The Seattle Seahawks are 2-4 and have not looked like the team that reached the Super Bowl the last two seasons. They have blown three fourth quarter leads and, despite the defense generally being good, it has not been as strong as last season’s unit. San Francisco 49ers guard Alex Boone thinks Kam Chancellor’s holdout is a big reason for that.
Boone, who himself held out during training camp last year, knows the negative effects holdouts can have.
“People are so used to them just dominating teams and all of a sudden they’re having a little bit of trouble,” Boone said Tuesday via CSN Bay Area. “I think maybe Kam Chancellor’s holdout kind of hurt them a little bit. It’s hard to come back from a holdout. It’s easy to say, ‘It’ll be easy; I know what I’m doing.’ But at the same time, this is the NFL. Things are hard. You miss four or five weeks of practice and things come at you a lot faster than you remember.”
Players who hold out tend to take a while to regain their top form, much like Boone described. But Chancellor seemed to be an exception as he essentially won a game for Seattle with his spectacular play in just his second game back. Still, the team went 0-2 in his absence, so it’s undeniable that his holdout hurt the Seahawks. Had he been playing since Week 1, the Seahawks would probably have a better record, meaning Boone is right. But mentioning this ahead of Thursday’s game between the teams could be a mistake; Boone doesn’t want to give Chancellor any extra motivation.
