Veteran Holdout - Past Injustices Question

[Carman Bulldog]

Do "Veteran Holdouts" that return to the lineup of their own accord always refuse to sign long term or is it dependent upon other factors? Going from my personal experience, it seems that whenever someone returns from holding out (assuming I don't give them the contract they want) they refuse to sign due to past injustices.

My 3rd year running back is holding out for a larger contract (at least for my notoriously cheap pockets). He has accumulated over 2600 yards in his first two seasons and over twenty touchdowns. He was a 5th round pick but right now is rated around 56/58 but is one of those players that will continue to grow and I could see him ending up around somewhere in the 65-70 range.

Seems like a no-brainer, correct? The only problem is that he had 11(!) fumbles his first season but was able to cut that number down to 7 the following year on about 300 carries each year. These are both highly above where I would like him to be.

He is in his final year of his rookie contract and would have been restricted at the end of the season. I'm assuming he will end his holdout shortly and return to the team (I'm in the first week of pre-season). His loyalty rating is around 60.

My problem is that I would much prefer to have him get another year under his belt and see if he can continue to cut down on his number of fumbles. If so, then I would gladly sign him to whatever he is requesting. My fear is that if he does return and have a big year limiting his fumbles that he will refuse to re-sign due to past injustices.

There is a lot of trade interest out there in him right now as well and that could be an option I explore. My only problem there is that my next best option is a 30/50 rookie 3rd round RB. I have a really strong team with the only question mark at QB so if I do deal this guy right now my offense may be non-existent.

Thoughts?

[Ksyrup]

In my experience, holdouts like you describe have always refused to sign. I have found that if I don't agree to a contract with him before he reports on his own, he will never sign a long-term deal with me. Frankly, I think that needs to be reworked a bit to lessen the impact of holding out, but that's just me.

I learned the hard way with a stud QB I intended to keep until his arm fell off. But I franchised him one year, he held out the next, and that was it. The good news is that I traded him for enough draft picks that I got his replacement and a couple of necessary parts as well.