When Tom Condon drove to Indianapolis to tell Colts president Bill Polian that Peyton Manning no longer wanted to negotiate until after the season, it constituted an interesting gamble on the part of Manning.
Why shut the door to a contract offer now? Manning isn’t the first player to refuse to negotiate in season. It happens every year. And many other players with expiring contracts, meanwhile, are left wondering why their teams are not interested in doing deals in season.
Condon, one of the most respected agents in the business, had good reasons for doing what he did. He obviously thinks he can get more money, probably significantly more money, by waiting. This may be because the Colts’ offer did not match Manning’s expectations. Or it could be because Condon hopes franchise tags won’t be a part of the new collective bargaining agreement. It could even be because Manning wants out of Indianapolis, though this is difficult to imagine.
There are pros and cons to any in-season negotiation. In fact, the Colts usually adhere to a policy against talking contract during the season. “We try not to negotiate during the season as a general rule,” Polian told me. “There is a distraction factor that, no matter how hard you try, is difficult to ameliorate. If you have a choice, it’s better not to do it.”
Other teams, including the Steelers, also shy away from in-season deals for those reasons. In-season negotiations can play with players’ minds.
Bruce Tollner, an agent for Rep1, has done in-season deals before. He said talking contract during a season usually doesn’t upset a player, but it depends on how the team approaches it and the player’s personality. “One of the things you don’t want is the possibility of a deal dragging on through the season, because I think that weighs on the player’s mind,” Tollner said. “But if a team wants to present an offer and says this is what we are willing to do today, we obviously are willing to listen.”
Polian said he has no problem with Manning not wanting to talk now. The Colts have signed many players with expiring contracts in the window between the end of the season and the beginning of free agency. “Historically, including with Peyton, we’ve done virtually every player we’ve had up either before the start of the season or at the end of the season,” Polian said. “And the vast of the majority have been done after the season concludes.”
