The Green Bay Packers are now one of just five teams who haven’t signed all of their draft picks. The remaining holdout is first-round pick Kenny Clark.
Clark reported for minicamp, opting not to stage a protest like Chargers’ unsigned first-round pick Joey Bosa did, but these things should be elementary now days. The collective bargaining agreement signed in 2011 made that so. It established a rookie salary pool that slots players into contract totals based upon where they were chosen.
There is literally very little room for negotiation anymore.
And yet, the Packers and Clark’s agent can’t seem to come to an agreement for some reason. We don’t know what that reason is, but the good news is there’s still over a month left before training camp and Clark doesn’t sound too worried.
“There’s still conversations,” Clark said. “There’s not a lot you can do with a rookie contract. It’s not that serious. I’m not worried about it.”
Is there any chance this deal doesn’t get done before camp?
The chances of that seem less than slim. By our recollection, there hasn’t been a single rookie holdout since the aforementioned collective bargaining agreement was instituted. The Packers most certainly haven’t had one.
So, unless some agents have dredged up some arcane details to argue about and really want to make a statement, don’t expect that to change this year.
The only arguments remaining are the size of guarantee and any offset language the team might be trying to add.
One of the few times I’m happy the NFL gets their way. It’s ridiculously selfish and stupid for players to holdout on their teams.