A report for KCTV and Adam Teicher suggests Kansas City Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles may hold out of training camp as the two sides discuss a new deal.
Breaking #Chiefs news. KCTV5's Brad Fanning reports Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles is not reporting to training camp.. holding out for $
— Brad Stephens (@BradKCTV5) July 22, 2014
From Teicher:
"The Kansas City Chiefs have discussed a new contract with running back Jamaal Charles, sources said.Charles has the option of holding out from training camp if a new deal is not reached before then but the Chiefs believe he will report to camp on time. Chiefs’ veterans were to report to training camp at Missouri Western State University on Wednesday. The first training camp practice is Thursday."
Charles has been playing on one of the most team-friendly contracts in all of the NFL for the last two seasons, and is slated to make “only” $2.65 million and $4.75 million in salary over the next two seasons. Given his production and his status as one of the ten best players in all of the NFL, it would make sense for Charles to want to restructure his deal.
This may help explain why the Chiefs have been slow to come to terms with Alex Smith and Justin Houston, both of whom are waiting for new contracts themselves. Kansas City has just under $10 million in cap space to use to eat some of the cost of extensions for Houston and Smith, but things would be very tight for the 2015 season if Smith, Houston, and Charles all sign to big deals.
At the very least Charles has earned a pay increase but the timing is not beneficial. The Chiefs, specifically John Dorsey, will have a lot of issues to work through if they want to keep their best players and field a Super Bowl caliber team.