Not that long ago, some media and fans would gnash their teeth and/or clutch their pearls at the notion that NFL players were acquiring the kind of power NBA players have.
Don’t look now, but NFL players are slowly but surely getting there.
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The recent Dexter Lawrence trade from the Giants to the Bengals is the latest example of it. Lawrence, a “middle stone” player for the New York defense, wasn’t happy. He wanted out. He asked to be traded. Within two weeks, he was.
It’s a far cry from the days when the prevailing view among NFL teams was to not flinch when a player wasn’t happy. Instead, teams dug in. And some in the media (along with plenty of fans) would lead the cheers. “Honor your contract” was the mantra — even if NFL contracts are not true bilateral deals. The team can move on whenever it wants; the player cannot.
Now, maybe the players can get out. Because an unhappy player becomes a problem for the team.
The Giants knew Lawrence wasn’t happy. It wasn’t a sudden thing. They’ve been to the playoffs once in his career. They’ve gone 13-38 over the last three seasons.
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Meanwhile, Lawrence had seen multiple former teammates go elsewhere and win — big. From Saquon Barkley to Leonard Williams to Julian Love, Lawrence has watched multiple teammates exit New York and win a Super Bowl ring with another team. (Hell, even failed Giants first-rounder Kadarius Toney won not one but two Super Bowls with the Chiefs.)
And so Lawrence wanted out. The Giants realized their choices were to deal with an unhappy player or flip his contract for a fresh start with a brand-new player who (at least for the first few years of his career) will be all in. Especially if the Giants choose wisely.
When former Steelers coach Mike Tomlin first uttered one of the best of his catch phrases — “we want volunteers, not hostages” — the sentiment had broad and potentially problematic application. If a player doesn’t want to be here, we don’t want him. That’s a blank check for a one-way ticket out of town, whenever the player wants to hop on that bus.
There was a time, not all that long ago, when the knee-jerk reaction to a player who tried to exit before his contract expired was to play hardball. To resist the player’s prerogative. To refrain from setting a “precedent” that others could be tempted to utilize.
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The showdown between the Eagles and Terrell Owens from 2005 arose directly from the team’s refusal either to address his contract or to trade him to a new team after he had a stellar debut season in Philadelphia.
In the end, the Eagles “won” the battle of wills. But what did they really win? The 2005 season was undermined by the constant distractions that Owens created in an effort to get what he wanted.
Owens was, in hindsight, a trailblazer. He showed what can happen when a team chooses to stubbornly cling to a contract that applies unequal standards to the two parties. If the player isn’t playing well enough, the team cuts him. If he’s playing better than expected, too bad. You signed a contract.
The most encouraging fact is that Lawrence was able to get what he wanted without it becoming a bigger deal than it needed to be. To the point where the successful exercise of power by the player wasn’t even a major headline.
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We want volunteers, not hostages. The teams that embrace this message are more likely to accumulate and maintain a locker room full of willing participants. They’ll be more likely to create an environment that will cause the best players to continue to be fully engaged.
It’s an important point to keep in mind during draft week, when all teams will emerge with a new class of de facto hostages who have been conditioned (or, more accurately, brainwashed) into thinking it’s an honor to be told where they’ll live and work, regardless of their preferences. From the moment they show up in the building for the first time, the challenge becomes getting them to want to stay for as long as the team considers them to be worthy of roster spots.
Ultimately, all players will leave. It’s always better, from the perspective of the employer, for the teams to be able to decide when it’s time to end the relationship. The best way to get there is to ensure that the players will want to stick around even after the team has decided that it’s in the organization’s best interests to move on.
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