We're not used to holdouts around here.
If your attorney tells you to shut up, you do it because he understands the law. It's not that you're necessarily guilty or afraid to speak. If your agent advises you to withold services under penalty during negotiations because you could potentially earn more than your rookie contract will pay you, who among us can say we'd turn down the raise in the spirit of being a good teammate?
As much as I wish Deion got his ass in camp, I'm a little tired of the media/fans criticizing a guy like this for being a bad teammate -- if he's already making great money and he's holding out that's one thing.
Deion hasn't once complained about playing under his rookie contract. We still haven't heard peep from him during this episode. If you want to bash somebody make Chayut-Borges the punching bag.
I'm not going overboard like Tom did...I don't have to. But Deion's won a SB MVP (you can debate that all day long, but you can't say he didn't have a heck of a game) and has clearly been the best receiver on our team for the past few years. Last year Hines Ward held out...another lousy teammate who played under contract for peanuts...but the Rooney's "always took care of him"...BULL****.
Let's not compare Branch to TO or other greedy players who demand attention on the field and abuse their QBs and destroy teams. It's a rare thing to have a talented WR who keeps his mouth shut and always says the right things.
It's a bitter pill to swallow, but let's try having a little tolerance for Deion's holdout, while hoping it comes to a quick end. This year the other receivers will really look up to him...there's so much he can do on the practice field to help Jackson and Caldwell.
...and he will in good time. Believe it or not, this will all pass. Let's not point fingers at either side. Don't let the media give you any reason to be pessimistic about this team (injuries are the only thing that can stop this team, and we're beyond due for a relatively healthy season). If other fans heard the negativity coming from our beat, they'd puke.
He'll be there in September I think, and he'll pick right up where he's left off.
Sure he's under contract, but in the real world contracts are redone in good faith ALL THE TIME. We're all about paying guys for their value to the team...in that case we should all agree that it's time to reevaluate/renew/rethink his rookie deal.
Ironically, all the dead cap space we seem to have is not helping the team's negotiating position...just a little lesson for our FO next year. Though after running out of money last year with all the injuries, they seem determined not to overspend again.
In order to understand TB's stance you have to separate all this from the FO and Chayut. Don't worry, he's not "naive," he's ten steps ahead. Who should Tom have a closer relationship with: his teammates or Scott Pioli? At the end of the day, Tom just wants Deion to be happy. He's constantly doing things off the field which enhance his leadership. We just don't hear about all of them.
The SI piece was as harmless as it was brilliant -- surprising, yes -- landmark really...more I think about it the more I'm impressed. He makes all the right moves. Had it been too watered down it would've backfired. And yet he let Silver handle the dirty work without actually speaking out against the organization. Every pull quote was either complimentary to Deion or the team...he was critical of the league itself...not our FO.
In Charley Pierce's upcoming bio on Tom, he cites a local Congressman who claims Tom is the only guy he'd ever seen who was on "Clinton's level" in a small group. Whatever your political views, we can all agree that Clinton knew how to get what he wanted. We have no idea how lucky/spoiled we are right now.:rocker:
