Although I side with X in his right to seek a better deal, the reality of the situation is that the team really can't afford to do it. Not that he would trash the cap but because we can't put a quarter of our salary cap into the secondary. I'd be shocked to learn that the team is not actively shopping him around the league. In honesty, I'm pretty sure that he was sore enough about Jones' contract and Igbinoghene's draft positioning that he wants out of Miami. Julio Jones' long play was always to force his way out of Atlanta and that's what X is doing right now. That doesn't make him a bad guy. And d*** if I'm going to boo him if and when he plays (unless he plays for somebody else). This is going to play out interestingly but I think there's a great chance he's played his last down as a Dolphin.
First there is no expectation from either side that if either is unsatisfied with the contract that either of the participants will not do what they can to have it altered. It is such a common thing that the expectation is frankly unreasonable. It's why only a segment of fans seem to hold it. I don't see an NFL contract as tantamount to giving ones word.
He's in a tuff spot. He is signed for 3 more years. I don't know why he wouldn't bet on himself, ball out this year and go for it next. Salary cap will be higher, demand for him will be higher, trade availability will be higher. He doesn't seem to have the best representation.
yes! Only with professional athletes, people expect this idea of loyalty. I have renegotiated contracts all the time. I have switched phone carriers, refinanced loans, and not fulfilled many contracts trying to find a better deal. I am still a man. I certainly hope you don't want to get paid less than what you are worth just because you signed a contract. That is lunacy.
He's aware of all of this, I'm sure. But he took Jones and Igbinoghene's acquisitions personally. He's just trying to blow things up right now to make them uncomfortable for perceived disrespect. Besides, he knows it will be hard to duplicate what he did last season because nobody's going to throw at him this year. And then, the team's going to try to trade him or renegotiate next off-season when he doesn't.
Let him sit. And then we would still own his rights next year. Teams need to put a stop to this. What's to keep him or every player to "force" their way out every year?
Part 2 provides examples from some current contracts that highlight the differences between how some of the guarantees are made and why they were chosen. This will go a long way to answering your questions.
I don't know, people didn't throw towards him very often last year...and a few of those picks were jumping someone else's route. He just makes the most of limited opportunities and having Jones out there increases his chances. I think he could have 10 more picks next season, especially if the offense is generating points and opposing teams have to become pass-heavy to compete. This team is SOOO CLOSE to being a contender and Howard is a huge piece of that. I hope they can come together on terms without being outrageous (for the exact reason you said). And I can't help but wonder how much of this is his agent trying to placate him; I hope he's actually talking to the team and not working off bad advice.
I would go one step further and suggest that these practices are actually typical of modern life. Most people who have an education/resume work inside big companies that leverage their employees' skill onto clients in order to make money. Often, this results is high-wages when clients have no choice but to pay. It also manifests in a client's desire to pay for not a single hour more than required to complete a job. So as soon as that leverage is gone, the money-pool dries up, the client tells you to go home and the contract/salary drops to 0. As an engineer, this has happened to me many times. Sometimes projects get scrapped mid-way through and you get re-assigned within your company to another job. Other times, you just get laid-off because the company can no longer bill your salary to a client. I have friends in other industries who are treated/rewarded in the same way. You make a lot of money while you're employed and then one day you're let go only to go work for the company down the street. Short-term employment exchanged for high-wages is how many of us make our money these days. While it might seem "unfair" to some, the reality is we're all making more money than the last generation so until we're undermined by out-sourcing or something like that, it's a net gain. Words like loyalty or fairness mean nothing in business where it's all about leverage. If X can leverage more money out of the Dolphins, it's his right to do that. Whether people like it or not is merely a reflection on them and who they are rooting for (e.g. the employer vs the employee). That's all we (as fans) have, hope. People expecting more are naïve. If the Dolphins don't have the leverage to control X, he'll control them. That's all this is.
Thanks. Just seems to be the way the world is these days. I've got a friend who works strictly on contract for movie-related stuff. While I'd hate not knowing exactly what I'd be doing 6-12 months out and chasing my job around, he makes a killing and considers it worth it. Other people I know have been pressed to travel in order to stay employed. Sometimes that means working abroad or posting up at a particular client site for some duration or simply taking your talents to another office when work gets slow. The upside is that everyone makes more money than ever before. It's become more of a hassle, but it's also more lucrative. What makes the NFL different is that if I were to "hold out" and ask for more during the course of a project, I'd most likely be replaced either on the spot or after the project was over. A player like X can gamble on a hold-out knowing he's got leverage the average person/player doesn't. Words like fairness and loyalty are hard to define. Worse, different parties often disagree on what those things mean. Everything today is far too volatile to go merely based on handshake agreements. Heck, 50% of the jobs I've interviewed for in the last few years have had something to do with forensic engineering, which is to say using my expertise to author reports / expert witness testimony towards litigating who's going to pay for something. All we can do is hope that X and the Dolphins get things worked out or that the Dolphins can trade X for something big. It's a shame these things happen, but there's nothing to stop it. The only way to discourage these things would be to encourage things worse or to design a system that was flat out less fair to players.
Basically, that describes freelance or a small business owner- it's never a steady pay 12 months straight. I've had months where I could barely keep the lights on, and I've had months with $20-30k profit. Sometimes those good and bad months are back to back, as little sense as it makes. The only difference is as a small business owner I usually had the credit lines to weather the bad and spread out those big gains, most freelance workers don't. That's how most plumbers, mechanics, designers, etc. live their lives....dead broke until they're temporarily rich...only to pay bills, fix up the house, take a great vacation and be broke again. It's definitely not for everyone. I read that 38% of the US workforce fell into that freelance category BEFORE THE PANDEMIC, and I'm guessing it's closer to 50% today. A lot of people no longer want jobs and they're drawn to making their own schedules, etc. but there's also serious negatives as well (unpredictable cash-flow being one of them). It really comes down to time management and organizational skills, plus the ability to sell yourself as a true professional. With this discussion, players have multi-year contracts so it's not quite the same conversation, but then again those contracts can be cancelled at any time for a variety of reasons (non-performance, injury, cap issues, etc.). The only difference is that they get paid a much bigger premium and are held to a much higher standard. So it's sort of the same thing while also being completely different.
If I voluntarily sign a contract, for less than I think I'm worth, just to ensure I get a job, then no, I don't think it's appropriate to try to get more money. But that's just me.
Then I shouldn't have signed the contract. Sorry, I don't view money as the end all be all. Money is a necessary evil for living, but it's not something I pursue, and isn't something that I get a sense of accomplishment from having.
I don't either. I just know not to live for less than what I am worth and to not be taken advantage of.
It doesn't. No examples of a quality of play only guarantee. No examples of anything that would restrict a player from holding out if they are willing to forgo the salary/payback signing bonuses. Just examples of how guaranteed money effects salary caps, and how players hit various marks to earn bonuses. Part 2 had nothing new.
You're ignoring the substance in favor of a strawman. We are talking about two scenarios: 1. Player who signs a contract making him the highest paid at his position. Do you believe that X signed for less than he believed he was worth? 2. A hypothetical situation where I am signing a contract, and voluntarily signing for less than I believe I am worth, because I want to guarantee I get the job. If I sign for less, knowing that I'm going to them hold out for more money than I'm signing for, then I would argue that I fraudulently entered into that contract. A player shouldn't be comparing his salary to others, given that newer contracts are ALWAYS going up. So the highest paid CB in 2021, even if he is the best player, most likely won't be the highest paid in 2023, as the next "best" CB in the league is going to use the previous best players contract as his baseline.
There is no strawman. You are using that word for no reason. Again, I don't agree with you. A player should be doing what they can to maximize their income. There is no fraud, that is silly. That is more of a strawman argument. X had a year where he was 3rd in the league in MVP votes and is 2nd on the team in salary. He has every right to be upset with his contract. Players 100% should be comparing their salaries. That is how the world works. They should do their best to get paid their worth. As the team should do their best to minimize their salaries. I don't understand why people want to paint X as the villian or less of a man because he wants to renegotiate his contract when he has some leverage.
Having every right to be upset about his contract, isn't founded in facts. For one, he signed his contract as the #1 paid CB in the league when he signed it. There was no clause saying his pay would be adjusted every season to ensure he stays the #1 paid CB. If you total his production since signing the contract, he's nowhere NEAR the neighborhood of the #1 CB in the league. One great season, when he has only 65% availability since signing his current contract, isn't leverage IMO. If he decided to play 2021 and did just as good, then I'd say he has cause, because he'd at least show some continuity. My opinion, of course. The only continuity he's shown in his time in Miami is the desire to stick it to the team.
I don't look at coercion or holding out as "leverage." I'm also not painting X as a villain. It's more commentary on our society. It is a strawman, because you're arguing an idea, and not the reality. Your argument doesn't address the actual situation, other than "owners bad, players good."
I am arguing the reality and the situation. I am not saying, "contracts should be set in stone" or "I signed my name I have to honor it." My argument represents the actual reality of the situation. X should go for the best contract and get more if he can. He shouldn't just say, "I signed my name and that should be the end of it." That is not how the world works.
Certainly does. And the team has the right to let him ride the couch, losing money, paying back bonuses, etc.
The phins have to play hard ball here and if he sits he sits.If they redo his contract then the next player will do the same thing and then it will never stop.
I think they're better with a chip-on-his-shoulder X...we may get lucky to see more evidence of it in 2021.
So what if Baker has 10 sacks this year and has a career year.You don't think he will want to redo his contract like howard?
10 sacks and 10 ints are not the same. If Baker is first team all pro and arguably the best LB in the NFL, he still won't have the leverage that X does as CB > LB. Maybe, if he led the NFL in sacks too. If that happens, then yes he could probably get more $.
Absolutely. But that's a helluva lot of loot for one position. Since we have rookies on OL and with Tua, we have a three-year window to build a winner. Having two max CBs might diminish our ability to do it. Again: I support X and any player who uses his leverage. But he's maneuvering himself out of town, even if that's not his intent.
If he does, he does. He'll either get it or suffer the consequences of trying. It's interesting that you didn't ask what happens if Baker rips an Achilles tendon while working out before training camp. Will the team honor his deal the way the Broncos did with JaJuan James?
If you watch that video, he said that he was going to make the team pay for drafting Noah in the first round and signing Byron to a huge deal. This isn't about money, it's about perceived disrespect. I hope he's with us for years but he's butt-hurt and I wouldn't expect him to be reasonable. If Igbenoghene takes the leap and we have X and Jones, we'll have a true shutdown secondary, even with an unsettled safety situation. But we know Flo wants guys who think about team before everything. I wouldn't be surprised if he's already moved on.
The way I heard it, the phrase "make 'em pay" wasn't meant in a malicious way but rather to mean, 'make them look foolish for not relying on me and me alone.' In fact, before saying that X described how he understood precisely why the team went out and acquired other corners describing them as upgrades in "reliability." What does come across in X's interview there is that he's self-reliant. The phrase "When they're trying to replace you, and get younger...you've got to stick to your plan, what you believe in and count on yourself." To me, that last quote says everything. It signals that X understands how the NFL is a business and how he's an aging veteran with the clock ticking. So it doesn't surprise me at all that he's out to get every last penny he can squeeze out of the team. After describing his surgery as "major" I would assume he's thinking that any further injury could easily be a career ender. Working under that assumption, I'm sure he wants as much guaranteed money as possible.
You may well be right. Personally, the Flores/Grier regime is among the most business-first and least sentimental regimes in today's game, so I heard his statement to mean that he's going to treat his future the same way. Especially being aware that he had an objectively great performance last season and that if he falls short in 2021, they're coming for his loot.
If you think about it, that's so much pressure to perform this season while also knowing most QB's will not throw your way at all if they can help it. Top shutdown corners have it especially tough to prove value because their chances are so limited to make plays. To me, that's why Jones was a must-have to balance the field...Howard should see him as a blessing since that's the only way he gets more opportunity to have passes coming his way. Of course, that plays in Jones favor as well having X on the field...just a strange dynamic since the QB's game is "keep-away" for both of them.
Thought for a minute that we'd have a tandem to rival Surtain and Madison. Looks like that's not going to be the case.
