The biggest story line from Tennessee Titans training camp thus far is the absence of outside linebacker Vic Beasley, who was supposed to report on July 28.
Beasley has yet to report, and while we don’t know what his reasoning is, the Titans did release a statement acknowledging his absence as unexcused and said he is still expected to report at some point.
Should Beasley remain absent, it could end up costing him a lot of money, including some of his $6 million signing bonus that makes up part of his one-year, $9.5 million deal, as Jason Fitzgerald from Over the Cap explained.
The new CBA agreement, in an effort to avoid holdouts, placed mandatory fines, compared to the old system of voluntary fines, on veteran players for late reporting. Beasley fits in the category of a UFA signing so he should lose $50,000 per day that he remains away from training camp.
In addition Beasley, if he misses 6 days of training camp, can trigger a breach that can allow the Titans to begin the process of recovering part of his $6 million signing bonus. This is not mandatory but can be as high as 15% for the initial breach and 25% for the entire preseason. That would add up to $900,000 for the first breach and $60,000 per day thereafter up to $2.25M over the course of camp.
As Fitzgerald points out, the only thing that could save Beasley from such fines is if his failure to report has to do with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Should he decide to opt out of the 2020 season entirely or notified the team that he decided not to show up because of the NFL and NFLPA’s failure to finalize concrete protocols, the Titans might make an exception for him.
