San Diego Chargers restricted free agents Vincent Jackson and Marcus McNeill are reportedly making financial preparations not only to sit out for the first 10 weeks of the 2010 season, but also to sit through all of 2011 without getting paid if the owners lock out the players.
Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Jackson and McNeill have made financial preparations in case a lockout wipes out the 2011 season.
Jackson and McNeill both declined to sign their one-year tender offers before midnight last night, which means both will have those offers reduced from more than $3 million to about $600,000. But if they both play only six weeks (which is the minimum needed to earn an accrued season toward unrestricted free agency), Jackson will make $206,000 and McNeill $212,000 in 2010.
Obviously, there are lots of people reading this who will make less than $212,000, total, in 2010 and 2011. So it doesn’t exactly seem like a Herculean feat for Jackson and McNeill to make the financial preparations necessary to live on that much money for the next two years.
But when Jackson and McNeill have both turned up their noses at more than $3 million for 2010, living for the next two years on just over $200,000 seems like a stretch. In any event, it’s wise for every NFL player to make financial preparations for the possibility of missing paychecks in 2011. On that front, Jackson and McNeill are apparently leading the way.
