Training camp has arrived upon the NFL landscape, and yet defensive tackle Aaron Donald, left tackle Donald Penn and running Le’Veon Bell are nowhere to be found? Yes, the old bane of a less civilized NFL is upon us. The holdouts are here, but with these three men, not all holdouts are made equal.
Back before free agency, the new collective bargaining agreement and the salary cap, holdouts were just a part of the preseason story. Nearly every team, whether it be a veteran or a rookie, would be dealing with a guy that would miss some, of not most of training camp in a salary cap dispute. Sometimes those disputes would last until the regular season started. Emmett Smith missed two games with the Dallas Cowboys in 1993 holding out. The Cowboys lost both and Jerry Jones cut Smith a check. The Cowboys would go on to win their second Super Bowl of the 1990s.
More recently Seattle Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor held out into the regular season in 2015, missing the first two games as well. The Seahawks also went 0-2 in his absence, but their ownership didn’t blink. Chancellor returned in Week Three on his original contract, one he’d signed just two yeas before, and continues to play on it to this day. Chancellor will be a free agent at the end of the 2017 season.
AARON DONALD
Friday, star defensive tackle Aaron Donald did not report to Los Angeles Rams training, officially beginning his own holdout. The difference for Donald is two-fold. First, with the Rams exercising their fifth-year option on his rookie contract, Donald still has two years left on his original deal.
Rams players were due at 11 am PST. Aaron Donald still has now shown up yet. He's now officially late. Looks like holdout is on.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 28, 2017
The second, and most important fact, is the Rams and Donald already have a massive deal on the table. It’s likely the only hold up is off-set language and guaranteed money and my guess is that will be settled by next week. In the meantime, Donald has to protect himself from any silly injury that could gum up the works. So he’s working out at home, letting his agent and Rams work out the finer details.
Donald is simply the best player at his position in the NFL. In his three seasons with the Rams since being drafted at No. 13 overall out of Pitt, Donald has 28 sacks, 163 tackles, four forced fumbles, one fumble recover and five passes defended.
DONALD PENN
Left tackle Donald Penn’s holdout is in a completely different spot than Donald’s. There’s no new contract already at work for the standout offensive lineman. Penn is in the final year of a two-year, $11.9 million deal he signed last off-season.
Penn has consistently graded out as a Top 10 tackle and that’s exactly where he wants to be paid. According to the NFL Network, he doesn’t want to be the highest paid tackle, just to make what he’s worth. Penn is due to make $7.1 million this season with Oakland. If he were to match the 10th highest paid left tackle, the Los Angeles Rams’ Andrew Whitworth, he’d make $11.25 million. It’s not a big difference and it should be one, with Penn slated for free agency at the end of the year anyway, the Raiders can fix. They surely were hoping to extend his contract this season. If they were to have to franchise Penn, he’d make a hell of a lot more than $11.25 million.
#Raiders know of Donald Penn's unhappiness. He makes $7M but has graded as a top 10 LT vs the top pass-rushers. Wants to be paid like one
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 28, 2017
While Penn’s negotiations aren’t as far along as Donald’s, it will likely get taken care of in the next week or so.
LE’VEON BELL
Lastly we come to Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell. Bell was hit with the franchise tag this off-season and contract talks with the Steelers went nowhere. Reportedly Bell wants to be paid like a No. 1 running back plus a No. 2 wideout. He couldn’t get that from the Steelers, and won’t, so he’ll play this season on the tag which still makes him the highest paid running back in the league at $12.1 million for this season.
Le'Veon Bell could be the first RB to play a full season under the franchise tag since 2009 (Darren Sproles). pic.twitter.com/ZHOuOkHabB
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) July 28, 2017
The truth is, if you look at the top long-term running back contract, LeSean McCoy’s with the Buffalo Bills, Bell on the tag is actually pretty close to getting paid like a one running back and two receiver. If you take McCoy’s salary and add in Julian Edelman’s with the New England Patriots, you get a little over $12 million. Bell is probably looking for more in the $16 million range and I’m not sure there’s an NFL team that would give it to him.
Still, that’s what kept the two sides apart and Bell out of camp. Since he’s yet to sign his franchise tender, he can’t be fined for holding out and can sit out as long as he wants. Bell told ESPN he’d wait until later in camp to show up and he’ll likely keep that promise. It’s what Eric Berry did with the Kansas City Chiefs last season.
“Obviously I would like him to be here,” Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin told reporters. “I’m going to focus my energies on the guys who are. It’s an unfortunate circumstance, one that we’ll deal with, one that he’ll deal. I’ve had good, clean communication with him. I’ll leave the nature of those conversations between us. But rest assured that he’ll be ready to play football. When he gets here, I don’t know. I’ll remain focused on the guys who are here and their overall development. When he gets here, he gets here.”
Last season Bell was suspended for the first three games of the season and ended up playing in 12. He carried the ball 261 times for 1,268 yards, averaging 4.9 yards per carry and scored seven touchdowns. He caught 75 passes for 616 yards and two touchdowns.
DEVONTA FREEMAN
Atlanta Falcons running back Devonta Freeman isn’t bothering with a holdout as he and the team work on a new contract. Freeman is entering the last year of his rookie contract and is supposed to make $1.918 million this season. Instead of staying out of camp while the Falcons and his agent hammer out the final pieces of a new deal, Freeman has purchased a $10 million insurance policy to protect him just in case he and the Falcons can’t finalize an agreement this season.
The Falcons & RB Devonta Freeman are currently negotiating a five-year extension that would make him one of NFL's highest-paid backs. pic.twitter.com/8WlN7TZXw2
— GSN (@GASportsNow) July 28, 2017
Last season Freeman carried the ball 227 times for 1,079 yards and 11 touchdowns, it was his second consecutive 1,000-yard and 11 touchdown season. Freeman added 54 catches for 462 yards and two scores.
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