The past few weeks, I’ve had a bunch of guys reach out to me to offer their support, and to just talk about their experiences of being in my situation. One of them was Eric Weddle. He was dominant for the Chargers for nine seasons — and then everything went south. When he asked the team to make a commitment, they treated him like he was being selfish. All he wanted was the opportunity to finish his career where he started it. After a decade of grind, he just wanted some security. How is that selfish?
I don’t know, man. I just don’t.
This is dead-on. Teams absolutely treat players like fungible assets because they can, and everyone—including fans and media—is complicit. When you start talking about your favorite team like you are the GM and you need to cut cap space, you are accepting and perpetuating a fiction that running a football team is too expensive for a billionaire. You are criticizing the player(s) you watch every weekend, in furtherance of a dude's bank account which does not need your assistance.When media members parrot team talking points like Mike Sando, ESPN.com up there did, it funnels down to fans and it creates this environment where Earl Thomas has to write something to point out that, actually, I am risking my body, voluntarily, for this team and it would be super cool if the team could acknowledge that and not make me feel like I'm a piece of shit for wanting to be adequately compensated for it.One of the premier players in the league laid himself bare to say that not only do NFL teams and owners fully dehumanize their employees, but they make the players look like the bad guys for pointing it out. If anyone sitting in an owner's box had an ounce of shame, they'd feel humiliated. But I guarantee you they don't.I’m really grateful to the players and fans who have offered their support — because without that, this process, it leaves you feeling alone. Honestly, I think one of the reasons that teams treat players like they do is because they can get away with it. They’re good at placing blame on the player who’s sitting out, by making the entire process become very public and very negative toward their reputation. It’s like — I have no way of even knowing what they might be telling the press or my teammates about me. And for someone like myself, who doesn’t usually talk … that makes you feel kind of helpless.