Holdouts extending into the regular season are a rarity. The New York Jets are one of the few teams to have one with edge rusher Haason Reddick.
The Philadelphia Eagles dealt Reddick to the Jets at the beginning of April for a conditional 2026 third-round pick rather than address his growing dissatisfaction with his contract. With Reddick taking at least 67.5% of New York’s defensive snaps and having double-digit sacks, the Eagles will get a 2026 second-round pick instead.
Reddick outperformed the three-year, $45 million contract (worth up to $46.5 million through incentives and salary escalators, with $30 million fully guaranteed) he received from the Eagles during 2022 free agency in the first year. He was a catalyst in transforming an anemic Eagles pass rush into the NFL’s most formidable in 2022. Reddick had a career-high 16 sacks. Last season was Reddick’s fourth straight with double-digit sacks.
Reddick’s well-known problems with his contract were acquired along with him. The Jets were under the impression that Reddick would show up for the three-day mandatory June minicamp, which led to a $101,716 fine for his absence. He was scheduled to make $14.5 million from the Jets in 2024 before forfeiting $250,000 because of a lack of participation in offseason workouts.
The Jets have been insisting that Reddick end his holdout before discussing his contract. Reddick has been adamant that he will continue to stay away from the Jets until his contract is addressed. The Jets quickly dismissed the trade request Reddick made during training camp.
Reddick’s holdout has been an expensive proposition. He was fined $50,000 for each of the 41 days in training camp, totaling $2.05 million. There was an additional penalty of one week’s base salary (1/18th of salary) for every preseason game missed with players signing contracts as unrestricted free agents, like Reddick did. Reddick has a $14.25 million base salary this season so that was an extra $791,667 infraction with each of the Jets’ three skipped exhibition contests for $2.375 million. As a player on a veteran contract, these $4.425 million in fines are mandatory and can’t be reduced or waived.
The financial consequences for Reddick run much deeper than the fines. A team can recover a portion of a player’s signing bonus. The trade gave the Jets all rights provided to the Eagles under Reddick’s contract. Recovery is based on the $2.743 million of 2024 proration from the $13.715 million signing bonus in the original deal, which also contains dummy/voiding 2025 and 2026 contract years.
My understanding is the Jets are exercising these rights to the fullest extent so $685,750 or 25% of the $2.743 million in 2024 bonus proration can be recouped for Reddick missing all of training camp. Recoupment increased by another 25% or $685,750 once Reddick missed a regular-season game. It’s an additional 1/18th of the prorated amount of signing bonus for each week his holdout extends beyond the fourth week of the season, which amounts to $152,389. The maximum New York can recover from Reddick’s signing bonus is the entire $2.743 million prorated amount of his 2024 contract year.
Base salary also isn’t earned during Reddick’s absence. Each week of the regular season Reddick misses is costing him $791,667. This will be $2.375 million after Thursday night’s game against the New England Patriots.
Reddick sitting out the entire season would be counterproductive contractually. The Jets would likely have Reddick’s contract tolled for a full year under the extension provisions in paragraph 16 of the standard NFL player contract thanks to an arbitration decision relating to wide receiver Joey Galloway’s 101-day holdout in 1999. This would mean Reddick’s deal wouldn’t expire until after the 2025 season instead of the 2024 season.
The Seattle Seahawks lost a grievance attempting to get Galloway’s contact extended for an additional year under paragraph 16 because he held out for the first nine weeks of the 1999 season. The arbitrator didn’t give a clear standard for how many missed weeks are necessary to trigger tolling.
The NFLPA’s advice prior to the addition of the 17th game in 2021 was to return no later than the trade deadline to be on the safe side because teams can ask the commissioner for a roster exemption lasting up to two weeks for certain player absences (suspension, holdouts, etc.), which could keep them out of action during this time. The trade deadline has moved back a week this year to Nov. 5, the Tuesday after Week 9’s games. Presumably, the trade deadline is still the safe date with the extra game and the longer trading period.
The NFLPA’s has also expressed belief that the deadline for teams to sign their unsigned franchise and transition players, draft picks and restricted free agents, which is the Tuesday following the 10th week of the season, also applies to holdouts. After this date, which is Nov. 12 this year, these players are prohibited from playing for the rest of the season. It remains to be seen whether returning at this deadline would be sufficient to prevent a contract from tolling.
The Jets losing edge rusher Jermaine Johnson for the season with a torn right Achilles in Sunday’s contest against the Tennessee Titans would seemingly be beneficial to Reddick’s cause. It remains to be seen whether Johnson’s injury will have a huge impact on how Reddick’s situation plays out given how firmly each side has been entrenched in their respective positions.
There have been six holdouts that have extended into the regular season since the 2011 NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement was ratified. Here’s a look at each case.
Kam Chancellor curiously staged a holdout while he had three years worth $16.775 million remaining on the four-year, $28 million contract extension he signed in 2013, which made him one of the NFL’s highest-paid strong safeties. The market for strong safeties hadn’t materially changed in the two years since Chancellor signed his contract.
Seahawks general manager John Schneider and coach Pete Carroll were reportedly willing to move $3.1 million of Chancellor’s $7,125,008 2017 salary to his 2016 contract year in which he was scheduled to make $5.1 million at one point to end the dispute. Paul Allen, who was typically a hands-off owner, tabled those discussions.
Even though the first two games couldn’t have gone any better for Chancellor with an 0-2 start, the losses didn’t change Seattle’s stance. Chancellor ended his work stoppage a couple days after the second loss. He held out total of 54 days before returning to the Seahawks without any changes to his contract.
Duane Brown had two years left on the six-year, $53.4 million extension he signed in 2012 when he held out. Skipping offseason workouts triggered a $250,000 base salary de-escalator to reduce Brown’s 2017 income from $9.65 million to $9.4 million. Although the Texans renegotiated wide receiver Andre Johnson’s contract in 2010 with five years to go and gave defensive lineman JJ Watt a new deal in 2014 with two years remaining, redoing contracts before a contract year wasn’t a common occurrence for the Texans. In addition to Houston’s reluctance to rework contracts with multiple years remaining, there was a team policy against in-season contract negotiations.
Brown’s holdout lasted nearly three months through the first seven weeks of the regular season when he returned without a new contract. Each week of the regular season Brown missed cost him a little more than $550,000 in salary for just over $3.87 million. About a week after Brown returned, he was traded to the Seahawks along with a 2018 fifth-round pick for a 2019 second-round pick and a 2018 third-round pick.
Le’Veon Bell’s situation was different because the Steelers placed a franchise tag on him for a second straight year. The financial penalties for missing training camp don’t apply to players with restricted free agent, franchise or transition tenders who aren’t under contract. There wasn’t a contractual obligation for Bell to perform services since he was unsigned.
Bell boycotted the 2018 season instead of playing under a $14.544 million franchise tag. He was the first franchise player to sit out a full season since Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Dan Williams in 1998.
Bell rejected a five-year deal in the $14 million-to-$15 million-per-year range, containing a $10 million signing bonus and a $10 million roster bonus due a few days after signing, as the mid-July deadline for long-term deals with franchise players was approaching, according to various reports. Slightly over $33 million of the money was in the first two years. The three-year cash flow was somewhere between $45 million and $47 million.
Pittsburgh had demonstrated a willingness to fundamentally change a running back market that had been steadily declining. Bell found the way the Steelers structured veteran contracts with a lack of true guaranteed money problematic. Pittsburgh veteran contracts had a vanilla structure at that time. The overall guarantees in Pittsburgh contracts were less than comparable deals on other teams.
With the exception of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s contract, the only guaranteed money was typically a signing bonus. Roethlisberger had base salary guarantees for injury only. The bigger deals contained a third or fifth day of the league year roster bonus in the second and third years. Occasionally, there was a first-year roster bonus as reportedly in Bell’s offer. These roster bonuses were supposed to be substitutes for additional contract guarantees.
Bell’s exact financial demands during negotiations were never disclosed. He had suggested that he should be paid like a No. 1 running back and a No. 2 wide receiver because of his dual-threat capabilities. Pittsburgh didn’t start structuring contracts with the traditional salary guarantees that Bell was seeking until 2021 when edge rusher T.J. Watt became the league’s highest-paid non-quarterback.
Melvin Gordon had the mindset for a lengthy absence. He was sympathetic to Bell sitting out the entire 2018 season rather than playing under his franchise tag.
Gordon issued a pay-me-or-trade-me ultimatum to the Chargers about a week before trading camp opened. The 2015 first-round pick was scheduled to play the 2019 season under his $5.605 million fifth-year option, absent a new contract.
Gordon’s holdout lasted until the fourth week of 2019 regular season. The Chargers reportedly offered Gordon $10 million per year during his holdout. No other details about the reported offer were ever disclosed.
There were reports that Gordon was looking for top-tier running back money in the same ballpark as the $13 million per year David Johnson received from the Arizona Cardinals on a three-year, $39 million extension with $31,882,500 of guarantees right before the 2018 regular season began. The Chargers also gave Gordon permission to seek a trade. Nothing ever came of those trade efforts. Gordon’s holdout gave Austin Ekeler the opportunity to demonstrate that he was more than just a complementary running back.
Trent Williams’ reasons for holding out were two-fold. In addition to wanting a new contract, Williams was upset about how the Commanders’ medical staff handled a cancerous growth on his scalp that was surgically removed early in the offseason.
Williams had two years left on the five-year, $65 million extension he signed in 2015 making him the NFL’s highest-paid offensive lineman. The offensive tackle market had escalated dramatically since his signing.
Williams withheld his services from the Commanders until Oct. 30, a day after the trading deadline. Changes weren’t made to Williams’ contract to end his holdout.
Williams’ holdout was an expensive proposition. Missing the offseason workout program triggered a $150,000 base salary de-escalator to reduce Williams’ 2019 base salary from $11 million to $10.85 million. Williams lost a little more than $638,000 in base salary during the eight regular-season weeks he missed holding out. He also had $250,000 in 46-man per-game active-roster bonuses. He lost $15,625 for each game missed. Between base salary and the roster bonuses, Williams lost $5.3 million during the dispute.
Williams was put on the non-football injury list the week following his return to end his season as he didn’t pass his physical when his helmet caused him discomfort because of the surgical procedure. Payment of salary is at a team’s discretion while a player is on this list. The Commanders didn’t pay Williams the remaining $5.1 million of his base salary after he was put on NFI.
Overall, Williams only made $287,515 of the $11.25 million he was originally scheduled to make in 2019 because of money that wasn’t earned during the holdout, the Commanders exercising their rights to recoup signing bonus and his placement on NFI. This doesn’t take into account $1.6 million worth in fines Williams racked up for his 40-day absence from training camp.
The goal was to extend Chris Jones’ contract after beating the Eagles in Super Bowl LVII. The Chiefs and Jones weren’t in the same ballpark on a contract extension although both sides felt he should be the NFL’s second-highest-paid interior defensive lineman. Jones was reportedly seeking $30 million per year to put him in the same vicinity as Aaron Donald, who signed a three-year, $95 million contract, averaging $31,666,667 per year, with the Los Angeles Rams in 2022 to become the league’s highest-paid non-quarterback.
The Chiefs were more comfortable paying Jones slightly more than Quinnen Williams, who was second in the interior defensive lineman salary hierarchy. Williams signed a four-year, $96 million contract extension, averaging $24 million per year, with the Jets in July 2023.
The Chiefs and Jones never did get on the same page regarding a contract extension. A compromise was reached to end his 51-day holdout without a long-term deal before preparations for Kansas City’s second regular-season game against the Jacksonville Jaguars began.
Modifications were made to Jones’ remaining 2023 contract year with 2024 through 2027 years voiding 10 days following Super Bowl LVIII on Feb. 21 being inserted into his deal. Jones’ existing $1.25 million sack incentive was made a part of the $5.5 million of new performance bonuses that were added as an option bonus escalator to pick up a 2028 contract year that also voided on Feb. 21.
Jones had so much conviction about his market value during the negotiations that he accumulated $2.25 million of mandatory fines ($50,000 per day) for missing training camp, lost one week’s regular-season salary worth $1,083,333 and forfeited a $500,000 workout bonus because he didn’t participate in the offseason conditioning program. He did earn $4.25 million of the escalator though.
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Author: Joel Corry
September 18, 2024 | 4:00 pm
