Aug 18th 2008 6:56PM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
Filed under: Jaguars
There’s one rookie holdout left in the NFL, and at least one of his veteran teammates is sick of hearing that the first-round draft pick wants more money.
The holdout is Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Derrick Harvey, and the veteran is defensive end Paul Spicer. This is what Spicer had to say about Harvey’s negotiations:
“From what I heard, they’re a million away,” Spicer said, referring to media reports. “If you’re a million away, the only guy who benefits is the agent.
“Take that,” Spicer advised Harvey. “Tell your agent I’m tired of sitting at home. It’s time to put the toys away, be a man and get down to business.”
I don’t have enough information to know if the deal the Jaguars have offered Harvey is fair or not, and so I won’t express an opinion about whether Spicer is right or wrong. But I will say that this is another reminder that the NFL and the players’ union need to re-think the way rookies’ contracts are structured. If Spicer doesn’t like hearing that a rookie teammate is holding out for more money, he should tell his union to re-work the collective bargaining agreement with the owners so that rookie salaries are predetermined the way they are in the NBA. Until the veteran players insist on re-doing the collective bargaining agreement, we’ll hear stories like this every summer.
