Holding out for more money is not the answer
By Pat Kirwan
NFL.com Senior Analyst
(April 27, 2005) -- I have read just about enough about players who refuse to come in and work out in the offseason, about guys who get traded and want a new deal before they ever do anything for their new team (nice first impression), star players who feel they are grossly under paid even though they cashed checks for upward of $10 million dollars over the past year or so and teammates who support their teammates in their struggles for more money.
There's no reason to mention names at this point, but it's probably a good time to point out how things work. For the front-office executives and head coaches who have to deal with players that threaten not to show up for work and hang their dirty laundry out to the media because they want new contracts and more money, I have a few suggestions:
1. Minicamps (except for three days all offseason) and offseason workouts aren't mandatory, so don't take the bait from the players when they miss these sessions. Make it clear that re-negotiating contracts is just as voluntary as the workouts, and for every day they decide to volunteer to stay home, you will elect to 'volunteer' not to negotiate for a month. Has anyone reminded our young friends that there is only one NFL and if they don't play in this league, they don't play at all? Unless, of course, they want to find out what it feels like in a minor league.
2. For every player who stays out of practice, there is another player who is hungry and ready to seize the opportunity. We just saw 255 rookies get drafted, another 160 undrafted rookies will be signed and there are 150 guys over in NFL Europe developing their skills and maybe 50 tough young men in the Arena League and Canada who would do just about anything for an opportunity in the only high-paying football league in the world. Someone out there is a star waiting to be discovered. That's over 600 potential players being injected into the system in addition to the young developing athletes already on rosters.
3. Does any 5-foot-9 receiver sitting at home insisting he deserves more money or a running back who had one good season really think their team can't win without them? I say stop worrying about these kinds of players. And I don't care what wide receiver thinks he's indispensable. The fact is, the talent pool at that position never dries up and it's more about the quality of the quarterback who delivers the ball. Dan Marino made a lot of average receivers look pretty good and Tom Brady hasn't done a bad job of it either.
4. As for the players that use the favorite cry of "The clubs don't honor the contract, so why should we?" there are reasons teams fire players and don't stand by the length of the contract -- the length of the contract was never a real length of term and the player knew it all along. The club was trying to give the player a bigger signing bonus up front and, in agreement with the agent, extended the deal to amortize the bonus over a longer period of time. I always told the player when he signed what the logic was behind the deal and most executives do the same. It is amazing how many players and agents conveniently forget that when the player is cut. Front-office people probably need to go on record when a deal is done by saying something like, "We just signed Player X to a six-year deal but it really is a three-year deal in which we had to spread the big signing bonus out to fit under our salary cap. The player understands the structure."
5. To the teammates that feel they must support their holdout buddies by standing by them and never expressing their frustration that the team isn't getting better in the offseason, do me a favor: Call me when you get fired and those same guys send you a check to keep food on the table in your house. Trust me, it will never happen.
6. To the athletes who elect to stop team activities and somehow your story makes it to the media and it is splashed all over the Internet and print, make sure you have someone fully explain the possible negative effects to you as well as the possible positives. Sure, you may get a new deal and the disappearing act you pulled during the offseason will seem worth it. But maybe you will not get a new deal and just maybe the team decides to dump you just as soon as they find a capable replacement.
NFL coaches have learned two critical things in the past few years that help them deal with all the contract volatility that has arisen. Most of the 32 head coaches keep smiling and, when pressed by the media, don't show any emotion or dissatisfaction about their holdout player. The player should not misconstrue the public behavior their coach shows as a sign he understands you are worth more money -- he's trained to not make a bad story worse by reacting emotionally to it. Trust me, in a very short period of time behind closed doors with his coaching staff, he is going to focus on replacing you. That is the nature of the beast. The old saying "Out of sight, out of mind" eventually replaces the anxiety of "What will we do without him?" If you don't think that is true, there are veterans getting released by the day now as teams secured cheaper, young talent in the draft. And when June 1 comes along, there will be even more talented players on the market. There will be options and I doubt any player crying for a new contract truly understands the economic or talent pressure that is upon them.
Finally, every coach and front-office executive I know wants to win, and if they have a player on their team that can get them to that goal, they will pay them, as was seen when the Bengals paid Rudi Johnson and the Patriots redid Corey Dillon's deal this offseason. But please don't think your team is going to open up a can of worms by being forced into renegotiating because you think you're the one guy they can't live without. There are very few players that ever make it to that category. As one very good retired NFL player said to me this morning, "No one put a gun on to their head and made them sign the deal they have now. Don't ever let the player force the renegotiation."
Personally, I really want to see players get all they can while they're talented enough to play in the NFL, and since 1992, salaries paid to the players have gone from $1 billion to more than $3 billion today. Is it a perfect system? No, but it's pretty darn good and it's the only one in town.
By Pat Kirwan
NFL.com Senior Analyst
(April 27, 2005) -- I have read just about enough about players who refuse to come in and work out in the offseason, about guys who get traded and want a new deal before they ever do anything for their new team (nice first impression), star players who feel they are grossly under paid even though they cashed checks for upward of $10 million dollars over the past year or so and teammates who support their teammates in their struggles for more money.
There's no reason to mention names at this point, but it's probably a good time to point out how things work. For the front-office executives and head coaches who have to deal with players that threaten not to show up for work and hang their dirty laundry out to the media because they want new contracts and more money, I have a few suggestions:
1. Minicamps (except for three days all offseason) and offseason workouts aren't mandatory, so don't take the bait from the players when they miss these sessions. Make it clear that re-negotiating contracts is just as voluntary as the workouts, and for every day they decide to volunteer to stay home, you will elect to 'volunteer' not to negotiate for a month. Has anyone reminded our young friends that there is only one NFL and if they don't play in this league, they don't play at all? Unless, of course, they want to find out what it feels like in a minor league.
2. For every player who stays out of practice, there is another player who is hungry and ready to seize the opportunity. We just saw 255 rookies get drafted, another 160 undrafted rookies will be signed and there are 150 guys over in NFL Europe developing their skills and maybe 50 tough young men in the Arena League and Canada who would do just about anything for an opportunity in the only high-paying football league in the world. Someone out there is a star waiting to be discovered. That's over 600 potential players being injected into the system in addition to the young developing athletes already on rosters.
3. Does any 5-foot-9 receiver sitting at home insisting he deserves more money or a running back who had one good season really think their team can't win without them? I say stop worrying about these kinds of players. And I don't care what wide receiver thinks he's indispensable. The fact is, the talent pool at that position never dries up and it's more about the quality of the quarterback who delivers the ball. Dan Marino made a lot of average receivers look pretty good and Tom Brady hasn't done a bad job of it either.
4. As for the players that use the favorite cry of "The clubs don't honor the contract, so why should we?" there are reasons teams fire players and don't stand by the length of the contract -- the length of the contract was never a real length of term and the player knew it all along. The club was trying to give the player a bigger signing bonus up front and, in agreement with the agent, extended the deal to amortize the bonus over a longer period of time. I always told the player when he signed what the logic was behind the deal and most executives do the same. It is amazing how many players and agents conveniently forget that when the player is cut. Front-office people probably need to go on record when a deal is done by saying something like, "We just signed Player X to a six-year deal but it really is a three-year deal in which we had to spread the big signing bonus out to fit under our salary cap. The player understands the structure."
5. To the teammates that feel they must support their holdout buddies by standing by them and never expressing their frustration that the team isn't getting better in the offseason, do me a favor: Call me when you get fired and those same guys send you a check to keep food on the table in your house. Trust me, it will never happen.
6. To the athletes who elect to stop team activities and somehow your story makes it to the media and it is splashed all over the Internet and print, make sure you have someone fully explain the possible negative effects to you as well as the possible positives. Sure, you may get a new deal and the disappearing act you pulled during the offseason will seem worth it. But maybe you will not get a new deal and just maybe the team decides to dump you just as soon as they find a capable replacement.
NFL coaches have learned two critical things in the past few years that help them deal with all the contract volatility that has arisen. Most of the 32 head coaches keep smiling and, when pressed by the media, don't show any emotion or dissatisfaction about their holdout player. The player should not misconstrue the public behavior their coach shows as a sign he understands you are worth more money -- he's trained to not make a bad story worse by reacting emotionally to it. Trust me, in a very short period of time behind closed doors with his coaching staff, he is going to focus on replacing you. That is the nature of the beast. The old saying "Out of sight, out of mind" eventually replaces the anxiety of "What will we do without him?" If you don't think that is true, there are veterans getting released by the day now as teams secured cheaper, young talent in the draft. And when June 1 comes along, there will be even more talented players on the market. There will be options and I doubt any player crying for a new contract truly understands the economic or talent pressure that is upon them.
Finally, every coach and front-office executive I know wants to win, and if they have a player on their team that can get them to that goal, they will pay them, as was seen when the Bengals paid Rudi Johnson and the Patriots redid Corey Dillon's deal this offseason. But please don't think your team is going to open up a can of worms by being forced into renegotiating because you think you're the one guy they can't live without. There are very few players that ever make it to that category. As one very good retired NFL player said to me this morning, "No one put a gun on to their head and made them sign the deal they have now. Don't ever let the player force the renegotiation."
Personally, I really want to see players get all they can while they're talented enough to play in the NFL, and since 1992, salaries paid to the players have gone from $1 billion to more than $3 billion today. Is it a perfect system? No, but it's pretty darn good and it's the only one in town.
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