Tom E. Curran • E-mail

On the morning of May 20, Drew Rosenhaus began to tweet. And in three, 140-character-or-less entries on his Twitter account, the well-known NFL agent sliced to the heart of an issue that seems to now dominate each offseason.

“Why is there so much controversy when a player who outperforms his contract asks for an increased deal?” Rosenhaus mused. “NFL teams release players every day who have several years left on their contracts. It’s an unfair double standard that teams can cut players before they finish their deal and players who ask for a raise are criticized. The system needs to work both ways. There is nothing wrong with players getting their worth.”

Six days later, Rosenhaus was tweeting “good luck” to Anquan Boldin, the outstanding Cardinals wide receiver who’s been agitating for a raise or a trade for more than a year. Boldin, apparently weary of Rosenhaus’ inability to get a deal done with Arizona, fired Rosenhaus and hired another agent, Tom Condon.

While Boldin’s ongoing impasse is one of the longest-running and most intriguing in the league, it’s hardly the only one. At any one time, smoke from seemingly dozens of contract brush fires is rising all over the NFL landscape. In some instances, the smoke is mere wisps — discussions. In others it’s billowing as impasses fueled by hurt feelings, hard-line stances and charged rhetoric ratcheting up the gawk factor around the league.

In a league with close to 2,000 players, it’s no surprise that some don’t like their work situation. The root of their irritation could be money, playing time, the city or the haplessness of the franchise. But what makes some players go from unhappy to raging, threatening holdouts (Boldin) or “shooting their way out of town” with their actions (ex-Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler)?

Between Boldin, Cutler, Julius Peppers, Tony Gonzalez, Sheldon Brown, Jason Peters, Leon Washington, Karlos Dansby and a host of others, you could field a pretty good team with players who’ve gone rogue about contracts or their situations in the past year.

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“Every situation has a personality of its own,” said Patriots defensive end Richard Seymour. “Every guy has a different way of handling his situation. But there are always things (that) lead up to that point. (The way you deal with it) sometimes has to do with the way they were raised and brought up. ‘Do you stand up for yourself if you think you’re being treated wrong?’ ”

Seymour held out at the start of training camp in 2005 when he had two years left on his six-year rookie deal. He got a modest raise from the Patriots then and a promise from the team they would work toward another deal when he had a year left on his contract. In August 2006, he signed a three-year extension that paid him close to $30 million. His posture throughout? Strong and silent.

“There’s a way to stand up for yourself and still be respectable,” Seymour said. “Just like you honor your mother and father, but you don’t have to lay down (if you feel strongly that you are being wronged). There’s a respectful and mature way (to do it). You can hear the same thing said by two different players, it’s all in the way that they say it.”

To be fair to the players, they have the hardest work situation of any major American sport. Unlike baseball, hockey or basketball, where players can go overseas or enter college if they don’t like where they’re drafted, there’s no appealing alternative for an NFL player who doesn’t like the team that takes him. And the first contract he signs will most likely be either a four or five-year deal for an above-average player or a three-year deal with modest money for a player taken later. The only money that the player is guaranteed to receive is his signing bonus. Meanwhile, the average NFL career is petering out by the time the player nears 30 and the threat of a career-ending injury is constant. And this isn’t even getting into discussing things like the franchise tag that keeps players from getting to free agency.

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The teams hold the hammer.

“The decision of who stays and who goes regarding contracts and player movement belongs to the team,” said Chargers GM A.J. Smith. “The club decides on structure and money. You hope the decision is accepted by the player and his agent because that’s the purpose, keeping the player. Maybe you drafted and developed him. And if it does not work out, you are disappointed, and you move on. But every player would like maximum money. Every agent would like maximum money. No matter what you do, someone will be unhappy with what you’re doing. You cannot make every player and every agent happy with contracts and situations. Not everyone starts. Not everyone gets playing time.”

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