Now Greg White's agent, Jack Bechta is pulling back from the trade demands he made yesterday.
When reached late Thursday night, Bechta said he had dialogue with the team and cautiously added "We won't be pushing for a trade 'right now.'"
So, I guess he had a conversation with the Buccaneers and was at least partially satisfied with what they had to say, so he's taking back what he said yesterday. Except in the media, there are no take backs. He said it. He took a hardline stance and made it public. So now he looks weak moving off of his position when no real progress has been made -- at least not progress he's willing to share. If you're going to go to all the trouble of announcing to the media that you want to be traded and give the added "fuck you" of a deadline, you should be ready to hold that ground until you get what you want.
The whole idea of a trade demand of a second year player is ridiculous anyway. I agree that he should be rewarded, but his only bargaining tool is to withhold his services and sit out a year. And let's face it, the Bucs have enough defensive ends on the roster to where that probably wouldn't bother them all that much. White may be better than all of them, but that's not a point he can make by sitting out. I can't believe that whatever money White hopes to gain with this maneuver is worth the public image hit he's taking by making all this public. His reputation was spotless before this. Hell, I had an entry last year titled, "Greg White Is Appreciative". Everyone has to pay their dues for four years until they're eligible for unrestricted free agency.
At least that's the way it is now. If the CBA is voided and the league goes capless in 2010, the tenure requirement for unrestricted free agency gets bumped up to six years. How pissed would White be then? If there's a chance that White could be tied to the Bucs for the next five years, is it really a good idea to become an irritant to them so soon?
Comments (2)
No kidding! He does deserve something... But I know I read where his agent compared him to Gaines Adams and said they would be happy with similar numbers... ME TOO! However, with rookie salaries being ridiculous, no way he sees that! Be happy you are making more than you were. Or, go back to Best Buy and the AFL... Even Canada, you can compare league notes with David Boston.
Posted by Roger | April 25, 2008 9:45 AM
White's strategy makes total sense. In the modern NFL, everyone knows that the contracts mean nothing -- somewhere along the way, the contract will either be renegotiated or the player cut.
The more noise the player makes about wanting a new contract, the sooner the contract gets renegotiated or the player cut so that they can move on.
So while it may sound greedy to us to demand a new contract when you don't have a right to such a contract, it has become the standard method of negotiating in the NFL.
If White did not complain, Allen would assume that White is unwilling to make a fuss and will put his contract at the end of the negotiating line.
If White makes enough noise, Allen will have to decide now whether to deal or cut bait or to put the decision off and try to force White to play. But forcing someone to play runs the risk that they will be disruptive.
The fact that White appears placated with whatever the Bucs promised him is a great sign. It sounds like Allen agreed that they want to give him a new contract and promised that he would do it at some point in the future that is soon enough to be acceptable to White.
Posted by Matt Price | April 25, 2008 12:13 PM