July 25, 2024
If you look around the NFL, a lot of teams deal with players holding out (or "holding in") at the start of training camp each season. This year, for example, the 49ers (OT Trent Williams and WR Brandon Aiyuk), Cowboys (WR CeeDee Lamb), Jets (EDGE Haason Reddick), Packers (QB Jordan Love), Dolphins (QB Tua Tagovailoa), and Saints (RB Alvin Kamara) all have key players who are not yet participating in practices or are staying away from their teams' camps entirely.
The Eagles have avoided holdouts in recent seasons.
"I think it starts with ownership," Howie Roseman said on Wednesday. "Starts with Jeffrey's ability to let us sign guys early and to try to get out ahead of things, which we couldn't do without his help and support. I think he deserves the credit on this."
This offseason, the Eagles signed WR A.J. Brown, WR DeVonta Smith, LG Landon Dickerson, and LT Jordan Mailata to contract extensions.
"Listen, again, you're dealing with 91 guys," Roseman cautioned. "You're going to have issues. It's not going to be perfect. I actually thought what [San Francisco 49ers LB] Fred Warner said was really fricking unbelievable. It's like, the better you get, the more of those issues you're going to have. When you're a good team, people are responsible for making you a good team, and those players are going to want to be compensated that way, those coaches, those front office personnel. It's just the nature of the business.
"Obviously the key for us has been to go to [extend] guys early and try to get ahead of those things. It's not perfect and I'm sure sitting here we'll have issues going forward. You know, I think that it's hard to understand what goes on in those situations from other teams because we're sitting here with our own issues and situations."
Here's the Warner quote Roseman was referring to:
"When you're part of such a talented roster, this is something that goes on every season. It's a good issue to have because it means your players are performing at such a high level."
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) July 23, 2024
- Fred Warner on Aiyuk's contract situation (via @WillardAndDibs).
🎧 https://t.co/v6x0ZmKUGi pic.twitter.com/FWcHbuNFsI
The Eagles have made the playoffs in each of the last three seasons. During those three seasons, their players have been awarded with 21 Pro Bowl nods. They have been a good team, but have avoided conflict.
One of the holdouts noted above is Hasson Reddick, who missed the first few practices of 2023 Eagles training camp with "groin soreness." Reddick openly expressed that he was underpaid relative to other top edge rushers around the league at the time, but his early absence was never officially reported as a holdout/"hold in." Still unhappy with his contract during the 2024 offseason, Reddick was traded by the Eagles to the Jets, which was an unpopular move at the time, but is beginning to make more sense as his absence from Jets camp has become a major storyline/headache for the team.
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