Julio Jones. Aaron Rodgers. Deshaun Watson. Russell Wilson.
We’re there, right?
All four of those guys are in situations with their teams that are awkward at best, untenable at worst, with a little more than three months left until the 2021 season opener. And in the old NFL, their respective teams could have probably just waited them out, gotten to camp and told them to, in effect, buckle up their chinstraps, strap on their pads and shut their mouths.
But this isn’t your dad’s NFL, or even your older sibling’s. Today, there’s almost an assumption out there that if a player really wants out and has sharp-enough elbows to push the right buttons, he’ll eventually wind up like Jamal Adams and Jalen Ramsey—and get his way.