Players unhappy with their contracts apparently have found a way to fight back, arguably without running afoul of the strict terms of their legal commitments.
Over the weekend, Vikings running back Adrian Peterson conveniently missed a mandatory minicamp because he deemed it more important to attend the Fourth Annual Adrian Peterson Day in East Palestine, Texas. The fact that coach Brad Childress found out about it via the Internet (hello, Coach!) suggests that Peterson has trotted out a little passive-aggressive protest to his current contractual circumstances.
Now, another player who more clearly has expressed his displeasure has tried the non-holdout holdout maneuever. As expected, Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis, for example, reported for the team’s mandatory minicamp. Per Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News, Revis sat out a portion of the Monday morning minicamp practice.
“Just a little light-headed,” Revis told Mehta with a smile.
But then Revis misplayed the passive-aggressive strategy, telling Mehta that the fourth-year cornerback “was fighting for [his] family.” Asked whether sitting out of practice should be regarded as a protest, Revis said, “Call it what you want.”
Coach Rex Ryan initially projected denial regarding the situation.
“When they tell you something is not right, you believe them to be a man of their word,” Ryan said, per Mehta. “I believe Darrelle would be that way. Now if he’s pulling a fast one on us, he’s pulling a fast one on us.”
Informed that Revis was making a statement, Ryan was more pragmatic. Sort of.
“Well, he made a statement,” Ryan said. “That would disappoint me, for sure. Because he’s out here and competes every day. . . . I’ll talk to Darrelle. I believe in Darrelle, so when he tells me he’s light headed or got a hamstring, I’ll believe it.”
Then, Ryan seemed to make an excuse for Revis. “If his situation is that he’s got something on his mind and he’s not focused 100 percent, then I really don’t want him out there,” Ryan said.
The real question becomes whether the Jets up the ante, claiming that Revis’ conduct triggers the voiding of the guaranteed nature of the total salary of $20 million he’s due to earn in 2011 and 2012, if as expected he exercises his right to wipe out the final two years of his current deal and if as expected the Jets decide to buy back the final two seasons at $5 million in 2011 and $15 million in 2012.
Then there’s the bigger question of whether the Jets will make this problem go away by paying Revis.