"I'll bitch about my contract if you do."

Leverage (noun): In negotiation, leverage is a measure of which side, at any given moment, has a greater ability to influence the other side.

With the National Football League’s collective bargaining agreement with the NFLPA on the cusp of expiration, you’d think that the players would be brushing up on the business side of the world of professional sports.

But no.

I don’t want to generalize, because lots of players still have a solid grip on terms like “leverage.” But lots of them still don’t get it.

I say “still” because we seem to go through this every year: players with absolutely no edge in the negotiation process decide they want more money, simply because they either don’t care for, or don’t respect, the process itself.

Last year at around this time, I wrote a blog post asking if players understood what the term “leverage” actually meant:

“They’re not recognizing something that should be sort of instinctual: leverage.

“You either have it or you don’t. But without any just qualifications, more and more NFL players are making outlandish demands.

“[Brandon] Marshall, for example, is quietly pushing for a new contract, according to the Denver Post. This is in spite of the fact that he’s already in line to make $2.2 million this year.

“Sure, he’s probably worth more than that, and he’ll be rewarded as such when he becomes a free agent. But right now, the Broncos are still looking for Marshall to live up to his potential by avoiding off-field issues. And based on the offseason he had last year, that won’t necessarily be an easy thing.

“Marshall has to prove himself to the Broncos, and, for that matter, all 32 NFL teams. Then, he’ll get his money.”

At that point, Marshall and Donald Driver were making asses of themselves, while Plaxico Burress was inexplicably unwilling to accept a deal that would’ve seen him get out of jail in two months.

Here we are one year later, and a whole new group of players are bitching about their contracts. Coincidentally, three of the most interesting potential holdouts are in the AFC South:

In Jacksonville, Rashean Mathis wants a new deal. Yeah, the same Rashean Mathis who turns 30 this summer. The same dude who has missed 12 games due to injury in the last three years. The same guy who has two years remaining on his current contract. This is the same R. Mathis who has lost his No. 1 cornerback role to Derek Cox.

Mathis’ leverage on a scale of 1-to-10: 1.

In Houston, Andre Johnson wants a new deal. And although no one will argue that Johnson is one of the most productive young receivers in the league and is probably underpaid (he’ll make $5.8 million next year), all that matters is that he has five — five! — years left on his current deal. And this isn’t his original deal — this is a contract he and his agent/uncle negotiated and agreed to only a couple years ago.

Johnson’s leverage on a scale of 1-to-10: 3.

In Tennessee, Chris Johnson wants a new deal. Again, no one will argue that this Johnson isn’t one of the most productive young running backs in the league and is drastically underpaid (he’ll make $550,000 next year), but he has only two years of service under his belt. It’ll take at least one more elite season to merit the kind of contract he’s certainly hoping for.

Johnson’s leverage on a scale of 1-to-10: 4.

I guess this is why the Colts keep winning that division.

Although a lot of this is simply about getting paid, ego plays a large role. These guys are competitive, and they spend lots of time together in the offseason. When one guy gets a raise, they all want a raise. What they have to understand is that the system doesn’t work that way.

It’s just a typical offseason in the NFL.