Every once in a while it’s worth reminding ourselves that the salary cap is largely an excuse for owners to cover up their obsession with cheap(er) labor. Cap managers and general managers can almost always make it work. Their bosses pay them handsome salaries to shield the public from their own frugality, which is often applied randomly and senselessly based on whomever the owner last spoke to at the country club.
This is why I mostly find myself rooting for a player during a holdout and especially why I am tracking the simultaneous holdouts (or hold-ins) of Brandon Aiyuk, CeeDee Lamb and Ja’Marr Chase. The prevailing theory is that all of them will be paid sooner or later, and I agree. However, I think we’re not properly addressing the receivers’ collective urgency to get these deals done now.
