My understanding (from what I've read in several articles) is that it is unclear whether Gute can fine the man, since he is showing up in camp every day - just refusing to step on the field. Apparently this is uncharted territory, and it sounds as though even if he thought he could fine him, Gute is not yet willing to do this particular *** for tat.
There may be more clarity on that question in days to come, since this is still early on in the "Oh, yeah, sez who?" stage. I think both sides are deliberately trying to avoid making it overly adversarial. For now.
This is the thing I was so worried about from the beginning. As soon as I found out who represents Love - Dave Mulugheta, regarded as the toughest athlete's agent in the business - I worried it could very easily come to this. Mulugheta never caves; he's the guy who scored the $230 million dollar contract for Deshaun Watson after he was suspended a year for dozens of ****** assault allegations.
If he got that for Watson, with all that baggage hanging over him, how firm do you think he's going to be when he's negotiating for a choirboy face-of-the-franchise like Love?
One of Mulugheta's trademark tactics is to demand contracts with maximum guaranteed money, and one of Russ Ball's best-known tendencies is to not guarantee a dime more in guaranteed money than he absolutely has to. irresistible force, meet immovable object. Love's side is that he's demanding maximum guarenteed money, the team's side is that they don't believe in guaranteed money.
I can't say for sure that this is what's happening here, but it does seem likely. Mulugheta has an extremely strong hand to play (one of the strongest hands he's ever had), and he knows he has Green Bay over a barrel of bottomless depth. He's got very little to lose, and his history suggests that this is what brings out the toughest side of him.
I know... on the one hand, part of says "well, hell, that's just the way it is these days". The other part of it says that the players themselves are a part of it.
This "oh it's all in the hands of my agent" crap is a cop-out. The players are instructing the agents, "hey, sounds good, just get me as much as you can." Jordan is all in on whatever it is that his agent is doing.
Hate to say it, but yeah... I'm exactly at the point myself. The bloom is off the rose. I still like the guy, looking forward to watching him play for the Packers, but I don't look at him the same way. If it turns out Ball was drastically lowballing him, that's a different story, but I don't think that's what's happening.
I remember during the Edmonton Oilers' dynasty, it was Mark Messier's turn to negotiate his contract. At that time, he was widely considered to be one of the top 5 hockey players in the world.
He skipped an agent, and went into Peter Pocklington's office, sat down across the desk, and said straight out - "I know how much you're paying Wayne, Jari, and Grant. I know you can't pay me that much, because you've already paid them so much. I want to stay here and win more cups with this team; you tell me how much you can afford to pay me, and we'll work something out".
A few years later, the Colorado Avalanche.... Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, and and Patrick Roy were the 3 players who made that team unbeatable. All due for contracts in the same off-season. The 3 of them went into the GM's office together, and said, "let's all work together to find a way that you can divide up the available cap space fairly enough to keep us all together for another run."
It can be done. It's been done. Players have the power to say "don't cut the throat of the entire franchise just to feed me."
People can say "oh, sure, how badly can a quarterback wearing a bright red shirt get injured in camp?" But remember Tre Greenlaw ripping his Achille's tendon in the Super Bowl when all he was doing was trotting out onto the field after a chance of posession.
