Have you ever done contract work? You contract the rate, not the total sum. If I do more than what you've initially asked me to do, I'm charging more money based on my time spent.
Howard overperformed relative to his contract's expectations and he's using the leverage to charge more.
Yes, but usually I would expect that language to be in the contract already. It should also be clearly spelled out that what you are giving is an ESTIMATE and not a final bill.
It's like what you are referring to is when you hire a mover and they give you an 'estimate' with a clause in the contract specifically stating that the price can go up. The thing is a lot of movers are scammers that use that clause in the contract to drum up charges above and beyond what would be deemed reasonable in a court of law, and end up hijacking your stuff until you pay up. Since it's in the contract that they signed, most people are completely screwed.
That's why its essential that before
any work is done, all terms of the contractual work are ironed out ahead of time. If a specific dollar amount cannot be agreed upon, then both parties would be advised to put barriers as to how far the total dollar amount can reach. If not, your just asking for a lawsuit, one that you may or may not win at considerable time and cost for everyone involved.
In this instance, he probably hired a new agent because he is mad that his previous agent didn't get him a better deal. However, HE signed this deal and if he decides after such a short time to not honor it then..........
I can only imagine that what happened was that he signed on thinking his knee was very iffy, and didn't know himself if he could play at this level still. Now that he had a great year he wants to go back to the table. If he had one year left on the deal...heck 2 years left...and he played a couple of years without missing time, showing that his knee can hold up, then I'd see his point.
I don't think he ever really intended on honoring this deal to be honest, unless he couldn't come back from the injury right.
I can see his side of it in that he wanted, and wants, to get as much $$$ as he can no matter what. However, what's the point then of having a contract at all if you are just going into it without ever having the intention of honoring it UNLESS it's completely in your favor all of the time. For that he should've added a clause or whatnot into the deal saying something like "should the player be able to come back from injury, and perform at a Pro Bowl level anytime during the term of this contract, the players base salary (or guaranteed salary?) automatically increases to match the top 1-3 players salary at that players position".
Odds are the Dolphins would've said 'no' to that...so he signs on anyway and says to himself 'I'll just hold out if they don't give me a new deal'.
You can argue that players should have a way out since teams can cut players at any point in time, salary cap be damned. If that's the case though then we really don't have 'contracts', what we have is salary agreements and 'at will' employment like in the real world when you can tell your employer to take a hike, whenever you like, and of course, likewise.