Fantasy Football: Holdout Implications for Three Superstars

Every year players decide that they deserve more money and threaten to not play until a contract extension is finalized. These have clear Fantasy Football implications as the players with leverage are the best players in the league. Le’Veon Bell decided to create two years of turmoil that finally ended this free agent period. Who is next?

WR Michael Thomas

Thomas is the latest star to begin a holdout. Earlier reports have said that Thomas is looking for $22M a year, while the Saints were thinking more like $18M. Thomas feeling like he needs to holdout for a new contract typically means that the two sides are not close, but it does not feel like a ridiculous gap to close. I expect the extension to get done because the Saints definitely have Michael Thomas in their long-term plans and they aren’t that far away from an agreement. That being said, Thomas is being drafted 12th overall according to ADP. I would rather take Joe Mixon or Odell Beckham Jr. in that spot to avoid risk.

RB Melvin Gordon

Gordon has the worst situation surrounding him in football. This situation seems to resemble Bell’s catastrophe far too much. Gordon officially began his holdout Wednesday, but we’ve been hearing about this for a while. The Chargers’ GM, Tom Telesco, does not seem to be in any hurry to get a deal done. He said the team has to focus on who is in camp, which is not a great sign. The Chargers do not like to pay up for players and the league has a certain disdain towards paying running backs what they deserve. What really is unfortunate is that the Chargers could franchise tag Gordon in the off-season and could even tag him again in two years. I expect Gordon to miss games and would not consider drafting Gordon until something positive comes out.

RB Ezekiel Elliott

This situation has been far too overblown, probably because it is the Dallas Cowboys. Elliott has no leverage in this situation and can’t actually hold out for more than a week. With the 5th year option in place, the Cowboys are in no rush to extend Elliott because he will be in Dallas next season. In Elliott’s case, he needs to report to camp by August 6th or he will lose this season’s service time – delaying his free agency/leverage another season. Nothing to see here, draft Zeke as you please knowing he will be ready to go for week one.