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FLORHAM PARK, N.J. - Sam Darnold missed his first full training camp practice on Friday because he still hasn't signed his contract. And there's absolutely no good reason why that was the case.

Holdouts are nothing new in the NFL, of course, but they are absolutely ridiculous for rookies under the current collective bargaining agreement. There's virtually nothing to negotiate. Darnold is going to get a fully-guaranteed, four-year contract worth around $30.5 million with a $20.2 million signing bonus whether he signs on Friday night, next week or sometime in September. It will include a fifth-year team option, too.

The details that are holding this up - "offset language," according to one team source - are not at all worth fighting for, not at the expense of four days of work (the rookies were due to report early) and even one minute of practice for a player who has a real chance to be the Jets' Opening Day starting quarterback. In the long run, will one or two missed practice hurt him in what the Jets hope is going to be a long career? No.

In the short run? If this goes on much longer, it could cost Darnold that shot at the starting job.

That's just the way football preparation works. The five weeks of camp is basically one, big installation period for the coaches - and they keep moving forward, they don't go back. On Thursday, before the Giants' first practice, coach Pat Shurmur raved about how much he got done with his rookies in the four days they practiced before the veterans arrived, going through the first three phases of their scheme installations so none of them would be behind.

Darnold missed that with the Jets. And now he's missed one day of practice and countless meetings. He will undoubtedly work hard and stay late and study longer to catch up whenever he signs. But it's harder for a quarterback, especially one competing against two veterans. And again, the coaches are not going to go backwards. If Darnold catches up, great. If he doesn't, they'll just leave him third on the depth chart until he does.

That wasn't supposed to be the way this summer went, though. Darnold was going to be third on the depth chart behind veterans Josh McCown and Teddy Bridgewater, but he was expected to get plenty of first-team work in the early weeks, just like he did in the spring. The Jets' private hope that he would show enough in practice and preseason games that they could vault him over the other two and start the Darnold Era now.

Instead, they are waiting, all because Darnold - or his agent, Jimmy Sexton, really - wants to make sure that he gets his full 2021 salary from the Jets in the event they cut him before the fourth year of his contract AND they're able to get more money if he signs with another team. Teams call that "double-dipping" and they'd prefer to have "offset" language that would deduct what Darnold gets from his new team from what the Jets are supposed to owe.

How ridiculous is that? It's dumb on both sides, really, because Darnold is getting his guaranteed money no matter what, and who really thinks he'll be cut before his fourth year anyway? This is a franchise quarterback we're talking about. The Jets will be heavily invested in his success. If he's so bad that the Jets cut him before 2021 it's a lock that both GM Mike Maccagnan and coach Todd Bowles will already be out of a job.

So yeah, the team could just give in too. But Darnold is the one who has the most to lose. He needs to overrule his agent and tell him to let him show up to camp, because every single minute of training camp matters for a quarterback - especially one who has (or perhaps had) a real shot at a starting job.

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