The only reason you'd go to the Chargers right now is the reason that 95% of all free agents choose: their offer is the highest available and gives you the most guaranteed money. A.J. Smith hasn't cost the Chargers anything in making these stands in terms of incoming players. He might have caused himself issues with players the Chargers already have under contract that will cause problems when the next contract has to be negotiated. He can solve those by paying them or lose the players to other teams. I'll guarantee you that RFA's on the Chargers will be less inclined to play hardball however. If you took Vincent Jackson back to the point in time where he decided not to sign the tender and holdout instead I'm pretty sure he'd sign it, knowing what he now knows.
Obviously I think that you are 100% wrong about this. Top free agents will always have more than one place to go, I think agents will steer their players away from the Chargers because of this, or put pressure on them to overpay as a result of it.
My counter-argument is that at the end of the day agents are responsible for getting their clients the best possible deal. That's how they get paid. It would be professionally irresponsible, to the point of legally actionable, for an agent not to steer his client towards the most lucrative offer he received. Players may choose to take a less lucrative offer to sign with a particular team or stay with their current team but they rarely turn down the best offer on principle. So the question is going to come down to whether or not the Chargers are willing to make the best offer. When they are they'll get their man, and when they aren't they won't. There are no agents out there that are going to steer their clients towards lesser offers because they don't like A.J. Smith and Alex Spanos. If word got out that that was happening those agents would likely be de-certified by the union for not acting in their client's best interests.
If you think Alvin Keels is a bad agent, it's obviously because you're racist and don't like it when a black man works his way out of the ghetto.
you are kidding right?? I know this argument was used before, and I think your post was sarcastic, but to clarify.... but in the end Keels is a flaming DB, and probably is the worst representation in the NFL. I thought Feinsod and Schwartz were the worst, then i realized at least the clients they had who held out (Revis/Jackson) Revis actually got paid, Jackson is still waiting. They have top NFL players holding out for money, Keels had above average guys holding out. Mcneil is good but not elite, and Leon was nearly a holdout last year, and certainly wasnt going to get his 6 mill a year
By this logic the Raiders can attract anyone just by offering $1 more than anyone else. We know for a fact, of course, that that couldn't be farther from the truth; indeed, the only way the Raiders have been able to get or keep anyone is by vastly overpaying them. The Chargers haven't had the same problem yet because so far the product on the field has been of high enough quality, but their front office is dysfunctional, and that's becoming very obvious to everyone. Players won't be turning down offers from the Chargers on principle; they'll be doing it because they think that the team is more likely to screw them than other teams might. Considering the tremendous power mismatch in football between players and owners, they would be stupid if they didn't take that into account, and that perception is going to cost the Chargers, either in players or money.
That was awesome! I've seen the race card pulled before on this forum with Keels, I thought you were for real. :breakdance:
