Collins’ desire for the Packers to extend his contract, which will expire after he is paid $3.045 million for the 2009 season, is no secret, even though he danced around the issue during a 10-minute session with reporters at his locker. Just how far he will go to get it remains uncertain.
Several times, he was asked whether he’s willing to stage a training camp holdout, and Collins’ answer was the same each time.
“We’ll see,” Collins said.
On his way out of the locker room, he said: “I’m here now, and that’s all you need to know.”
Okay, so he skipped essentially all of the OTAs, showing up once and barely participating, then showed up for the mandatory minicamp. Now, he's not-so-subtly hinting at a holdout?
For the record, do I think he will hold out? No, I don't, unless Jennings is locked in and loaded and the Packers actually can move on to options B and C on their free agent priority lists. He knows he's not #1 right now, no matter how much he wants to be. But he wants to make sure everyone knows how unhappy he is and no matter how you slice it, this is the reason he chose not to attend the optional team activites.
But, for anyone that has defended Collins the past few weeks really needs to take a good look at this article and his quotes. I've talked repeatedly about how much he is personally losing in such a major scheme switch and hurting his teammates by not being on the same page despite being unhappy with his situation. Heck, Aaron Kampman's not happy, but he showed up and did his duty as a team player.
I can understand the "business side" of the game, and that "a man has to do what he has to do to feed his family". But, it doesn't mean I have to respect it.
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