Shut Up and Play Football

Whatever happened to the days of signing a contract and honoring that contract until it is finished? The idea of a player claiming that they are out-playing their current contract and will possibly holdout or cling on to phantom injury to force a team’s hand to pay them more is ridiculous and flat-out childish. What’s even the point of signing the contract then? Why don’t we just have a system where players get paid each week based on what they produced? A tackle is worth so much, a sack even more, and turnovers pay out the most. This is what you guys want, right? But what would you have been able to bring home to your family in 2008 when you gave the Giants absolutely nothing, Umenyiora?

You were still paid a salary for that year, weren’t you? That is my point, sometimes you collect money in times when you do not produce nearly enough on the field to merit the pay.  If I don’t show up to work, and my week of vacation has been used, then I don’t get paid anything. So maybe show just a little bit of gratitude and loyalty to the team that has shown all that and more to you.

That goes for you too, Lance Briggs. After a year in which you went DOWN 29 tackles from the previous season, the Bears are supposed to give you a pay raise? Seriously? That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, and I would guess it’s not making much more sense for the front office in Chicago either. Lance, you’re an unrestricted free agent after the 2013. But my guess is that you already aren’t feeling very confident about you negotiating leverage two years from now when you’re 33 years-old. Maybe you should have thought about that when you signed a six-year deal.

The New York football Giants are already without All-Pro cornerback Terrell Thomas for likely the entire season. So you think they really need this crap from their starting defensive end right now? Osi, that knee “injury” of yours is a b.s. smokescreen that you are hiding behind, and we all know it. So stop pouting about your contract, be a man, and go out and prove to the Giants that the knee isn’t a major concern and they can feel good about paying you even more money than they already do. I agree with your teammate Justin Tuck, you’re healthy enough to play. I also agree with Eagles running back LeSean McCoy, you are soft.

You felt that the knee was bad enough to have surgery on it, so you did. So guess what, now the Giants don’t want to throw even more money on top of your current $41.4 million dollar contract. Are you really surprised by that? Are you that dumb, or just that greedy? My guess would be the latter.

You’re an unrestricted free agent after the 2012 season. So why don’t you just get on to that field as quickly as possible so you don’t lose more monetary worth going in to your next contract. Or does Osi really just not care too much about that next contract because he’s already assuming that this is his last big contract? Afterall, after the 2012 season is over, he will be a 31 year-old with a big fat scar on his knee.

I know this is a fantasy site, but I had to get this off my chest. So please, just pretend I’m a good writer, and allow me to indulge a little here.

There are fantasy leagues with individual defensive players, and in those leagues, both Lance and Osi are owned in well under 60% of them. Umenyiora is owned in about 53% of leagues ( mostly due to the career high 10 forced fumbles in 2010) which is a number than I can all but guarantee he will not approach this season. While Briggs is only owned in 23% of leagues right now, and he appears to be the one who will have a more productive 2011.

I know I am sort of comparing two guys here who play different positions, but at least Lance has stated that he will be playing in week 1, and he will not let the contact issues be a distraction on the field. For the Bears sake, I hope that ends up being the case.