Philip Rivers is 37
Forrest Lamp Jerseys Stitched , but his level of play, his commitment to playing beyond 2019 and the Chargers’ signing of Tyrod
out of the quarterback market.Not surprisingly, Chargers General Manager Tom
Telesco isn’t ruling anything out.“Pretty happy with our quarterback room,”
Telesco said in his pre-draft press conference Monday, via video from the team
website. “But you have to [keep an open mind about drafting a quarterback]. . .
.You always have to be looking toward the future. That’s just natural with where
Philip is. But Philip had a career year last year, and he’s really showing no
signs of descending. We’re very happy with Tyrod. We feel like we have two
starting-level NFL quarterbacks, which is important for us right now. We have a
good football team and now we have two quarterbacks we feel like we can win
with, and we also have Cardale [Jones], who we still think has the developmental
qualities we like a lot. So it’s a good group right now.”Rivers was an MVP
candidate part of last season, completing 68.3 percent of his passes for
4
Youth Derwin James Jerseys ,308 yards with 32 touchdowns and a 105.5 passer rating. He made his eighth Pro Bowl, though he withdrew with an ankle injury.“He’s playing
at a really high level right now,” Telesco said. “My expectation is he’s going
to be here awhile. I haven’t seen any different.”Rivers is entering his 16th NFL
season. He previously has said he wants to play through at least 2020, so he can
open the team’s new stadium in September.The Chargers expect to extend Rivers’
deal. He has one year remaining on his current contract, paying him $11 million
in base salary this season and counting $23 million against the salary cap.“I’m
grateful for each year. I really am. I’m grateful for every year that he’s
playing,” Telesco said. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t look long term and see
what the solution is down the road. But I’m grateful for every year. I don’t
know if it was a career year last year, but it was certainly close.” Whenever
players under contract choose not to show up for training camp, management-side
mouthpieces routinely lament the fact that the player has chosen to violate the
terms of his agreement. But there are two agreements that apply to every NFL
player: The agreement between player and team, and the agreement between all
players and the league.That broader agreement gives each player the right to
skip training camp, with the understanding that he can be punished with
expensive fine (many of which often are never actually collected). The
Collective Bargaining Agreement could have been written in stronger
terms
Derwin James Jerseys Stitched , allowing the team to pursue a court order forcing the player to return or giving the team the right to shut the player down for the
entire year if he doesn’t show up. Instead, the CBA authorizes teams only to
fine a player who doesn’t show up — which necessarily authorizes all players to
not show up.Once a player shows up, everything changes. If he later leaves, the
team can send him a “five-day letter,” which (obvious given the label) tells the
player that if he doesn’t return within five days, he could be placed on the
reserve/left squad list. Placement on the reserve/left squad list ends the
player’s season, prevents him from playing for anyone (even if traded), and
tolls the contract that he already doesn’t like for an entire year.That’s why
players almost never show up and then walk out. The CBA shifts the power to the
team once the player reports for camp.Of course, there’s room for creativity,
notwithstanding the team’s power to end the season of a player who reports and
then bolts. For most if not all key players who hold out
Youth Kyzir White Jerseys , the team doesn’t want to be without them for the full season. If Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott, for example, reports with a
pledge from the team to get his deal done and he later grows frustrated by a
lack of progress and leaves, would the Cowboys shut him down for the whole
season? Hell no.Players also could, if they wanted, choose to leave, wait for
the five-day letter, and then return on day four, perhaps repeatedly.The other
dynamic at play when it comes to holding out versus walking out is the
distraction factor. It’s less of a disruption for a player to have never shown
up than for a player to be there and then literally to disrupt the proceedings
by getting up and leaving.For those reasons, it makes far more sense for
Elliott
Kyzir White Jerseys Stitched , Chargers running back Melvin Gordon, Jaguars defensive end Yannick Ngakoue, Saints receiver Michael Thomas, and Washington tackle Trent
Williams to not show up. Yes, it can get expensive. But they have the power to
do it under the labor agreement, and the best way to pressure an NFL team into
fixing a contract that has been outperformed is to withhold services by not
showing up at all.
