It's time for you to come to camp...
The Jacksonville Jaguars and first round draft pick Derrick Harvey found themselves in an awkward situation with his potential signing. Harvey, selected 8th, found himself between two other unsigned players, The Saints Sedrick Ellis and Bengals Keith Rivers bracketed Harvey, which creates a sort of "Mexican Standoff" type of situation. Harvey is represented by Ken Kramer, a member of CAA, and will typically "slot" his players based on who signs before and after the draft spot. Unfortunately for Harvey and the Jaguars, the other agents were doing the same thing.
The impasse is now broken, Sedrick Ellis signed a 5 year, 19.5 million dollar contract with the Saints, and the high end of Harvey's contract is set.
While it is tempting to put the blame on greedy agents and players, the Jaguars also have an interest in waiting these things out. They have a stake in protecting their franchise, and not overpaying first round draft picks is a big part of covering their financial bases. While it's probably a small matter of incentive bonuses and contract language, the Jaguars would have their eye on the Saints and Bengals picks almost as much as Harvey would. If the Jaguars signed Harvey for 19.5 million only to have the Saints sign a pick before the Jaguars for less money, they'd have egg on their face.
I expect that with Sedrick signed, Harvey will be in camp in a matter of a day or so. I also expect that my 17.5 million dollar signing bonus prediction will be nearly exact. Harvey will soon be at camp and all will be right in the world, save for all the injuries to the Wide Recievers, a subject we'll discuss later today.
There is an unintentional side effect to Harvey's Holdout, the fact that he can now come to camp and not have the pressure of being a savior on the defensive line. He's gone from a hyped first round pick to just another rookie, and if he starts out slow it's because he's missed time, not that he's a bust. Of course, we'd never jump to such rash conclusions at Big Cat Country, but I'm OK with him having a little less pressure.
With a little luck, the next post you see here will be announcing his signing and we can move on from this holdout nonsense.
-Chris