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.
Davante Adams recently said that if he were to be “reunited with anybody, it would be with Aaron” Rodgers. A few days later, Adams is dreaming of playing with Tom Brady for the first time.
Adams didn’t let Shannon Sharpe finish his question about Brady unretiring to play for the Raiders when Adams enthusiastically said, “Hell, yes.”
“Look, Tom know how I feel about him, man,” Adams said on the Club Shay Shay podcast, via Sam Neumann of awfulannouncing.com. “And the other part is I think I’d be the first person that played with Tom and Aaron, so that would be pretty cool. I mean, he’s getting older, but he got to still be able to throw it better than half these dudes in the league.”
Brady is more likely to become an owner and limited partner of the Raiders than the team’s quarterback, but a receiver can dream.
Since he joined the Raiders, Adams has had Derek Carr, Jarrett Stidham, Jimmy Garoppolo, Aidan O’Connell and Brian Hoyer as his quarterbacks. Adams revealed on Netflix’s Receiver series that he approved the benching of Garoppolo last season.
O’Connell and Gardner Minshew are competing for the job for this season.
Brady would be an upgrade on both no matter his age. Brady, who turns 47 next month, threw for 4,694 yards and 25 touchdowns in his final season of 2022.
But he is set to become the top analyst, alongside Kevin Burkhardt, in the Fox booth this season.
Adams is more likely to play with Rodgers again than Brady, but for now, the receiver is “locked in” on the Raiders.
Shaquil Barrett signed with the Dolphins this offseason, but the linebacker will not play a down for Miami.
Barrett informed his new team that he is retiring.
The news comes just before the start of training camp, with Barrett deciding that he wants to spend more time with his family.
“It’s time for me to hang it up,” Barrett wrote in a statement. “It’s been a great ride, and I appreciate everything that came with it over the years. I’m ready to shift my full focus to my wife and kids and helping them realize their dreams and catch ‘em. Anyone who caught their dreams before knows the work, time and consistency required to reach them. I’m ready to start building skills up in my kids, which will take 100 percent commitment. I know to some it’ll be a surprise, but I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and the decision has never been more clear than it is now.”
Barrett, 31, played four seasons with the Broncos and five with the Buccaneers and won two Super Bowls. He made two Pro Bowls.
In his nine-year career, Barrett totaled 400 tackles, 59 sacks, 125 quarterback hits, three interceptions and five fumble recoveries.
When Antonio Brown abruptly left the Buccaneers during the 2021 season, they could have used a veteran wide receiver for the playoffs. And Terrell Owens wrote on social media at the time that he was that wide receiver. Two and a half years later, Owens is blaming Tom Brady for the Bucs not signing him.
Owens said on the Bubba Dub Show that he attempted to contact Brady to ask for a chance to play for the Bucs in the playoffs, and Brady ignored him.
“Tom Brady ignored me,” Owens said. “The year that AB went crazy . . . they just needed somebody to fill some holes with AB leaving at the receiver position. I reached out to him through Randy and some other people, just to come in and play third down and red zone situations. This dude ignored me. It just shows you the lack of respect there, but then when they get in front of you they want to act like they respect you.”
At the time, Owens was 48 years old and hadn’t played in the NFL since he was cut after three weeks of training camp with the Seahawks a decade earlier. It’s probably less that Brady didn’t respect Owens’ achievements as a former NFL receiver, than that Brady didn’t want to waste time during playoff preparation talking to someone who had zero chance of making the roster.
Buccaneers edge rusher Randy Gregory skipped the team’s mandatory minicamp, drawing more than $100,000 in fines.
Coach Todd Bowles said last month that the team would “deal with” Gregory’s absence. But Bowles has not talked to Gregory since and does not know whether Gregory will show up for training camp.
“We have not had any conversations,” Bowles told JC Allen of BucsGameday. “I expect him to be here, but we’ll see.”
Gregory signed with the Buccaneers as a free agent in April after splitting last season between the Broncos and 49ers. He is currently suing the NFL and the Broncos for $532,500 in fines incurred for taking medication containing THC for disabilities.
Gregory, 31, has played only 72 games since the Cowboys made him a second-round pick in 2015. He served four suspensions for multiple violations of the NFL’s substance abuse policy, but Gregory has sought help to deal with his addiction and his social anxiety disorder.
The NFL no longer suspends players who test positive for marijuana, but it remains among the league’s banned substances subject to fines.
