Sign the Contracts Already
This article by Len Pasquarelli at ESPN is pretty interesting. 25% of NFL draft picks have signed with their teams which is ahead of the pace of last year. At the same time, no first or second rounders have signed.
What are these guys waiting for? I mean, I know what the first rounders are waiting for. They want someone to get antsy and be the first to sign so they can get an idea of the market. But what are the late round guys waiting for? Not only are they slotted but let’s face it, when you are fighting for a roster spot, haggling over the extra ten thousand or so isn’t worth it. If I was a 7th round draft pick out of Eastern North Dakota State Teacher’s College I’d pay them my first year just to show I was a hard working, team oriented guy willing to learn.
And hey, if that isn’t enough incentive every year at least one late rounder gets hurt before signing a contract, gets a small injury settlement (which is not on the cap) and is sent packing. Who wants to be that guy?
As for the 1st rounders, it is almost considered uncool to show up on time. Its like showing up for a 9 o’clock party at 9 o’clock. Nobody wants to be the first guy to the party. But hey, Brady Quinn. I don’t care if your pride was hurt by dropping on draft day. You should be the guy to sign right now. There’s a reason you dropped. Prove everybody wrong by showing up and working hard. Succeed and the half a million a year you lose today will be nothing compared to the endorsement money coming your way.
Of course, this wouldn’t be a Redskins blog if I didn’t talk about Laron Landry and the potential for a hold out. The fact is I don’t know enough about the situation to comment much. But I did some poking around the net looking for stories about it. Interestingly enough, if you Google “Laron Landry signability” you will see countless articles from April where various local papers in Oakland, Atlanta, Miami, Green Bay and elsewhere that mentioned that the various teams were considering skipping guys like JaMarcus Russell and Calvin Johnson to take Laron Landry because of signability.
Now, you have to take these things with a grain of salt because a lot of them are written by journalists who cover teams who are hoping certain people will fall so they can get excited. Still, the fact that Laron was almost always the guy mentioned as the alternative shows that people must have considered him an “easy signing.”
With that in mind, here’s hoping Laron signs soon, gets in camp and starts his career of right. And heck, let’s hope everybody does because quite frankly I’m tired of hearing about guys who hold out. I’d much rather read about what you do in camp than what you do when you aren’t in camp. Come on guys, sign the bleeping contracts.
-DW
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July 2nd, 2007 at 4:34 am