new contracts; others are actually
on the market, waiting to be bought by new owners.
First, we’ll take a look at players who were labeled with
franchise tags by their teams this offseason; then we’ll look at the guys who
have had to update their resumes.
FRANCHISE TAG
HOLDOUTS
As we learned from my husband’s guest post, “The NFL’s March Madness,” each year
each team can choose one player that it wants to designate as its “franchise”
player. When a player has this
designation, he can’t look for a job with another team; essentially, the team
has bought itself more time to negotiate a new contract with a player it doesn’t
want to lose. It could be that the player’s
contract has expired, or will expire during the offseason, or it could be that
the player just thinks he’s become worth more money and is threatening to take
his talent elsewhere.
It is players in either of these situations who you will see
“holding out”—meaning that they won’t show up to work (i.e., to training camp,
or if the stalemate goes on long enough, regular season games) until a new deal
is made. While everyone is all smiles
and hugs when a deal is ultimately worked out, you can’t help but wonder how
much damage these protracted contract talks cause in the team-player
relationship.
One of the more infamous holdout cases in recent memory is
that of Darrell Revis (left), cornerback for the New York Jets. In the fourth year of his six-year contract,
Revis missed most of the team’s 2010 training camp and all of its preseason
games in his efforts to get a new, more lucrative contract. He finally got what he wanted and reported to
camp one week before the regular season, after seven months of bitter exchanges
between the two sides through the media—particularly through the HBO series Hard Knocks. Revis had also held out the first three weeks
of training camp before his rookie season;
oh, and even though he has been participating in offseason activities so far, he
and the Jets are still trying to work out the terms of his new contract, and he
has said that he is “undecided” over whether he will report to training camp
later this month if a deal hasn’t been reached.
Drew Brees: Quarterback, New
Orleans Saints
The biggest name among the franchise players who haven’t
inked a deal with their team is Super Bowl XLIV champ and multiple-MVP honoree Drew
Brees. Under the franchise tag rules, if
Brees doesn’t agree to terms with the Saints by July 16, he will be forced to
accept a one-year, $16.3 million deal (derived by a formula explained in John’s
post).
Drew Brees is unquestionably one of the league’s premier
quarterbacks. During his six seasons with
the Saints, he has led the league in pass completions (2,488), yards (28,394)
and touchdowns (201). His resume
includes the records he set this past season for completions, yards and
completion percentage; these feats led the Saints to an NFL-record offensive
season with 7,474 yards in 2011. I
realize this won’t generate a lot of sympathy for Drew, but his former contract
with the Saints, which expired this year and paid him $60 million over ten
years ($6 million/year average), isn’t close to being on par with contracts of
other top QBs: Tom Brady gets an average
of $18 million a year; Eli Manning $16.25 million a year; and Peyton Manning
(three years older than Brees and coming off neck surgery that kept him out for
all of 2011) is getting $19.2 million a year with the Denver Broncos.*
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| "Who dat say you can't pay me more?!?" |
Brees’ superiority is evidenced by the fact that this is his
second franchise tag; he was designated a franchise player by his first team,
the San Diego Chargers, in 2005. This
fact has earned Drew some additional leverage in his negotiations with the
Saints: on July 3rd, an arbitrator ruled
that if the Saints hit him with the franchise tag again in 2013, Brees will be
entitled to a 44% raise. This is because
of language in the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the league and the NFL
Players Association that discourages multiple franchise tags on a single player
in his career. The NFL had argued that
the policy didn’t apply to them because he had only been tagged once by them;
the arbitrator ruled that though the language in the CBA is ambiguous, its clear
intent is to prevent players from being unduly restrained in the job market. Therefore, the Saints can’t use the threat of
using the franchise tag again next year in negotiations.
Although protracted holdouts might cause resentment among
the players’ teammates, this is unlikely to be the case in New Orleans. Drew Brees is the undisputed leader and heart
of the Saints locker room; he is respected as both a player and member of the
greater New Orleans community. He could
show up thirty seconds before kickoff on opening day and he would still get
butt-slaps from his teammates and a standing ovation from the Who Dat
nation. And that certainly gives Drew
some political leverage.
If Drew decides that the headaches of negotiating a multi-year/multi-million
dollar contract are too much, though, he may have another career lined up: cabbie trivia host! Observe:
Matt Forte: Running Back,
Chicago Bears
Another holdout story that has gotten a good amount of
attention has been the one brewing in Chicago between the Bears and fourth-year
running back Matt Forte. The franchise
tag on Forte makes him worth $7.74 million, and he has not been shy about
expressing his disappointment in that number this offseason. He skipped the team’s organized team
activities (OTAs) this spring, and is considering holding out of training camp
if a deal hasn’t been reached by then.
Matt Forte was drafted by the Bears in the second round of
the 2008 draft. He became the starting
running back after the incumbent back, Cedric Benson, was released. He had a break-out rookie season, setting a
Bears record for most yards in a running back’s debut game; he also finished
third in the league in total yards from scrimmage (though he broke Hall of
Famer Gale Sayer’s team record in
that same category).
Fast-forward to today:
Forte doesn’t have as much leverage as Drew Brees, especially since he
suffered a season-ending knee injury last December. However, with a salary of only $550,000, he still
managed to earn 2011 Pro Bowl honors; plus, he was the league’s leading rusher
until that injury, making him a bargain—and he claims to be in back in
game-ready shape. Judging from the Bears’
actions in the offseason, though, they don’t seem to be buying what Matt is
selling: adding insult to injury was the
team’s signing of free agent running back Michael Bush. Does Matt have the Forte-tude (sorry) to put
his money where his mouth is (or is it the other way around) and stay at home
for training camp? Stay tuned!
Other Notable Franchise Tag Holdouts:
Ray Rice: Running Back, Baltimore Ravens (left)
Cliff Avril: Defensive End, Detroit Lions
Josh Scobee: Kicker, Jacksonville Jaguars
AVAILABLE FREE
AGENTS
You might also remember from John’s lesson on free agency
that a “free agent” is simply someone who is not currently under contract with
any team. Obviously, there are the
players coming out of college who weren’t drafted—click here and here
to learn about some of these “undrafted free agents” who ended up making it big
in the NFL. Today’s post doesn’t concern
these players, though.
Veteran free agents fall into two categories: those who were cut (read: fired) by their teams, and those who haven’t
been cut but who are shopping for either a new contract with their current clubs,
or looking for employment elsewhere. Below
is a listing, by position and with their most recent teams noted, of the bigger
names who are still navigating the waters of free agency.
Quarterbacks:
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| Mark Brunell: no spring chicken... |
Mark Brunell: New
York Jets (considering retirement)
Jake Delhomme:
Houston Texans
Dennis Dixon:
Pittsburgh Steelers
A.J. Feeley: St.
Louis Rams
J.P. Losman: Miami
Dolphins
Running Backs:
Ryan Grant (left): Green Bay
Packers (one of the bigger surprises on this list)
Cedric Benson:
Cincinnati Bengals
Kevin Faulk: New
England Patriots
Earnest Graham: Tampa
Bay Buccaneers
Thomas Jones: Kansas
City Chiefs
Chester Taylor:
Arizona Cardinals
Derrick Ward: Houston
Texans
Cadillac Williams:
St. Louis Rams
Wide Receivers:
Dwayne Bowe: Kansas
City Chiefs
Plaxico Burress: New
York Jets
Rashied Davis:
Detroit Lions
Braylon Edwards (right): cut
by the San Francisco 49ers
Anthony Gonzalez:
Indianapolis Colts
T.J. Houshmandzadeh:
Oakland Raiders
Mike Wallace:
Pittsburgh Steelers
Tight Ends:
Anthony Becht: Kansas
City Chiefs
Daniel Graham: cut by
Tennessee Titans
Visanthe Shiancoe:
Minnesota Vikings
Jeremy Shockey (left):
Carolina Panthers (reportedly considering retirement)
Offensive Linemen:
Derrick Dockery, Guard:
Dallas Cowboys
Scott Mruczkowski, Center:
San Diego Chargers
Tony Ugoh, Offensive Tackle:
New York Giants
Casey Wiegmann, Center:
Kansas City Chiefs
Defensive Linemen:
Shaun Ellis, Defensive End (below):
New England Patriots (formerly with New York Jets)
Albert Haynesworth, Defensive Tackle: cut by Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Linebackers:
Keith Brooking:
Dallas Cowboys
Joey Porter (right): Arizona
Cardinals (formerly Pittsburgh Steelers)
Cornerbacks:
Lito Sheppard:
Oakland Raiders
Byron Westbrook:
Washington Redskins
Safeties:
Bob Sanders: San
Diego Chargers
Punters:
Matt Turk: Houston
Texans (44 years old)
Kickers:
Ryan Longwell: cut by
Minnesota Vikings (37 years old)
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| Longwell (8) hoisted by teammates after a winning kick |
*By the way, don’t be
surprised to see a Brees-like situation arise soon, like maybe 2013, with Aaron
Rodgers in Green Bay. Rodgers is still
under his original contract with the Packers (remember his Rough Draft in 2005?), which paid him only $7.5 million last
year. This makes him grossly underpaid, especially considering that he recently was voted #1 player in 2012 by NFL players. The Packers likely wouldn’t have
won Super Bowl XLV without him (he won the Super Bowl MVP award) and he leads
the league in single-season and career passer ratings and with his interception
percentage. The team’s success under
Rodgers’ tenure also provided an opportunity for the Packers to hold a stock
sale this past year for the funding of a major expansion of Lambeau Field.
