There will be no surprise unveiling minutes before 1 p.m. Sunday to send 2011 off on its merry way. No joyous hugs between Joe Banner and his receiver in front of the FOX cameras.
There is hard business going on. And there has been no movement that suggests the state of affairs are about to change.
Talks are currently at a standstill. At issue is the following:
Jackson is seeking a pay day in line with the recently-adjusted market for star receivers. Santonio Holmes signed a five-year, $45.5 million contract in late July before Larry Fitzgerald broke the bank with an eight-year, $128.5 mega-deal.
Agent Drew Rosenhaus is eyeing a five-year deal that fits somewhere between the two, though much closer to Holmes money. The Eagles do not appear to be near that ballpark and have yet to make an offer, according to a league source.
Without an offer there can be no counter-offer, and so silence stands in its place.
During an appearance on 97.5 The Fanatic Thursday, Banner was asked if the Eagles are capable financially of giving a significant extension to somebody like Jackson.
“Mathematically we are in a position where we can sign someone to an extension,” said Banner. “At the same time there are numbers that get so large that you can’t do that. But that is not what would keep us from doing something with somebody at this point.”
A recent report has the Eagles at $8 million under the cap.
If money is not the predominant reason for the stall, then what is?
It may simply be a matter of risk versus leverage.
The Eagles have Jackson under contract this season at a very team-friendly cost of $600,000. They could give him a big contract now, or they can wait and see if the slight-of-frame, twice-concussed receiver makes it through the year. If he does and shines like he has in the past, then they have the option of either trying to work a deal out then, or placing the franchise tag on him to secure his services for 2012. That is the prudent play in terms of minimizing long-term financial risk.
“The system is structured so you have rookie contracts, and there are a lot of very, very high-quality players — some of whom get a new contracts during their rookie contract and some who have to wait to the end of those contracts,” said Banner. “The history is that the best interest of those players as well as those teams is for them to just come and do the best they can, and sooner or later — the timing varies from team-to-team and situation-to-situation — those players get taken care of.”
The flip side is that emotions are involved, and the longer Jackson is left vulnerable without a new deal, the more slighted he is going to feel. It is fair to ask how that would affect his play. And would he want to negotiate with the Eagles at the end of the year after playing 16-plus games under such conditions? If the answer is to franchise him, will he willingly accept?
Things could devolve rather quickly.
What’s more, you can argue that the scales start to slide away from the Eagles and toward Jackson as the season progresses. The further into the schedule they get, the more tempting it may be to ride out the current contract and see how the hand plays out.
Most Eagles fans are hoping it never gets to this point. They would prefer a deal get done soon so that tensions are eased and their star receiver is locked up long-term. That is why some are entertaining the possibility of a “Surprise!” contract being thrown on their laps right before kickoff.
But there will be no deal on Sunday. And while it’s certainly not too late to come to a resolution — talks could conceivably kickstart at any time — there is a point where the conversation changes from not when, but if a new contract gets done.
source: phillysportsdaily.com
author:Tim McManus
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