Clayton: NFL players usher in the era of the “hold-in”

There was a report this week that the Philadelphia Eagles and the Houston Texans are heating up trade talks for quarterback Deshaun Watson.

It turns out that there are talks, but they aren’t heating up. In the meantime, Watson is not doing anything on the field. He wants out of Houston, and he’s on a $39 million a year contract. Last week in the non-padded practices, he played a little standup safety. Now that the padded practices have started, he doesn’t even go on the field.

The Eagles do have the best chance of trying to acquire him. They have two first-round picks next year and an extra second that could turn into a first for Carson Wentz. Wentz’ foot injury could prevent that second into a turning into a No. 1. He has to play more than 70 percent of the snaps to make it a first. His recovery from foot surgery in five to 12 weeks.

Because the Eagles signed Michael Vick after he came out of jail, the Eagles aren’t shy about adding a player who has some off the field issues. Watson has 22 women suing him for sexual issues.

One thing that has made a major change in the NFL this year is what players are doing if they want to be traded or if they are waiting for a contract extension. In Seattle, Jamal Adams and Duane Brown aren’t practicing because they don’t want to get injured and ruined the chances of getting a big contract. Miami Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard is upset about his contract and asked for a trade, and he’s not practicing.

What used to be holdouts, now you have hold-ins. The only player who was a holding this year was New York Jets first-round pick Zach Wilson, who missed two days and then reported and signed his contract.

With the Watson situation and hold-ins, it’s a different day in the NFL.

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