D.K. Metcalf could finally laugh about it. A $30 million signing bonus does that to a man.
The Seahawks receiver sat in a press conference Friday after signing a three-year contract extension worth up to $72 million. He’d told the Seahawks he’d leave the only franchise he’d ever known at the end of the season if he didn’t get a new deal. In the meantime, he took the same negotiating tack that Bears linebacker Roquan Smith did when he reported to training camp last week.
Metcalf was a “hold-in,” reporting to camp so the league wouldn’t fine him — but refusing to practice until Seahawks general manager John Schneider gave him a new contract.
Friday, contract in hand, he said he was never going anywhere.
“I was going to be here,” Metcalf said, “As much as I bluffed to John, I wasn’t leaving, just to let you all know. I wanted to be here. I wanted to play here. And I’m glad that we got something done.”
In the NFL, players are holdouts — or, in this case, “hold-ins” — until the very second they’re not.
Metcalf isn’t anymore. Neither is receiver Deebo Samuel, another “hold-in,” who signed a three-year extension Monday worth $73.5 million — sound familiar? — to remain with the 49ers.
“Holding in” works.
Smith has yet to play a second of practice, but had a good week nonetheless. Metcalf and Samuel made sure of it.
it stands to figure that Smith will get close to what he wants, eventually. Until then, though, his absence hurts the momentum of a team in need of some positive buzz after a bummer of a first week of camp. Highlights thus far include center Lucas Patrick breaking his thumb, tackle Teven Jenkins disappearing and Justin Fields struggling.
None of that is motivation enough, apparently. Monday, Smith did what he’s done during every training camp practice: stand and watch. Afterward, head coach Matt Eberflus was asked whether there was any momentum between Smith and general manager Ryan Poles toward a contract extension.
“I’m not in the middle of that, so I really can’t say there’s progress [or] not progress,” he said. “That’s Ryan and him working together. So I don’t really have an update [on] my part.
“I just feel that he’s being a professional. He’s in the meetings and he’s doing a good job with helping the younger players.”
Not that Smith’s situation mimics the receivers’. All four are playing with a new starting quarterback this season, and need every snap they can get with them. Poles, meanwhile, knows he can’t let himself get trampled in issuing his first major contract extension. If first-year general managers give any quarter early on, they’ll be perceived as weak by agents and peers. Poles certainly doesn’t want a player bragging about bluffing him in a press conference.
Both sides are being polite publicly. But each passing day in which Smith doesn’t practice — particularly once the team puts on pads Tuesday — is a missed opportunity for a regime that wants to emphasize accountability in everything it does. Eberflus and his staff scour the practice film every day looking for “loafs” — players who jog instead of sprint during a drill, for example. How long can they tolerate a player not being there at all?
Smith — who the Bears put on the Physically Unable to Perform list without detailing why — has less than six weeks before the season opener against Samuel and the 49ers. That’s plenty of time to get ready. But as talented as Smith is, Smith is playing a new position, weak-side linebacker, in a 4-3 defense. Defensive coordinator Alan Williams explained earlier this week how different his sightline will be — think side balcony, not orchestra center.
It’s not hard to see what Smith wants. The Colts’ Darius Leonard, who starred under Eberflus, signed a five-year, $98.5 million deal a year ago. A month before that, the 49ers’ Fred Warner got $95.2 million over five years. Smith could point to inflation and say he deserves more — every contract is created to be topped, after all — but he’s not as decorated as either player, and his team isn’t as primed to win as the 49ers and Colts were.
Metcalf and Samuel knew what they wanted, too. They targeted contracts handed out to two other Day 2 2019 draft picks, the Eagles’ A.J. Brown and the Commanders’ Terry McLaurin. All four wound up getting between $53 and $58 million guaranteed, with Brown getting four years and Metcalf, Samuel and McLaurin three. Figuring out the financials was only truly complicated in the case of Samuel, the part-time running back who got bonuses for rushing yards.
“Basically all 4 of us got the same contract,” Brown Tweeted on Monday.
Maybe one day Smith can Tweet that about Leonard and Warner.
Until then, though, the “hold-in” continues. And the clock ticks.
