Despite contract holdouts, Colts moving forward

Indianapolis (WISH) - The Colts put a wrap on mini-camp Sunday.  Even though they're not making much headway with their contract holdouts, Jim Caldwell feels the team is making solid progress on the field.

“I think overall we had three very good practices,” said the second year head coach. “I think we saw improvement every day. Saw the older guys executing better and better every day, saw the younger guys certainly catching onto their assignments and improving upon their execution in all phases. So we were certainly pleased with the effort.”

Of course, Caldwell couldn’t have been all that pleased with every individual effort. Reggie Wayne and Robert Mathis both skipped out on the mandatory workouts with the hope of cashing in.

On Saturday, we heard the front office opinion on the two pro bowlers’ holdouts. Team President Bill Polian told 24 Hour News 8 exclusively that the uncertainty surrounding the NFL labor situation makes contract renegotiation even more convoluted.

“I've spoken to both agents, we understand their position, they understand ours,” Polian said. “We're entering uncharted waters. We don't have a labor agreement, we don't have a system. But the bottom line is that at some time in the future we will have a system. Until we know what that system is, it's very difficult for us to project out in the future contractually. What we're going to do is hope that the labor situation gets straightened out sooner or later, and when it does we'll get to those two very deserving players right away."

Twenty-four hours later, Colts starting center Jeff Saturday provided the contrasting player perspective.

“I want players to get as much money as they can, when they can. You know these careers are short, you never know what's guaranteed and what's coming your way,” Saturday said. “As a team they have a responsibility to look to the future way past how we as players look at it. They're trying to plan for the next two, three, four years. I think both sides would have their opinion, but you can imagine me, I'm going to side with players 100 percent of the time.”

According to the collective bargaining agreement, players can be fined $9,442 per day for missing mini-camp. That number jumps up to $16,523 per day once training camp begins. The Colts are scheduled to report to Anderson University August 1st.