Cue the Priest Holmes training camp appearance in 3, 2, 1....
My blood pressure goes up the day camp starts and guys aren't there because of contract negotiations. From PFW:
And from what we hear, Kansas City is still not close to signing their two Round One choices, DT Glenn Dorsey and OL Branden Albert, both of whom may be waiting for more of their fellow first-rounders to ink deals. An even greater concern, however, is that the Chiefs haven’t been able to nail down contracts with many of their mid- and late-round picks, a few of whom they’ll need to contribute immediately.
What's holding up the signing of our draft picks? Well, first off, it's not that late in the process just yet. You'd expect Glenn Dorsey to at least wait until the first defensive player picked before him, Chris Long, is signed so you can compare deals. That's to be expected.
Still other delays stem from the lack of a collective bargaining agreement in 2011, which affects the allocation of money throughout the life of a contract. From John Clayton:Under the rookie pool, base salaries can only increase 25 percent per year, but agents found a loophole in which a draft choice can receive a one-time bonus and guarantee it in the final year of the contract. This particularly affects second-round choices because they sign four-year deals. The problem in this summer's negotiations is that there is no collective bargaining agreement in 2011 so the fourth year of the contract can't be involved in any kind of guarantees.
So, we have the usual summer contract BS to deal with this year, plus an amorphous "future" contract problem.
To date, only three first round picks have signed - #1 Jake Long, #3 Matt Ryan and #4 Darren McFadden.
It really appears that at least Glenn Dorsey and Branden Albert will not be participating in training camp for at least a couple of weeks.
I fully expect six or seven of our remaining nine unsigned picks to complete contracts in bunches over the next ten days or so, which seems to be the Kansas City Chiefs' modus operandi when it comes to this stuff.
And just to mention the picture, doesn't it seem like forever ago that we were talking about Priest Holmes at River Falls, WI? Man, a 4-12 season will age you quickly.