On Sunday afternoon, Florio alerted PFT readers to the possibility that Patriots guard Logan Mankins could possibly hold up CBA talks by demanding free agency as one of the antitrust plaintiffs.
Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports reports that Chargers wide receiver Vincent Jackson is in the same boat as Mankins, and that the two men have made specific requests to the league: They either want to be declared free agents, or they want $10 million for last season.
Yeah, this request probably won’t go to go over well with the NFL.
Greg A. Bedard of the Boston Globe confirmed the story and got someone from the NFL’s side to talk.
“Two guys are going to hold up a huge pay day for 1,898 other guys? After two years? When neither ever went to a meeting, a hearing, a mediation session or even showed up in court? Good luck with that,” the source said.
(Jackson did go to a meeting in Minneapolis.)
So could this really be a huge stumbling block or is it a case of some players trying to get what they can, because it doesn’t hurt to try?
We’d lean to towards the latter, especially in Jackson’s case. Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune wrote an article Monday evening with a lot of opinions that said Jackson was unlikely to go anywhere.
“Indications from those close to Jackson have been that he would accept the franchise tag – and the accompanying $11 million-plus for one season -- if he had to,” Acee writes. “But Jackson’s willingness to be a part of the antitrust lawsuit was with an eye toward getting the franchise tag abolished or possibly being exempted from the tag.”
If Jackson is willing to accept the franchise tag “if he had to” then he’ll probably wind up accepting the franchise tag.
