For players who want new contracts, there’s an important threshold question.
Hold out, or hold in?
Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase opted to hold in. To show up, but to not practice. It avoided daily fines for not being there, under the CBA. If also avoided a much more significant financial consequence.
Chase’s 2024 compensation comes in the form of a $1.055 million base salary and a $3.807 million training-camp roster bonus. The roster bonus was due on the third day of camp. If he hadn’t been there, he wouldn’t have earned it.
While training-camp fines can be waived for players under their rookie deals, a roster bonus that isn’t earned is gone. For good.
Without that, would Chase have held out? Given that he’s holding in, it’s not a reach to conclude that Chase wouldn’t have reported for camp if he didn’t have $3.8 million riding on being there by Day Three.
As a result, the training-camp roster bonus is a two-edged sword for first-round rookies. It gives them the bulk of their fully-guaranteed pay for a given year early, reducing the impact of the offset obligation if/when he’s later released. But it requires them to be there. A holdout or any other absence squanders that money.