How do NFL teams prevent players from holding out? Sometimes, the best work is done long before a player joins a team.
“A lot of it starts with your relationships with the individual agents,” Broncos general manager Ted Sundquist said. “It’s very important to spread yourself broadly when it comes to agents, because you never know who you’re going to have to work with to get the player you want for your team.”
According to Sundquist, as a matter of course, the Broncos try to maintain at least a passing relationship with every agent certified by the NFL Players’ Association.
“It may be a letter at the beginning of the season saying, ‘This is how we’re going to process information; if you have questions or concerns, this is how you can get ahold of us,’ to being diligent about returning phone calls and talking to guys,” Sundquist said. “You ask them about other players they have on other teams. You ask them how negotiations have gone with other clubs.
“We’ve asked them if they’ve been comfortable in their negotiations with us and how we’ve handled things. I like feedback in general because I think it allows you as a club to improve.”
But even with all that due diligence, sometimes things can change, leading to conflict.
“There are a number of extenuating circumstances and factors that can change the plan you put together,” he said. “We’re extremely detailed when it comes to our planning procedures. I already have an idea of what next year is going to look like from a cap standpoint, from a cash standpoint, the players whose contracts are up, if they perform well, what it’s going to cost us, if they perform OK, what it’s going to cost, if we release them, what the ramifications are.
“You’re constantly looking at that. I’ll go into a season with a fairly solid plan from a financial standpoint, one we think makes the most sense in putting a team together, and then things change on a nickel.”
