On Tuesday afternoon, word emerged that running back J.K. Dobbins has signed with the Broncos. Not long thereafter, coach Sean Payton met with reporters.
And Payton was mum about the situation.
“I’m not going to answer to any reports,” Payton said. “I think we’re close. I’ll tell you tomorrow.”
Dobbins likely will be in the fold on Wednesday, and he potentially will be talking to reporters. It’ll be interesting to hear what he has to say about his prior team’s decision to apply the rarely-used unrestricted free agency tender on Dobbins.
The goal wasn’t to keep him, not after signing Najee Harris and drafting Omarion Hampton in round one. The objective was to extend the window for having Dobbins’s departure count toward the compensatory draft pick formula.
As we understand it, Dobbins’s Denver salary was held to $2.065 million in order to minimize the impact of the signing on the compensatory pick calculation both for the Chargers (as to UFA losses) and for the Broncos (as to UFA gains).
He most likely would have gotten more if the Chargers hadn’t played the UFA tender game. And while it’s a right the Chargers had under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the specific application of it worked to Dobbins’s disadvantage.
That’s fine. But keep this in mind the next time a player takes full advantage of his rights under the CBA. If it’s fair game for the teams to take full advantage of its CBA rights, it’s fair game for the players to do it, too.
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