I have always thought this was the lamest thing ever. If you sign a contract to play for X years for Y dollars, then you play. Just because you have a good year doesn't mean you get to change the rules. If you had a shitty year, would these people be giving money back to the team? Hell no.

An interesting ESPN poll{

http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/sports...?event_id=1499

An article about it where the ESPN author is very pro-holding out:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/traini...reg&id=2116066

The article is very poor writing. The author rambles on and on and on and on making very few actual points. I'd like to hear an author really explain the degree to which contracts are guaranteed (how much do you get if you suffer a career or season ending injury, for example), can a team cut you and end the contract, etc. I don't think in either case the team can get out of paying, but I'd like to see this discussed in detail. I suspect you never see it because the writers don't want to be on bad terms with the players- whom they NEED for information, interviews, etc.

The closest they come to that is quoting Owens:

"Just say a guy signs for five years, 60 million," Owens said. "If a guy gets cut, he's not going to see 60 million. Unlike the NBA, if a guy gets cut, he's going to get that money regardless. That's what a lot of people don't understand, the money's not guaranteed. Once you get cut, that's it."
If you are so bad that you get cut, too bad. You are paid to do a job. If you are so horrible that you can't even do it passably well, then christ, the team should be able to get someone else.

The fact still remains that if you do a lot worse than expected, all they can do is cut you and lose COMPLETE rights to have you as a player. They cannot simply pay you less (like in almost every other job in the world).

"A lot of people don't understand. Everybody sees a big number," Owens told ESPN. "I feel like I've overperformed my contract and my situation is sort of unique. There's a lot of things that factored into how I got involved with the seven-year contract and the money that I have that I'm trying to get out of."
So... the fuck... what.

If you had stunk it up and caught 50-something balls for 800 yards, you wouldn't be giving back half the money. So shut your goddamn piehole.

"NFL players have a small window of opportunity to make enough money to set themselves up for life," Jason said. "They cannot afford to wait until next year or two years to wait their turn. This is a ruthless, brutal business."
I am so fucking sick of hearing this.

No. Wrong. You can get a job after you retire from the NFL. Where the hell do you get off claiming you have some kind of god given RIGHT to only work 3.2 years for your whole LIFE and then just coast.

That's bullshit.

If you chose not to stay in college, which you were getting free, that was your choice. If you chose not to graduate, when you had a free education, free tutors, craploads of free help and people looking out for you, then that was your choice.

You don't get to come back later and cry that you only have 3.2 years to make a living for your whole lifetime. You can get a job after the NFL like any other person.

"The only time a holdout is necessary is when a player is being grossly underpaid and teams won't recognize it. Those situations apply with respect to Javon and Terrell, but we won't decide until, literally, the day they're due or the day before."
TO is being "grossly underpaid"???????? Give me a fucking break.

You could certainly argue that on the free market, he could get more, but that's pretty much true every single time a player has a good year.

He still has a huge contract. Saying he is "grossly underpaid" is absurd hyperbole.

This is the kind of shit that really sours me on pro football, and pro sports in general. I love football, but this shit just stinks.