Chris Johnson does not report

[Guiness]

Chris Johnson didn't report to camp and automatically loses an accrued year. This is going to be a heck of a weapon the owners got themselves against players who do not honour contracts.

From the sound of the article, it won't matter much in his case, because he's got 2yrs left on his contract - I don't know the details, but I'm guessing he would be an FA at the end of next year?

Article says he got a raise to report last year (although he's making $800K and $2.2mil over the next 2 seasons, pretty low) but doing it again?

http://eye-on-football.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22475988/31212452

[ThunderDan]

Chris Johnson didn't report to camp and automatically loses an accrued year. This is going to be a heck of a weapon the owners got themselves against players who do not honour contracts.

From the sound of the article, it won't matter much in his case, because he's got 2yrs left on his contract - I don't know the details, but I'm guessing he would be an FA at the end of next year?

Article says he got a raise to report last year (although he's making $800K and $2.2mil over the next 2 seasons, pretty low) but doing it again?

http://eye-on-football.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22475988/31212452

I'm not sure this matters.

If I read this correctly you lose an accrued season but as long as you have 3 years accrued when your contract is up you are automatically a free agent anyways. I think the lost accrued year was put in for the "new" rookie contracts to prevent outperforming players from holding out. It basically guatantees the team that drafts the player they will get 3 years out of the player before any other team can touch them.

I could be wrong but that is how it reads to me.

[ThunderDan]

Just to be clear from above.

Johnson already has 3 accrued years for 08,09, 10 so if he loses 11 but still comes back by week 7 (or whenever the drop dead date is) he has met the obligation of his contract. He playes in 2012 and becomes a UFA. 5 year in the league and 4 accrued so he is fine.

[Guiness]

Just to be clear from above.

Johnson already has 3 accrued years for 08,09, 10 so if he loses 11 but still comes back by week 7 (or whenever the drop dead date is) he has met the obligation of his contract. He playes in 2012 and becomes a UFA. 5 year in the league and 4 accrued so he is fine.

Found another article
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/08/08/dont-count-on-seeing-chris-johnson-before-august-9/

As long as he reports by week 10, he fulfills the contract requirements so Tennessee can't say he owes them another year. Of course, he'll have to play '12 in full under the contract to get the 4th year.


Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson (http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nfl/4659/desean-jackson) has reported for work, a day before the deadline for earning a fourth year of service toward free agency.
That has caused some to speculate that Titans running Chris Johnson (http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nfl/6528/chris-johnson), who also is a holdout, will do the same thing in order to earn his own fourth year of service toward free agency.
Don’t count on it.
Barring a dramatic development, entailing something like a new contract or a clear commitment to providing one, Johnson won’t be showing up. The difference between Johnson and Jackson arises from the length of their contracts. Jackson enters the fourth and final year of his rookie deal; Johnson has two years left. Thus, even if Johnson gets a fourth year of service for free agency purposes this year, he still won’t be a free agent until March 2013.
As long as Johnson shows up by Week 10 of the 2011 regular season (which would get him credit for the fourth year of his contract), he’ll remain on track to be an unrestricted free agent when he otherwise would be an unrestricted free agent.
That said, we wouldn’t necessarily count on Johnson showing up by Week 10, either. He’s drawing a line in the sand this year, and he’s far and away the best player the Titans have. After paying nearly $9 million this year (we’re told) for veteran quarterback Matt Hasselbeck (http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nfl/519/matt-hasselbeck), Bud Adams and company will need to dig even deeper to ensure that Hasselbeck has someone in the backfield to draw a safety or two toward the line of scrimmage.

[pbmax]

I think its a mixture of both. As a Restricted player (less than 4 years accrued) he is required to report earlier than vested veterans, hence the August 9th date.

A veteran need show up only by Week 10 to be credited with a contract year to keep the counter rolling on his current contract (and probably retirement and pension qualifiers).

But in Johnson's case, since he is under a 5 year contract, adding a fourth year of accrual in 2011 doesn't help him. While he technically would be a qualified UFA after 4 years, he is already contracted for a fifth year (2012). So a 4th year of accrual (showing up by Aug 9th) is meaningless to him in FA terms this season. He need only report by Week 10 to keep the contract counter moving.

What is unclear to me is this: if he holds out to Week 10 this year, does he need to accrue a fourth year by the earlier date in the 2012 camp to be a UFA in 2013?

[smuggler]

I think the answer to your question would be yes pbmax.