What I Learned from the Eric Weddle Situation

Kudos to Eric Weddle! I applaud thee for stepping up and doing the right thing.

Of course some may argue that you never did anything wrong. There certainly is a good argument for that. Perhaps you felt it necessary to send a message to the Chargers front office because you felt you were not being heard. So you sit out a few voluntary OTAs – message sent. Then you end the distraction, get to camp and get to work. I don’t mind it.

Perhaps this was never a big deal. Most likely it wont be. So, why were we all up in arms? Was this just a small spark that people tried to fan into a forest fire.

I know the media likes to blow things out of proportion. But how did it get that way?

So I ask you fine fans of Bolt Beat, “How do you think this all went down?”

Here is my take…

Weddle and his agent contacted the Chargers about a contract extension, which is understandable. Weddle is entering his last year. It would be nice to have some insurance, get a nice signing bonus. I mean what if tragedy strikes this year and Weddle suffers a career ending injury. That would suck for all of us.

To Weddle’s request the Chargers responded with, “not right now,” because they are in the middle of draft prep, which is understandable. Also, they might even have said, “We don’t know if we will get to it when the draft is over, we have other contracts we need to work on first.”

I can’t blame the Chargers for this approach. From what I have seen from them there are two times during the year that they work on re-signing current players. At the end of the season and after the draft picks are signed. This makes sense. The rest of the year is busy with other things – the draft, free agency and of course playing football.

I can’t blame them for prioritizing Rivers and Liuget either. I think both of those guys are just as important to sign as Eric Weddle. In addition, out of these 3 players Weddle would be the cheapest franchise tag at $9.6 million.

That answer from the Chargers would have been a brutally honest answer. Could Weddle have felt disrespected by that? Sure. Could he have manned up, zipped his lip and got in line and waited? Sure.

I didn’t see King Dunlap running around last season telling everyone he was feeling disrespected by the Chargers because he was not getting an extension. The dude showed up and played and got his money at the end of the season. I think Weddle could learn something from the King in this area.

I think we could all learn something from this whole situation. From time to time I get the opportunity to counsel some men. Of course the topic that usually comes up with men is marriage. A contract a man has with a woman. It is a bit like football. A contract a man has with a team.

When I counsel these guys, I am often amazed about how much us men can be whiners, seriously. This scenario has played itself out many times. Guys come to me whining about their wives. I switch the focus from their wives to them. Let’s see what your vows say – you are to love her through better or worse. Then I ask them are you treating her like a princess? Are you leaving love notes and bringing her flowers? Did you tell her today how beautiful she is and how much you love her?

At this point I usually get the, “but, but, but…. you don’t understand how she treats me!”

I reply with, “Guess what? That is not in the contract. You don’t get to skip out because of how she treats you. Your job is to do your part. Treat her like a princess. Even if she treats you poorly. Be a man and step up and do what you are supposed to do.”

Just like Eric Weddle, right?. Step up and do what you are supposed to do. Get to camp. Give a 100% and treat us fans like princess by winning a whole bunch of football games.

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