Roddy White deserves to be paid like a No. 1 receiver – he just doesn’t deserve to be paid like Larry Fitzgerald.
White, the Falcons best receiver and top playmaker, is currently in holdout mode in hopes of getting a new contract. He’s in the final year of his rookie deal that will pay him $2.28 million this season and if he can’t reach a contract agreement with the Falcons, he’ll be a restricted free agent next year since the owners are opting out of the collective bargaining agreement. (2010 is heading for an uncapped year.)
Last season, White hauled in 88 passes for 1,382 yards and seven touchdowns while helping to lead Atlanta to a miraculous playoff appearance. But when the Falcons opened their doors for training camp last Friday, White was nowhere to be found and is reportedly working out on his own in Alabama. Making matters worse for the Falcons, they just lost slot receiver Harry Douglas (who has been subbing for White during the holdout) for the season after he tore his ACL on Wednesday.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, contract talks between White and the Falcons have soured, with GM Thomas Dimitroff indicating that the holdout could go deep into camp. With White seeking a deal similar to what Fitz got (four years, $40 million), the Falcons may soon pull their offer off the table and make Roddy play out the final year of his contract.
This situation could have been avoided had White and his agent showed a little more trust and humility from the start. While White certainly has put up fantastic numbers these past two seasons (171 receptions, 2,584 yards, 13 TDs), he also shorted the Falcons during the first two years of his contract when he only caught 59 passes for a messily 952 yards and three touchdowns.
White and his agent shouldn’t be held over the coals for wanting to get a new deal done before the season starts. After all, NFL contracts aren’t guaranteed and if White had hurt himself like Douglas did, then the Falcons could have low-balled him when it came time to renew at the end of the season.
But what’s puzzling is that White was almost ran out of town because he couldn’t hang onto the ball in his first two years and now he’s holding the Falcons at gun point while seeking a new contract. Receivers typically don’t mature until their third season, but White barely showed even a flicker of promise in his first two years and many NFL pundits were ready to deem him a bust. Yet the Falcons stood by him and when Bobby Petrino brought his gimmick passing offense to Atlanta in 2007, White flourished.
So this is how White repays the team that stuck by him? By demanding a new contract after he barely filled the requirements for his first one? Again, I don’t blame White for seeking a new deal; after all, this is business. But he should have reported to camp and trusted that Dimitroff (the reigning NFL Executive of the Year mind you) would have gotten a deal worked out at some point during the year, just as he did for Michael Jenkins and Jonathan Babineaux in 2008.
Chances are, White would have received a fair deal that worked out for both him and the Falcons. Yet because of his arrogance and defiance, he’s pissing Dimitroff off and who knows when (or if) a deal will get worked out.
And in case you’ve forgotten, Dimitroff cut his teeth in the Patriots’ organization, so he’s going to bend to athletes forcing him to dole out a new contract. Even with Douglas’s injury, Dimitroff isn’t going to feel pressured to get a deal done with White and chances are, he’s already got a backup plan ready in case Roddy wants to continue his holdout well into the fall. (Although I will say that Dimitroff screwed the pooch by trading Laurent Robinson to the Rams for a couple of practice tees this offseason.)
