No kidding. We were also told that Andre wouldn't give up $1MM by not showing up to mini-camp. It's quite clear he's less interested in the immediate money than you think he is. He could always hold out for part of the season or just not work very hard to earn the credit on his contract. If shows up but doesn't do much, the team might suspend him and still not pay him, but he'd get his free agency next year anyway. You're looking at this from a very narrow view of possibilities, but there are all sorts of ways this plays out - just depends on how much AJ is willing to give up.
Actually Belichick ran to pick up Randy Moss after he tanked it in Oakland. He had a horrible season that year and New England still wanted him. Silver lining is that if AJ does decide to show up and give his all he will be fresh and the team can lean on him. Being in training camp at his age does nothing for him or the team. It's not his job to teach Fitzpatrick how to throw, the offensive line how to block, etc. That's the coaching staffs job.
I guess you're right, we should never underestimate the potential stupidity of man. Maybe he doesn't care about making money, maybe he does want to hurt his stock around the league so that his next contract is pennies on the dollar. I suppose I was only looking at a narrow view of possibilities because I never considered the possibility that Andre Johnson might have turned into a complete r****d over the summer. Who knows? Maybe he does want to completely ruin his image and end up like TO or Chad Johnson begging teams to give him a shot in a few years. No one knows that but Andre. He already gave up 1 mil, maybe he's in the mood to give up 8 or 10 more million just for kicks.
And then dumped him coming off of a 1200+ yard season where he led the league in TD receptions in the middle of a season where he had 3 TD receptions in 3 starts at the age of 33 (same as Andre) because he started to give them trouble about a contract extension.....his career never recovered.
Is there any talk that, perhaps behind the scenes, the Texans asked him to take a paycut this year? And that's what started all of this?
I dunno, I never heard anything like that. The only think I've heard about is that he wanted a new deal and got rejected but who knows?
I heard them speculating about that on the radio...but if that happened, you can be sure that Andre and his advisers would go public with that to deflect criticism for not showing up.
After the whole Eric Winston "they never even offered to restructure my deal" thing, I kind of doubt that. It's not hard to figure out what is behind this. 1) He doesn't want to spend a year absorbing a new situation only to be inevitably cut next year 2) He doesn't want his next contract to be tied to the 2014 Texans campaign (a rebuilding project with a coach and QB he is unsure of) 3) He doesn't want to waste another year of his prime production on an also-ran 4) He wants immediate financial security (if he blows out his knee in training camp, he won't earn another red cent in the NFL) Essentially, this is the Dwightmare in reverse. It's the player telling the team "either sign me long term or trade me", instead of the team telling the player "either sign with us long term or let us trade you".
Something about a retweet he favorited. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>What do you think are the reasons behind <a href="https://twitter.com/johnson80">@johnson80</a> holdout? Mad Radio discusses possibilities with Gil Brandt >> <a href="http://t.co/fVrbuIhuxI">http://t.co/fVrbuIhuxI</a></p>— SportsRadio 610 (@SportsRadio610) <a href="https://twitter.com/SportsRadio610/statuses/479327732095258624">June 18, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Basically he does little to nothing on Twitter but went out of his way to upvote that article.
Again, you're making the fundamental mistake of thinking that whatever you value is what he values. Perhaps he has plenty of money and doesn't really care what fans think. Maybe if he's going to play and put his body through the grind, he wants to play for a contender, and otherwise, he's fine not doing so. Lots of players go through that towards the latter stages of their careers. Barry Sanders retired early for that reason. It's arrogant to think that because someone else doesn't prioritize what you think they should, that they are stupid or r****ded.
It's not an article, it's a podcast. I think AJ favorited it, not retweeted it. Considering how inactive AJ is on twitter, that actually is substantial.
The gist was (listened live) Two rumors: 1) Andre wants a trade to a contender 2) Andre was asked to take a paycut and is mad about it
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Why is Andre Johnson holding out? Wants to play for team w shot to go deep in playoffs, turns 33 in July. Has caught 200+ passes last 2 yrs</p>— Gil Brandt (@Gil_Brandt) <a href="https://twitter.com/Gil_Brandt/statuses/478921705327316993">June 17, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
It's not what "I" value, it's what he should value. He should want to do what gets him the most money and prolongs his career and gives him a shot at the HOF. Holding out for an entire season isn't a way to get any of that. Holding out too long in camp ensuring a bad season isn't a way of getting any of that. Rational self-interest is what I'm talking about here. He has nothing to gain by tarnishing his reputation around the league.
Okay, but 1 can't happen and while I can understand being upset about 2 if it actually happened, it shouldn't cause him to do things against his own interest.
Something I took from this is when he said "Sometimes you can get advice from people that really aren't capable.....of giving out advice" when talking about Andre taking advice from his uncle again. I think that's a HUGE part of this mess, when smart people take advice from foolish people, they often act foolishly as a result.
