It’s a case of whiners take all in today’s NFL
Acting out in NFL seems the surest way to have your get-me-out wish granted
NFL teams over the past year and change have sent a clear, loud message to any future disgruntled star players who want out. It’s something that the agent for left tackle Trent Williams pointed out the other day in as many words.
That is, superstars who whine and kick and scream to get traded ... get traded.
Indeed, acting out now seems the surest, fastest way to have your get-me-the-hell-outta-here wish granted in the NFL. Unfortunately.
Examples: Antonio Brown, Jalen Ramsey, Stefon Diggs, Deandre Hopkins and Darius Slay. All but Hopkins demanded (or at least requested with accoutrement) a trade in 2019. Each, either right away or by the start of the new league year two weeks ago, got his wish granted.
While Hopkins apparently did not demand a trade, his actions were tantamount.
Let’s briefly look at each’s case, before finishing up with how Williams has much differently handled his feud with the Washington Redskins for nearly a year — and where that got him.
ANTONIO BROWN
The immensely talented but immensely troubled wide receiver spent nearly all his winter a year ago publicly and caustically ripping his team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and some teammates at the time to compel a trade or obtain his release.
For months, Brown proved time and again in shocking diatribes against Steelers players, coaches, even ownership that he was the ultimate antithesis of a team player.
“I don’t need to prove anything to anyone,” he insisted. “If they (in the NFL) want me to play, they’re going to have to play by my rules.”
The patient Steelers held off trading Brown until the start of the new league year, then dealt the migraine-incarnate to the then-oakland Raiders. A series of even more bizarre and even more egregiously insubordinate statements and actions by Brown in Oakland left the Raiders no choice by early September but to cut him outright.
He then spent two weeks with the New England Patriots before that club let him go, days after allegations of sexual assaults were levelled against Brown by a former personal trainer.
He’s still out of work, at least as a catcher of footballs.
JALEN RAMSEY
The superstar cornerback last September got into a spat with Tom Coughlin, then-football czar of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Then he got into a sideline spat with head coach Doug Marrone.
Ramsey instantly requested a trade, which his agent leaked to the media. The following Monday, the fiery Ramsey called in sick. Two days later, he sat out practice with a weak back, which he claimed to have acquired a week earlier.
By early October, Jags owner Shad Khan let it be known he didn’t want players determining roster moves. The club then leaked a concern that Ramsey’s back issue was legit — so maybe it couldn’t trade him, even if it wanted to. Yet reports said the Jaguars were indeed entertaining offers for Ramsey, and already had declined offers of two first-round draft picks.
That proved true when, on
Oct. 15, the Los Angeles Rams obtained the corner by sending to the Jaguars 2020 and 2021 first-round draft picks, plus a 2021 fourth-rounder.
With his four-year rookie contract (worth US$23.4 million) now retired, Ramsey is due to earn $13.7 million in this, his club-option fifth year.
STEFON DIGGS
Three weeks into last season, the talented Minnesota Vikings wide receiver had been targeted only 12 times by Kirk Cousins. He caught just six passes for 101 yards.
Diggs was so frustrated, he cryptically-but-not-so-cryptically retweeted images of New England Patriots icons. See, the Pats then, as now, were starving for outside playmakers.
On Wednesday of that week, Diggs missed practice for an unlisted non-injury reason. The Vikings let it be known by the next day they would not trade him, period.
Diggs did not get traded by the October deadline. He became more productive, but in two playoff games caught just four passes.
A couple hours before the 2020 NFL trade window opened two weeks ago, Diggs tweeted “it’s time for a new beginning.” Trade speculation exploded again.
That night, the Vikes dealt Diggs to the Buffalo Bills, along with a 2020 seventh-round pick, for 2020 first-, fourth-, fifth- and sixth-round draft picks.
Diggs has four years remaining on the five-year, $72-million extension he signed with the Vikes. That’ll be a bargain for the Bills if Diggs plays to a Pro Bowl level.
DARIUS SLAY
Since 2017, when he led the NFL with eight interceptions and was named an all-pro,
Slay has been one of the NFL’S top cornerbacks. Entering the second last year of his second contract with the Detroit Lions last season, Slay wanted to be paid like an all-pro. With a 2019 salary of $12.6 million, he projected to be only the 13th highest paid.
Slay passed on all voluntary club activities in the spring, then held out from June’s mandatory three-day mini-camp. Slay did report for duty at training camp, confirming a desire to get paid commensurate with his status.
The Lions’ 2019 season tanked after a 2-0-1 start. By late October, Slay was mentioned as a possible, if not probable,
NFL trade candidate. But only his good friend and teammate, safety Quandre Diggs, got dealt. To Seattle. Slay again vented his frustrations in interviews, reiterating a desire to shine on the field no “matter where I’m at.”
Two weeks ago, the Lions traded Slay to the Philadelphia Eagles. As part of the trade, the Eagles reportedly rewarded Slay with a three-year contract extension that makes him the highest-paid corner in the league, at $16.7 million per season.
DEANDRE HOPKINS
Through his representatives, Hopkins — an all-pro wide receiver for the past three seasons — reportedly threatened this winter to hold out if the Houston Texans did not meet his demand for a higher-paying contract, even though the 27-yearold still had three seasons to go on his current five-year, $81-million deal.
Hopkins, entering his eighth pro season, is due to earn salaries of $12.5 million, $13.5 million and $13.9 million from 2020-22.
ESPN’S Dianna Russini tweeted March 18 that Hopkins had sought annual remuneration from the Texans in the $18-20 million range. Si.com’s Albert Breer later reported that word from other teams is Hopkins wanted “more than $20 million per year.”
The Texans traded Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals, who reportedly are willing to appease Hopkins’ financial desires. That Hopkins had clashed often, and intensely, last season with head coach and GM Bill O’brien surely was no small factor in the trade, it should be noted.
If you truly are an NFL superstar who wants out of your current club, and hope to take the high road in public, well, look where that has got Trent Williams.
For nearly a year now, one of the NFL’S best left tackles has asked, through his agent, for the Redskins to trade him. This, after he lost faith in the club’s medical practitioners.
As he finally explained in early November, Williams claimed to be offended, and scared, by what he saw as a lackadaisical response by the club and its medical professionals after he was diagnosed more than a year ago with a rare kind of cancer found in a malignant growth on his head. For more than six months preceding November, Williams and his agent publicly had been mum about it.
The club responded by placing Williams on the non-football injury list, parking him for the rest of 2019.
Last Tuesday, the seven-time Pro Bowler’s agent Vince Taylor cut to the crux of the situation with his client.
“Throughout the process,” Taylor said, “Williams has maintained his silence and not spoken negatively about the team, nor has he pursued potential legal actions. This seems to not be a successful strategy.
“Players who are outwardly critical of the team do get traded. Although Trent Williams will always love and respect (owner) Dan Snyder, his teammates and the Washington Redskins fans, he wants to be traded or released.”
Watch. Won’t take long now.