Easley was set to be the starting DE. He was only playing DT/3-t because Donald was out. That means that when the regular season started, the real back-ups to DT/3-t wouldn't have gotten that many summer practice and pre-season reps.
Now the DE is Westbrooks.
And when Donald comes back, who rotates with him and backs up DT/3-t? Well it was going to be T-P and Smart all along anyway.
Now they get more reps. Shrug.
AND ON TOP OF IT. A different topic.
Why is Donald holding out? This is NOT a situation where a demanding player holds out to force a contract revision. Both the player and the team agree on the extension. Demoff has even said AD is "a special player who deserves a special contract." There's no antagonism or coercion in any of this. The negotiations would go at the same pace whether he reported or held out...the hold out makes absolutely no difference either way. So why is he doing it?
Well, look at Easley. Non-contact injury. If Donald reports and gets injury, bang, it destroys the contract. He has a chance at a one-time huge extension...why would he risk that at any level.
Which is probably why the team says it's fine with the hold out.
But anyway the point I'm making here is that Easley should also be a reminder that Donald has a sensible reason to not report until the deal is finished.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/2017 05:19AM by zn.
