Earlier this month, we took a look at some of the veterans who might decide to stay away from training camp in order to get the contracts they want. Since then, none of them have gotten new deals.
Now that the clock is ticking loudly toward camp for the various teams with players who want more, and who in every case deserve it, it’s time to pay closer attention to whether deals get done and, if not, what will happen.
Here’s the rundown from July 3.
Tua Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill, Matt Judon, Haason Reddick, Ja’Marr Chase, Amari Cooper, Courtland Sutton, CeeDee Lamb, Micah Parsons, Jordan Love, Tristan Wirfs, Alvin Kamara, Brandon Aiyuk, Matthew Stafford.
There could be others that we’re not thinking of. As to those we listed, we’ll find out if they get their contracts and, if not, whether they’ll show up and practice, show up and not practice (hold in), or hold out.
Some will say that a holdout from a player under contract amounts to a violation of that contract. This overlooks the fact that there’s a second contract — the Collective Bargaining Agreement — that gives them the right to withhold services in an effort to get more.
Yes, it comes with a cost in the form of daily fines. For players not on their rookie deals, the daily fines can’t be waived. For players on their fifth-year options (like Tagvailoa, Aiyuk, and Lamb) missing a preseason game entails a fine in the amount of a regular-season game check.
Quarterbacks will get the most attention. Rarely if ever does a veteran quarterback refuse to show up and practice for camp. But that continues to be the most effective way to get the team to do the thing it has refused to do, since quarterback continues to be the most important position for any NFL team.
Tagovailoa, Stafford, and Love. Those are the ones to watch.
There’s no reason to think the Packers won’t get something done with Love. They believe in him. And they could give him a contract with a high annual average along with an escape hatch that gives the team a way out after two or three years, if it’s not working. (Two years ago, for example, the Raiders gave Derek Carr an extension — and they cut him after only one season.)
Stafford has been clamoring for guarantees beyond 2024 since the Rams didn’t draft his potential replacement in round one. Since then, his annual average of $40 million has been eclipsed by Jared Goff’s $53 million deal. What will he do if the Rams don’t finally take care of him?
Then there’s Tua. The Dolphins surely will make him an offer that gives him a lot more money and security than the $23.1 million he’s due to make in 2024. It will make sense to take the bird in the hand. But if it falls far short of what he wants, it also will make sense to stay away until they give him what he wants, or something close to it.
As with the Packers and Love, the Dolphins can give Tua a deal with big numbers — but that also lets the Dolphins cut the cord if he regresses and/or has another rash of injuries.
Saints Clips
The Saints are keeping one of their key contributors around for at least another season.
Per Adam Schefter of ESPN, New Orleans has agreed to terms with exclusive rights free agent receiver/return specialist Rashid Shaheed on a one-year contract extension.
The deal is worth a reported $5.2 million.
Shaheed, was an All-Pro and Pro Bowler as a returner last season. He averaged 13.6 yards per punt return, scoring one touchdown. He also averaged 21.3 yards per kick return.
He also caught 46 passes for 719 yards with five touchdowns and rushed seven times for 37 yards.
After entering the league as an undrafted free agent out of Weber St. in 2022, Shaheed has recorded 74 receptions for 1,207 yards with seven touchdowns in 27 games with 14 starts.
The Saints placed right tackle Ryan Ramczyk on the reserve/physically unable to perform list Thursday. What that means was not clarified until later: Ramczyk will miss the entire 2024 season.
A vested veteran placed on reserve/PUP before the final roster reduction can’t return.
It is not a surprise given Saints coach Dennis Allen expressed concerns about Ramczyk’s knee injury during the offseason. The issue sidelined Ramczyk for five games last season.
It also could mean the end of Ramczyk’s career.
The Saints restructured Ramczyk’s contract in May, freeing up cap space for this season. Ramczyk is guaranteed $6.5 million this season, lowering his cap hit from $27 million to $12.29 million for 2024.
But Ramczyk has cap hits of $29 million and $26 million the next two seasons, so New Orleans will have to figure out how to navigate his contract if he is indeed done.
Ramczyk, 30, started 101 games in seven seasons and earned first-team All-Pro honors once and second-team All-Pro honors twice.
Continuing to deal with a lingering knee injury, Saints offensive tackle Ryan Ramczyk will miss at least the start of the regular season — and likely more.
New Orleans announced on Thursday that the club has placed Ramczyk on the reserve/physically unable to perform list. That means Ramczyk will be out for, at a minimum, the first four games of 2024.
However, as multiple reporters on the Saints beat noted, Ramczyk appears unlikely to play at all in 2024. Back in March, head coach Dennis Allen said that Ramczyk’s availability for the regular season “remains to be seen” after the offensive tackle had undergone offseason surgery to address a knee issue that sidelined him for five games.
The Saints addressed offensive tackle in the draft by selecting Taliese Fuaga at No. 14 overall.
Ramczyk has started 101 games since the Saints selected him at No. 32 overall in the 2017 draft.
Additionally, New Orleans placed tight end Juwan Johnson, defensive end Tanoh Kpassagnon, linebacker Nephi Sewell, and defensive end Chase Young on the active/physically unable to perform list. They can all return to practice at any time before the start of the regular season.
Receiver Chris Olave was also placed on the non-football injury list. Per Nick Underhill of neworleans.football, Olave is dealing with mild back tightness and should be fine.
Finally, receiver Bub Means was activated off the non-football injury list.
The Jets traded for Aaron Rodgers in 2023, but not before investigating all their quarterback options.
With a trade for Rodgers likely but not certain, the Jets considered free agent Derek Carr. Carr said he had an opportunity to sign with the Jets after the Raiders cut him.
He eventually signed with the Saints.
“I could’ve [signed with the Jets],” Carr said on Pardon My Take podcast, via Joey Aliberti of gulflive.com. “It just wasn’t the right time for me. There was still like four or five teams I had to hear from.
“I remember sitting there with [Jets coach Robert Saleh], and he’s like, ‘Look, man, we’d love to have you. It’s up to you.’”
Carr visited the Saints before the Jets in February 2023.
“I remember going [to the Jets facility], and I promised myself I had to go through the process,” Carr said. “Because I didn’t want to sign and then think ‘Well what did that team think? Or what could they do?’ That was hard. Yeah, it was a weird situation, but at the same time, trading for Aaron wasn’t a guarantee for them.”
Carr signed a four-year, $150 million deal with the Saints on March 6, 2023, and the Jets traded for Rodgers on April 24, 2023.
The Jets’ No. 1 option the entire 2023 offseason, beginning with the hiring of Nathaniel Hackett as offensive coordinator on Jan. 26, 2023, was a trade for Rodgers. The only question was whether Rodgers was going to continue his career.
Carr knew the Jets wanted Rodgers more than him.
“The thing which was different in that situation was like Aaron is a nine billion-time MVP, right? But you still have to trade for him, whereas I’m free, and you can still keep those picks,” Carr said. “I was not asking for as much money as whatever they say your market is. I was like, ‘I don’t want to do that, because wherever I go, man, I just want to win. So use the money. I don’t care.’”
Carr also said he had a desire to play for Saleh, who was with the Texans when Derek’s brother, David, played in Houston.
“I am probably like [Saleh’s] biggest fan,” Derek Carr said. “Like I absolutely 10/10 would run through a wall for him even if he’s not my coach. If he was like ‘I need you to do this,’ yes, sir, I would do it. That whole situation, that was the hardest thing. Because my brother knew coach Saleh and he knew I loved New Orleans, but he was like ‘You’re going to see Saleh; you’re probably going to stay.’ He was thinking I was going to sign because of Saleh.”
Carr went to the Saints, and the Jets traded for Rodgers. Now, a year later, both quarterbacks go into 2024 still with a lot to prove with their new teams.
The Saints placed rookie receiver Bub Means on the non-football injury list.
Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football reports that Means’ injury isn’t serious, and Means “plans to do the conditioning test soon and the expectation is that he’ll be good to go quickly.”
The Saints can remove Means from the list at any time.
The team made him a fifth-round draft pick, and he joins a room that has Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, Cedrick Wilson and Equanimeous St. Brown as the Saints replace Michael Thomas.
Means began his college career at the University of Tennessee as a defensive back. He played four games to preserve a redshirt and transferred to Louisiana Tech.
After moving to wide receiver, he made 22 catches for 430 yards and two touchdowns in 2021.
He then transferred to the University of Pittsburgh, where he made 68 receptions for 1,122 yards and eight touchdowns in two seasons.
J.T. Gray has never played more than 41 snaps on defense in any of his six NFL seasons, but he has stuck with the Saints because of his special teams abilities.
Gray made All-Pro and the Pro Bowl as a special teamer in 2021, and he has played more than 300 special teams snaps in each of the past four seasons.
That’s why Gray is excited about the NFL’s new format for kickoffs.
“So, [the new kickoff rule] is pretty interesting,” Gray told Steve Wyche of NFL Media. “Just going in this year in OTAs, we have been practicing that since Day 1. Since implementing the new rule, I feel like it’s changing the value of the special teams. I feel like it’s going to be a great thing because you are going to get action in every first play of the game. I feel like that’s going to be a great thing for the NFL and a great thing for the fans to see.”
The NFL’s kickoff rule, which is a version of the one used in the XFL, could bring action back to a play that had become “ceremonial.” Or kickoffs could remain a dead play.
Some worry that with touchbacks at the 30-yard line, teams will just opt to kick it through the end zone as they have been doing.
The Saints will be in good shape if teams choose to allow them to return kickoffs, with Rashid Shaheed having earned Pro Bowl honors last season.
Former NFL defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin died Thursday in Oxford, Mississippi, surrounded by family and friends, the University of Mississippi announced. Kiffin was 84.
“As his grandson Knox said, he’s free of pain and smiling down on us from above. Please keep the Kiffin family in your thoughts and prayers during this time,” Ole Miss said in its statement.
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin is Monte’s son.
Kiffin spent almost 30 years coaching in the NFL and ranks as the longest-tenured coach in Buccaneers franchise history. He was with the Bucs from 1996-2008 under Tony Dungy (1996-2001) and Jon Gruden (2002-08) and is in the team’s Ring of Honor.
Kiffin joined Dungy’s coaching staff as defensive coordinator in 1996 and helped create and implement the Tampa 2 defense. The team’s defense improved from 27th overall in 1995 to 11th in Kiffin’s first year as coordinator.
During Kiffin’s 13 seasons leading Tampa Bay’s defense, the unit ranked in the top 10 in yards allowed 11 times and in points allowed 12 times. During that same 13-year span, the defense led the league in points allowed per game (17.5), ranked second in takeaways (293) and yards allowed per game (286.8), third in interceptions (249) and 10th in total sacks (503).
Under Kiffin’s leadership, eight different Buccaneers defensive players made a combined 36 Pro Bowl appearances, while six also earned All-Pro team recognition. Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, Ronde Barber and John Lynch are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Kiffin was the Cowboys defensive coordinator in 2013.
He also served as an assistant coach with the Packers, Bills, Vikings, Saints and Jaguars.
Kiffin, the head coach at North Carolina State from 1980-82, also was an assistant for his son at three different stops.
Kiffin was at the Pro Football Hall of Fame two weeks ago to receive an Award of Excellence.
The Saints selected quarterbacks in each of the last two NFL drafts, taking Jake Haener in the fourth round in 2023 and Spencer Rattler in the fifth round in 2024. Those two will compete in training camp this year.
Saints coach Dennis Allen said Haener and Rattler will be given plenty of opportunities to prove they deserve to be the No. 2 quarterback behind Derek Carr, and that the final decision likely won’t come until the start of the regular season.
“That thing is going to battle out all throughout training camp,” Allen said, via Katherine Terrell of ESPN.
Allen said he doesn’t want his young quarterbacks to be afraid to take chances, but he knows they’ll quickly learn that you can get away with mistakes in college that you can’t get away with in the NFL.
“Part of it, out here during this time, and even during training camp, is figuring out what you can do and what you can’t do,” Allen said during OTAs, “And if I never really take a chance, then I never really know what you can or can’t do in our league. And I think you find out here that the windows close a little faster than they do in college.”
Nathan Peterman is also on the Saints’ roster, but he appears to be a long shot to earn the No. 2 job. The Saints want their two young quarterbacks to battle it out, and hope that one of them proves he’s ready if called upon.
Training camp is coming. When the 32 teams gather for preseason practices, several high-profile players might not be present, if they force the issue on getting new contracts.
So which names are the ones to watch? Funny you should ask, even if you didn’t.
The goal of this item is to list all of the potential veteran holdouts, with some explanation and analysis of each situation.
That said, there’s a chance some of the players listed below will “hold in.” That’s a fairly new trend where the player shows up for training camp but doesn’t practice while negotiations continue. The only problem with this approach is that, if/when there’s no deal, at some point it’s time to practice and play. For the player who never shows up, it’s easier to keep holding firm. And the pressure remains even more pronounced on the team if the player isn’t there.
The following list has no particular order to it, other than the fact that I went through the eight divisions from AFC East to AFC North to AFC South to AFC West before doing the same in the NFC when compiling the list.
Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa
He wants a market deal. The Dolphins have yet to offer one, or they’d already have an agreement. At some point before training camp opens, the Dolphins will make an offer far better than the $23.1 million he’s due to make in his option year. To get what he wants, Tua’s best and only play might be to hold out.
Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill
He’s doing everything he can to put a happy face on a contract situation that has him nearly as unhappy as he was two years ago in Kansas City. Still, the market has passed him by. Even though he says he’s making $30 million per year, he’s at $25 million — behind teammate Jaylen Waddle.
Hill seems to believe the Dolphins will adjust his contract. Maybe they will, maybe they won’t. Maybe, at most, they’ll move some of the $45 million he’s due to make in 2026 into 2024, where he’s south of $20 million. If that’s not good enough, maybe he’ll stay away in order to get a deal that compares favorably to other high-end receivers.
Patriots linebacker Matt Judon
Judon skipped some of the offseason program as he enters the final year of his contract. He showed up for mandatory minicamp.
Last year, he held in. This year, he said he won’t be “throwing tantrums.”
One way to not throw tantrums is to not show up. Still, he has made it clear that he plans to show up. While plans can change, his mindset as of last month was to show up and get to work.
Jets linebacker Haason Reddick
The Jets traded for a guy who wanted a new contract without signing him to a new contract. It should be no surprise, then, that he skipped the entire offseason program.
Will he show up for camp? No one knows at this point. The possibility that he won’t underscores the magnitude of the mistake the Jets made in trading for him without getting him signed.
Yeah, the Jets supposedly thought they had a verbal understanding with Reddick that he’d show up for the offseason and they’d eventually do something with his contract. As we’ve seen time and again, verbal understandings aren’t worth the paper they aren’t printed on.
Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase
On the day Justin Jefferson got his new deal, the Bengals could have worked out a contract for Chase that same day. And they should have.
It should be easy to get to the new-money number Chase wants. Although Chase showed up for mandatory minicamp, he could decide to take a stand if the Bengals keep dragging their feet.
The good news for the Bengals is that receiver Tee Higgins has signed his franchise tender. Since training camp opens after the deadline for doing a long-term deal, there’s nothing to be gained by staying away. He has opted to accept $21.8 million for 2024, followed by a likely shot at free agency in March, given the team’s longstanding habit of tagging a player for one year before letting him walk away.
Browns receiver Amari Cooper
Cooper skipped mandatory minicamp in an effort to get a deal to replace the final year of his current contract, with a base salary of $20 million. If he doesn’t get a new deal by the start of camp, a holdout can’t be ruled out.
Broncos receiver Courtland Sutton
Sutton showed up for mandatory minicamp despite wanting a new deal. (He’s due to make only $13 million this season.) He hasn’t ruled out a holdout.
Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb
Lamb reportedly won’t attend camp without a deal that replaces the $17.9 million he’s due to make in the final year of his rookie contract. Will the Cowboys give him what he wants? As explained Monday, there’s a way to do it while also creating current-year cap space. Which would be a win-win for a team desperately hoping to engineer some wins in the playoffs.
Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons
Parsons has said he’ll be patient when it comes to getting a new contract. He shouldn’t be.
He’s one of the best defensive players in football. He shouldn’t risk his health for less than $3 million in 2024. He should refuse to practice or play until he gets paid.
Yes, he attended mandatory minicamp. So did Ezekiel Elliott in 2019. And then Zeke didn’t show up for training camp.
Without a new contract, Parsons should do the same.
Packers quarterback Jordan Love
There’s currently no reason to think the Packers and Love won’t get a new deal done before training camp opens. If they don’t, however, why should Love show up?
He’s due to make only $11 million this year. He needs to be willing to take a stand, if his contract situation isn’t resolved before the Packers head to training camp.
Buccaneers tackle Tristan Wirfs
With only $18.44 million in salary for 2024, he’s been looking for a new deal all year. He showed up at mandatory minicamp. Again, that’s no guarantee he’ll show up for training camp unless he gets a contract offer that prompts him to sign on the dotted line.
Saints running back Alvin Kamara
Kamara left mandatory minicamp early, due to frustration with contract talks. He wants security beyond 2024, given that the team will tear up next year’s phony-baloney $25 million compensation package.
Will he skip camp without a new deal? We’ll find out when camp opens.
49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk
Much has been said about Aiyuk and the 49ers and whether he will or won’t be traded. He ultimately needs to ask himself whether he’s willing to show up and play for $14.1 million in 2024 — or whether he wants to draw a line in the sand.
Short of a long-term, market-level deal, the 49ers could give him a sweetener and/or agree not to tag him in 2025. For now, there’s been nothing other than a staring contest augmented by the various things Aiyuk has said, on social media and elsewhere.
When it’s time to show up for camp, we’ll see if he does.
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford
Stafford has wanted more guarantees for a while. He should also want more money. A deal hasn’t been done yet.
If it doesn’t happen before camp opens, who knows? Given the lack of high-end options on the roster, Stafford had plenty of leverage. If he chooses to use it.
