Doc's take on the holdouts

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http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art.../507310352/1066

Sunday, July 31, 2005

Players pay price for their agents' bartering

By Paul Daugherty

Enquirer staff writer

The pointless dance continues between the Bengals and their top two draft picks. While the team and the agents scrum over nickels, David Pollack and Odell Thurman hang out waiting for the phone to ring, doing whatever it is holdouts do.

What a waste.

The Bengals need to avoid a third consecutive 1-4 start. That would be easier to do with the two rookie linebackers they've decided should be starters. We'll give Pollack and Thurman the benefit of the doubt and assume they're climbing the walls, looking for running backs to hit. What they need to do is go upside their agents' heads instead.

They're not alone. Most first-rounders are right there with them. Second-rounders, too. For a change, it isn't about money. The difference in dollars that holdouts will make by holding out is tiny, especially when compared with the learning time they're losing.

It's about self-centric agents already planning for next year's crop of clients. It's about egos and wills and who gets to pull deepest on the Cohiba cigar when the contract is finally done. The player's interest is secondary.

"(Agents) are more concerned about how it looks than they are about the client," said Richard Katz, who happens to be an agent with 23 NFL clients and one NBA guy, Jason Maxiell. "The agent doesn't want to make a deal and have the guy behind him (in the draft order) make a better deal. If you don't get fair market, other agents will slam you. You're out of business."

Did we mention that there is nothing more pointless in pro sports than an NFL draft pick holding out? Players are slotted. Their agents already have a good idea what their clients will make. There are side issues - contract lengths, signing bonuses and incentives. But even those are standard enough; the negotiating space is narrow.

Some have suggested the NFL adopt a wage scale for rookies. With the slotting and the "rookie pool" of money each team has, there's practically a scale now. Which means Pollack and Thurman are probably staying away for what in the NFL amounts to chump change. On the advice of their agents.

Meanwhile, real Bengals are on the field, getting in football shape physically and, more importantly, mentally. Pollack is going from a down lineman in college to an outside linebacker in the NFL. You don't think that requires a little studying, a few repetitions and some coaching? It's like going to veterinary school and taking a job in an emergency room. The danger is Pollack and Thurman will spend their rookie years catching up.

The Bengals aren't innocent in this. They low-ball rookies routinely. Just because Mike Brown isn't out front doesn't mean he isn't working. The tight-fist gene doesn't skip a generation.

Regardless, didn't everyone know everyone on draft day? Wasn't that three months ago? Labor negotiations often require a deadline before they move, but this is stupid. "In some cases, where you have a position player that needs to learn, the time

missed in camp might not be worth it," Katz said.

Here's what Katz did with former client Shaun Alexander, the Boone County High star now starring in Seattle: Had him sign a rookie base contract for $440,000 a year for five years. Included incentives for points scored and yards gained. Got him in camp on time. Because he was present and effective, Alexander made all his incentives. By last season, he was pulling down $4.2 million.

You cannot win if you do not play. Pollack and Thurman will have incentives in their deals. Will they reach them if they're not starting? Will they risk injury by missing lots of camp and playing too quickly in the regular season? Will their heads be spinning like wooden nickels when they're out there, because they haven't had the reps and the teaching?

Yup.

Holdouts help the people who have no direct stake in how a team plays. That would be the agents. Which raises the question: Who's working for whom?