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Javon Walker already is catching heat from his quarterback and others
Javon Walker will be a no-show at training camp next week unless the Green Bay Packers agree to give the Pro Bowl receiver a big pay raise or trade him, his agent said Wednesday.
"The Packers say they aren't going to change their position, so we are leaning that way. We're hoping for a change of heart or a trade," Drew Rosenhaus told The Associated Press.
In a statement relayed through a team spokesman, Packers general manager Ted Thompson said the team doesn't comment on contract discussions.
Rosenhaus said the Packers have refused to negotiate with him ever since he first approached the team this spring to tear up Walker's current contract, which has two years remaining and calls for him to make $515,000 this season.
"I haven't had very many holdouts in my career, but I've been unable to get the Packers to commit to any discussion of a new deal," Rosenhaus said. "The Packers have refused to negotiate with us. They expect him to play the year out."
Rosenhaus said that won't happen.
"I can't let this player go out on the field and jeopardize his career for that kind of money. I just can't fathom it," he said in an interview with HBO taped last Friday and scheduled to air next week.
Walker hired Rosenhaus earlier this year after a breakout season in which he caught 89 passes for 1,328 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Walker's holdout threat has drawn the ire of quarterback Brett Favre, who also criticized Rosenhaus for his tactics.
Rosenhaus responded by saying Favre should call him to get all the facts.
"I don't think he'll answer my calls," Favre said this week while playing in a charity pro-am at the US Bank Championship golf tournament in Milwaukee. "Set me straight on what? I've played 14 straight years. I have not held out one time. He has nothing to say to me."
Rosenhaus said Wednesday he has plenty to say to the three-time MVP.
"I reached out to Brett. If you take issue with our position, call me," Rosenhaus said. "I'm not allowed to call him. But if he calls me, I'll tell him what our status is. I don't think he knows all the facts. I'd love to fill him in."
Favre said he's earned the right to speak his mind and besides, Walker is under contract, "and to me that means he should be here."
Rosenhaus said he would take Favre's call any time.
Source: AP
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