Holdouts and What they Mean

Does your favorite team have a player that’s currently holding out of workouts in an effort to get more money? Is their contract up and instead of the team paying the player what they think that they deserve the team is playing hardball and not offering them anywhere close to their asking price? Or is it the other way around and the player is asking way too much for money from the club as opposed to what he is actually worth? You can see the argument from both sides of the fence and it’s the disagreement that these two parties have in negotiations that causes holdouts to happen. Right now there are two major holdouts going on in the league that are drawing a lot of attention from the media. One is the holdout of quarterback Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints and the other is running back Matt Forte holding out of Chicago Bears camp. Both players are looking for more money than their respective teams are willing to give them and this is keeping them out of the offseason training activities that their team is currently involved in. Ultimately, everyone suffers when a player holds out and in this case both the team and the player are going to further behind when they do finally report to camp. This is because both players have missed time in OTA’s which help prepare teams for the upcoming season. During these offseason workouts, new schemes are installed and the coaching staff gets a chance to look at their players and see what they have before they head into training camp. Without the holdouts in place teams have a hard time installing new systems and getting the most out of their offseason workout activities. In the case of Brees, it’s hard for him to gel with his wide receivers without him in camp and it’s hard for the coaching staff to be able to take a good look at their passing offense without him there. In the Bear’s case, they aren’t getting a good a good look at their rushing attack without Forte there. So it’s hurting the team. And it also hurts the player. When the player finally returns to the team they will be that much farther behind in getting to know their scheme than they would have been had they participated in all the camp drills. The player may have some catching up to do especially if the scheme is new or a complex new one. Without that time in OTA’s it may be difficult for a player to catch up and eventually he may fall behind by the time training camp comes around. So having a holdout effects both the team and the player and no good comes out of it unless the player or the team get what they want and that rarely happens. As fans, we hope that our favorite players don’t hold out because things never seem to be the same after that. There are hard feelings, missed opportunities and time (and effort) that can’t be gotten back when a player holds out. There is no real way around stopping a player from holding out other than to pay them what they think that they are worth but NFL teams are businesses and they can’t afford to pay out big money to players that may or may not be worth it. The holdouts will go on until each side agrees to a number that works well for both of them. Until then all we can hope for is a quick resolution that ends up satisfying both parties.