Mike Freeman’s 10-Point Stance: Hopkins Learns the High Cost of Early Stardom

August 3, 2016   ·   Mike Freeman   ·   Jump to comments

The NFL's powerless rookies, a player responds to Michael Bennett and, oh, about that Donald Trump debate story...
   
1. A Lesson in Leverage  This is what a Texans player, on Sunday morning, told me about the holdout of teammate DeAndre Hopkins: "I don't know how long De will hold out, but I know he's determined. He knows his value. I think a part of him also sees this as a fight for other players, especially rookies. He thinks rookies get screwed on their contracts." 
In speaking to players and agents late last week about the Hopkins holdout, I found many believe his stance is motivated by a bigger cause. Many NFL contracts are viewed as one-sided. NFL rookie deals, these sources believe, are among the worst in all of sports.
The main reason is they are easy to outperform. This is what Hopkins has done. At this point, the Texans aren't just getting a bargain; they are, in many ways, almost getting him for pennies, on an NFL scale. Last se...

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