Coming to a Training Camp Near You: The Hold Outs

Training camp officially opened Wednesday with the New York Jets opening their doors to the rookies in Hempstead, NY. (veterans will report July 23rd). The start of training camp brings excitement and hope to a loyal fanbase that is eagerly anticipating the start of the 2008 season. Unfortunately for a few unlucky teams, training camp also brings camp holdouts. Every year a few players take issue with their current pay scale claiming they outperformed an outdated contract and seek a new deal. While agents and GM’s continuously negotiate throughout the off-season in an effort to make that player happy and willing to work when training camp opens, in a few cases a deal isn’t struck in time. When such cases occur, a player and his agent will use the strongest indicator to show their displeasure: HOLDING OUT.

Here is a list of the biggest potential hold outs:


Ryan Grant, RB Packers - Camp Date: July 27th
As a restricted free agent, Grant doesn’t hold many cards against the Packers but with a salary of only $370,000, he definitely made a case for a raise in 2007. In 10 games as a starter, Grant rushed for over 900 yards and 8 TD’s with a 5.1 ypc. The Packers likely got sidetracked with Favregeddon hitting Green Bay last week, but all signs point to the Packers and Grant coming to terms. I would anticipate a moderate 2-3 year contract extension and a signing bonus, which will in turn give Grant at the age of 28 at the end of that deal, one more shot at a NFL contract before his career is done.

Plaxico Burress, WR Giants - Camp Date: July 24th
After five average seasons in Pittsburgh, Plaxico signed a 6 year $25 million contract in 2005 to join the Giants. Since then he’s had the best three years of his career. ESPN’s John Clayton reports that the most likely scenario is that the Giants will give Burress an extension on his current deal, but he remains a threat to hold out until the new deal is consummated.

Brandon Jacobs, RB Giants - Camp Date: July 24th
Jacobs will be a free agent in 2009 which should have been enough motivation for the Giants to lock him up on a long term deal. Jacobs played well when healthy in 2007 but the “when healthy” part of that statement is most likely complicating contract negotiations. The Giants may let Jacobs play out the year and roll the dice next off-season.

Anquan Boldin, WR Cardinals - Camp Date: July 23rd
Larry Fitzgerald’s new contract caused waves in Arizona, especially with counterpart stand out WR Anquan Boldin. There have been rumors of a Boldin hold out and it's anyone's guess if he'll really do so. The Cards would like to extend his contract, but will most likely have to get creative with the cap next off-season to do so.

Brian Urlacher, LB Bears - Camp Date: July 22nd
Urlacher has showed up for OTA’s and minicamp despite the threat of a hold out. Even though he's coming off neck surgery, the Bears appear to be negotiating a new deal.

Ray Lewis, LB Ravens - Camp Date: July 21st
The 33 year old all-everything LB for the Ravens reportedly asked for “Peyton Manning type money”. Lewis and his agent evidently wanted to set the bar high before beginning to negotiate and all signs recently point to an accord being reached shortly.

Chad Johnson, WR Bengals - Camp Date: July 27th
Well, well, well. Look who says he'll be at training camp after all.

TJ Houshmanzadeh, WR Bengals - Camp Date: July 27th
Never a real threat to hold out to begin with, but this could very well be his last year in Cincinatti.

Albert Haynesworth, DT Titans - Camp Date: July 25th
The Titans and Haynesworth failed to agree on a long term deal and the franchised tackle must now either hold out, or try to negotiate a promise not to be franchised next year into this tender offer.

Lito Shepperd, CB Eagles - Camp Date: July 21st
After being almost traded a few times this off-season, Shepperd is not happy with his pay or his role with the Eagles. Lito has confirmed that he doesn’t plan on holding out but according to the Philadelphia Inquirer he changed agents to Drew Rosenhaus on Tuesday which raised some eyebrows.

Jason Taylor, DE/LB Dolphins - Camp Date: July 25th
The Dancing With The Star's situation in Miami is definitely worth monitoring next week. Taylor has made it no secret that he wants out of South Florida but no substantial trade talks have took place so far and it looks like his options might be play for the Dolphins, or retire. But first, a hold out.

Bobby Engram, WR Seahawks - Camp Date: July 22nd
Engram led the ‘Hawks injury riddled receiving group last year and is grossly underpaid, but he’s backed off his recent hold out threats and the Seahawks have confirmed that they will not address his contract situation until next year.

Chris Baker, TE Jets - Camp Date: July 23rd
No news is good news for the Jets but Baker is expected to cause a ruckus next week when training camp opens.

Chris Simms, QB Tampa Bay - Camp Date: July 25th
Simms has been angling for his release from Tampa for some time, but is expected to show up for training camp. Jon Gruden and Bruce Allen are holding onto hope that they'll be able to trade Simms before the start of the season.

UPDATE:
Brian Westbrook, RB Eagles - Camp Date: July 21st
Brian Westbrook is reportedly contemplating a hold out
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080718/SPORTS02/807180364/1022