Welcome to the circus.

If you think that when Zach Ertz reports for the Hawks’ training camp, it’s a bit embarrassing to be in South Philadelphia, then try South Texas on the weekend, when Deshaun Watson faced a decision-whether to appear on the Texans or to face A bonus of up to $50,000 is missed a fine every day.

These fines are curveballs and unintended consequences of the new CBA. Under the old system, financial penalties were imposed on players for contracts and insistence, but usually, they were a toothless penalty and a blink-type penalty, because the fine was simply waived when the specific dispute was finally resolved.

The new system aims to restrict persistence through a stricter system, and even if the organization wants to do so, it cannot exempt fines. It is working.

Under the previous CBA, you can almost guarantee that Watson will not appear in the Texans camp, and Oates and his agent Steve Carrick will at least seriously consider moving away to force Howie Rossman’s hand.

Watson does not want to play for the Texans, and his trade request still exists. Houston reluctantly concluded that owning a 25-year-old franchise quarterback is untenable, and when Watson is just annoyed by Jack Eastby and the organization, this is not necessarily the case, but When 22 civil charges accused Watson of disturbing behavior with the masseuse unfolded.

Houston’s busiest reporter-John McLean-explained the situation to the Voice of Philadelphia: “I know this. Watson wants to move on, the Texans want to move on, but there are 22 lawsuits and they are disturbing, these All serious allegations.”

As the camp approaches, you have a clear feeling that Texans will want a chance to catch a breath and prefer Watson’s last game on the committee’s exemption list.

In this case, Houston could have suspended the charges and allowed the charges to continue. Then, barring the worst case of imprisonment, the attempt to rebuild Watson’s trading value during the 2022 offseason will enter a stage of rapid development. At the same time, the player himself will get his money while waiting for a punishment that has a lot of variables.

The coalition-which is conducting an always problematic parallel investigation into Watson’s allegations-has apparently made a decision that placing Watson in a CEL without criminal charges would set a bad precedent. As NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero also pointed out, this may mean that “the league’s ongoing investigation does not convince Roger Goodell that a major violation has occurred.”

If this is the correct interpretation, considering the future team with Watson, according to multiple NFL sources, teams including the Eagles may have to speed up their own decision-making process.

It now appears that the Texans, who have been hesitant to signal their willingness to trade Watson’s bats, have already started business. However, as expected, this will be expensive.

There are already a lot of people wondering whether David Cali will be like Philadelphia’s rookie coach Nick Siriani by putting Watson on the court on Wednesday.

This is where the executives in this league tend to be creative.

Andrew Brandt, who has been in charge of the Green Bay Packers for ten years, opened up a possibility for Oates and the Eagles when talking to the Philadelphia Voice.

“Perhaps, this is not an excuse for his absence, but an excuse for his absence,” Brandt explained. “Now, he may not be disappointed with the plan to just stand, but this is again about-I think it has always been Aaron’s problem [Rodgers] With the Packers-it’s all about open and honest communication. “

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more: Howard Eskine said that when (not if) DeShawn Watson was traded, the Hawks had a “90% chance.”

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The most important point is that there is always a way. When it comes to Eltz being here, suppose he will finish playing in the final year of his contract with the Eagles, because he has been working out in the training camp before the training camp. It is impossible to understand that coaches and executives are not allowed to do anything other than rough contact with players using buildings for strength and conditioning purposes.

Remember that the presence of Ertz may also complicate Sirianni’s problems. He plans to let Dallas Goedert continue as TE1, and hopes to achieve faster speed on the court with 11 personnel (three receivers) as the default setting.

As a coach who has been preaching competition since the day he arrived, if Sirianni tries to sell Travis Fulgham, Greg Ward or anyone else competing for a WR3 seat to the locker room is a better choice, then his credibility will exist. gap. A franchise with a long history.

However, Oetz’s appearance is likely to avoid huge fines, just like Rothman sent a signal to other general managers that he did not just let the three-time Pro Bowl follow closely, thereby extending the chicken game to August.

Back to Brandt:

“In my opinion, this happened to them in the most accidental way in the history of the sport. Sam Bradford is one of them. I mean, this is the greatest deal in the history of the sport. One, because a team’s starter was injured, they used Howie was an excellent negotiator when he had the chips,” Brandt said. “So here, he has no chips. If they had a good deal with Zach Ertz, he would have left.

“I think what happened is that he never participated in the training ground. Now, what does that mean? He was traded before the training camp started? Not necessarily. They might forgive him until they get the deal he wants. , They want, if this is an injury that may take a while while waiting. If you just do your best, go to a two-day training camp and let the team see what they get. I don’t know. I just didn’t see He plays [Week 1] As an eagle. “

By September 12, Watson was no longer crazy in the Philadelphia project. Projecting Ertz elsewhere is never crazy.

This is the circus. Enjoy the performance.

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John McMullen is a writer for PhillyVoice.com, covering the Eagles and NFL for Sports Illustrated and JAKIB media. He is also the co-host of “Birds 365”, a daily streaming show covering the Eagles and NFL, and the host of “Extending the Play” at AM1490 in South Zeeland.You can contact him [email protected]

Follow John on Twitter: @JFMcMullen