Jacksonville Jaguars franchised kicker Josh Scobee is officially frustrated with the lack of talks towards a new contract with the club.
"I just don't see a point in showing any good faith to the team if they're not going to negotiate," Scobee told Tania Ganguli of The Florida Times-Union. "There's no reason for me to show up on my good faith being that I'm the player, I'm the employee, when they choose not to speak. I don't expect them to reward bad behavior and I won't reward them with the behavior that they're treating me with."
According to recent reports in The Times-Union, the Jaguars and Scobee's agent, Ken Harris, have not engaged in contracts for months.
As we move closer to the July 16 deadline to reach a multi-year extension. If no deal is reached, Scobee would have two choices: Sign the tender and earn $2.88 million in fully guaranteed base salary, or don't sign the tender and hold out.
Scobee said he has no intention of missing games (or the $169,412 game checks he'd receive under the franchise tag).
"I don't see that as being an option," Scobee said. "I don't want to miss games or anything like that. That's just not me, that's not me as a person. I'm not going to sit out or anything like that. ... I don't want anybody doing my job. That's been my job for the last eight years."
The Jaguars signed Brandon Coutu to a one-year contract as insurance should Scobee miss training camp and the preseason. Coutu, a 2008 seventh-round pick by the Seattle Seahawks, has only appeared in one NFL game, the 2011 regular season finale as a member of the Buffalo Bills in which he missed his only field goal attempt.
It's a bit surprising that no deal has been reached. Scobee is in the prime of his career, was deadly accurate in 2011 (92 percent on field goals, including five-of-six from beyond 50 yards) and the contract floor and ceiling are pretty well established.
A contract averaging just over $3 million per season with $4.5 million or so in guaranteed money should get this deal done.
