saintswhodi

I agree. Guaranteed contracts WOULD end all these holdouts, but the owners do not want to handicap themselves with a situation like that. They want to be able to cut players with years left on their deals with minimal repercussions while simultaneously blasting players for holding out if they outperform their current deals. Tagliabue will never allow the NFL to have guaranteed contracts, nor will any of the owners. I think they would prefer a player's only leverage be a holdout, even though they publically blast it. If they start giving out guaranteed contracts, you will see salaries and bonuses decrease cause no team is gonna tie themself into anyone who plays a sport where a career ending injury is a bad tackle in practice away. And players don't want that to happen. So the current system works for both sides, although they use it to play against one another.

papz

This situation is like Latrell Sprewell's who got paid more than 15 million last year and complained that wasn't enough to feed his family. Owen was using the same excuse yesterday on ESPN.

saintswhodi

Sprewell to me was worse cause his 15 mil was guaranteed. But both are complete idiots for even saying anything like that. And Sprewell rejected a guaranteed 10 mil a year when he made that comment.

ScottyRo

NFL contracts aren't guaranteed for the same reason a player's performance isn't guaranteed.

papz

He's going to regret it because he won't get anywhere near the 10 mil they were offering him on the free agent market.

saintswhodi

No way no how. Especially with that attitude too. And he is like 34 or something. How do you turn down 10 mil a year at 30 something years old playing professional sports? Your window isn't that long.

yasoon

I used to immediately come down on players when they held out until I got a better feel for the climate of the nfl. The guaranteed contract thing would make it different in my eyes.
From the player's standpoint, they have a small window to make their money. (I'm not saying that I agree with it or sympathize with people complaining about not being big enough millionaires.....but, it's reality.) So, if you come in as an unknown 4th stringer signed to a small deal and step up to become a force in the league, you're going to try to step up to that next tier. They want their market value....and they are competitive, so they want to be able to stack up to the other guys around them.
I know that none of us can fathom 1 million dollars, so squabbling over 6 million is amazing to us. Athletes live ina different world. It takes them making statements about feeding their kids for us to realize how removed from reality they are. They are most often better watched than listened to. I mean, pay me 3 million and then me whine about getting booed? I'll take 1 million and you can throw stuff at me.

The TO thing to me is a bit different than most of these cases (even the Javon Walker thing). TO signed a deal a year ago as an elite reciever after refusing to play for a team. He was desperate for a deal and the eagles grabbed him. He has proven time and time again that he is a self absorbed a$$. He called out Jeff Garcia for all the TDs he missed because of him and called the dude gay. Yes, I know, he talks like a nancy boy, but why air it in the news? He then calls out one of the best QBs in the league for choking in the superbowl. Whether it's not getting along with Mariucci, calling out Greg Knapp on the sidelines, doing a dance on the Star......TO has no class whatsoever. He's an amazing talent and you can't deny his toughness to show up in the superbowl. That was impressive. But how rootable is this guy?

I said it the other day...Jake is rootable, Deuce is rootable, Walter Payton, Hebert, Mills, Beerman, McNabb....all guys with either an interesting story, top notch class, or both.
TO has the talent, the will to win, the body....everything you want in a pro athlete on the field. But ultimately he's the guy who is mad because some other dude caught the game winning touchdown. He's completely self absorbed and any sense of team he has only goes as far as his own personal whims and achievements. He's a ***** and he can go pound sand as far as I'm concerned.

He'll come crawling back because he has to give back like 80% of his signing bonus if he skips camp. Also, you think that prima donna is going to miss a chance to play on Monday night in the Georgia dome for the opener? (He lives in Atl.) No way. He may come back saying he wants to help the team, but he won't be able to resist the pub. The sad part is, he'll probably score 2 TDs that night. The only solace for me will be that it's against my most hated team in the league.

Euphoria

my money is on 3 td's that night.

yasoon

I just hope the eagles beat em by about 20 so that the Atl. bandwagon jumpers can be seen on National TV running for the hills at the end of the 3rd. That's what they do here....

I just hope their history of never getting back to back winning seasons holds true. Maybe Vick will get smeared and ABC will wish they hadn't signed em up for 3 games this year.

saintswhodi

Hey, we have some national TV games too and we didn't exactly do anything to deserve it. Atlanta WAS in the NFC champ game. If we are gonna hate tehm, let's hate them for proper reason, although I am not above irrational ones as well. lol