Ungrateful Wretch

[Ben E Lou]

From: Earnest Cooper

I have decided to hold out until I receive a new contract.

As your starting running back last season, I believe I had a breakout season. I believe I'm very seriously underpaid, and will not report to camp without a new contract.I picked up this little punk off of the scrap heap pile in 2015. He was an undrafted free agent, for crying out loud. In 2016, I couldn't afford to keep my veteran RB, so I let Cooper, a 2nd-year man at the time, start. So WHAT if he rushed for 1,590 yards in the regular season and had 101 carries for 597 yards (5.91ypc) and 6 TD's in the postseason!!!! I GAVE THIS KID A CHANCE, AND THIS IS THE THANKS I GET FROM HIM???!!!!! He should be HAPPY with the 3rd-year minimum salary he's scheduled to get in 2017! He'd be pumping GAS if it wasn't for me!!! Heck, he even got a $150,000 bonus last year! The youth of today, I tell ya.

[Ben E Lou]

http://www.younglifenorthdekalb.com/cooper.jpg

[Honolulu Blue]

Heh. I got that message once, from my first 1000-yard rusher. He was nothing special; I got him in the 4th round and had ratings to match. He was just in the right place at the right time.

Anyway, he pulled that little holding out stunt on me and I traded him to Miami (along with a 5th round pick) for a 2nd rounder. No malcontents are allowed on my roster.

P.S. How is that fuzzy but beautiful woman you were describing a month or so ago? I guess when you have Vanessa Williams cooing sweet nothings in your ear, nothing else looks quite as good.:p

[CraigSca]

I got one of these as well...I let the guy hang for the entire year and he then signed a multi-year deal with another team at about 1/3rd the amount he was looking for. I hope he gets suspended for having an affair with a White House intern.

[Swaggs]

My young QB did the same thing. :(

[Maple Leafs]

I have to say, I find that the veteran holdout feature works really well. Unlike some games (cough, Madden) where it seems to just randomly select a guy to hold out, FOF holdouts seem to make sense. I had a rookie WR holdout after a 1,200 yard season. He was making peanuts. Makes sense. Good feature.

[HornedFrog Purple]

teach his ass some humility and change his position, that is what I do with all my rebel wannabe's. :D

[Senator]

Make him a DT, that will show him.

[Ben E Lou]

Update:

Cooper came to his senses and stopped his holdout. He rushed for 1372 yards, 9 TD's and a 4.6 ypc average. He's now an RFA.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally posted by HornedFrog Purple
teach his ass some humility and change his position, that is what I do with all my rebel wannabe's. :D That's just plain mean. :D

[HornedFrog Purple]

Originally posted by Senator
Make him a DT, that will show him.

Tell him you are going to play fullback in the veer, then change offenses to the triple shoot, then tell him he is going to play tight end, then have an all-pro tight end ahead of him, then move him to DT.

Oh wait....

That's just plain mean. :D

Yes but you can look at your trail of carnage in the almanac. DT's with 1000 yard rushing seasons heh.

[cthomer5000]

If the guy has at least 2 years on his contract, there is a quick and cheap work-around for this: cap out his current offer.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally posted by cthomer5000
If the guy has at least 2 years on his contract, there is a quick and cheap work-around for this: cap out his current offer. Yah, but this punk was in the last year of his contract.

[cthomer5000]

Originally posted by SkyDog
Yah, but this punk was in the last year of his contract.

Yeah I did catch that, I was just letting others know of this "cheat" to avoid messy holdouts. Jim should probably remove the cap-out offer when players are holding out.

All said, you should have made the guy a punter.

[cthomer5000]

Originally posted by SkyDog
Update:

Cooper came to his senses and stopped his holdout. He rushed for 1372 yards, 9 TD's and a 4.6 ypc average. He's now an RFA.

I think this tale either tells us a lot about: your offensive line
the value of "elusiveness" and/or "hole recognition"

[Darkiller]

Yeah the holdout features is awesome.
I just drafted a young QB Aaron Tipton, out of Georgia Tech in the 1st round.
In my 2nd seasons, I was desperate to find my future franchise QB and here I see this young stud rated 37 current, 80 future with my scout and coaches very good to excellent in QB.
I had the #8 pick in the draft and traded up to #4 to grab him.

He's every bit as I expected him to be but he held out my offers until AFTER his rookie training camp !!!
damned.
He definitely missed some VERY VALUABLE TIME holding out, and that, I'm sure, will come to haunt him (and me obviously) very soon.

Not mentionning my 2nd pick WR who is STILL holding out as the regular season begins...for the record, he's the lone 2nd rounder still not under contract...

[Ben E Lou]

Or....

all three.

Here are a few things I'm convinced of: Hole recognition, offensive line talent, and elusiveness are the three main keys to having a solid running game.
If you are lacking in one of the three, you can STILL have a solid running game if the other two are strong. (Example: my universe's 7th-leading rusher of all-time, with over 10,000 yards, has a big, fat ONE in elusiveness, but an 84 in hole recognition. He had a season in which he rushed for 1,395 yards, 12 TD's and 4.2 yards per carry, but his longest run was only 22 yards that year!)
For a grind-it-out, smashmouth running game, hole recognition and offensive line talent are far more important than elusiveness.
For a team that uses the pass primarily, but would like the off-balance big-play runs, elusiveness is more important than hole recognition.
With proper game planning, a back who is good at any one or two of the six rushing-related ratings can be a valuable asset. (For example, Cooper is not in the game on third down, and I don't run many sweeps with him.