Chad has been reporting more or less the same thing. Maybe his agent was inspired by the Matthews contract and is now going in another direction. Probably a smart move considering the owners. Horrible news for us fans though.
Isn't he restricted? He doesn't get to dictate the terms...unless he's willing to hold out.
He's under contract for this season, and arbitration-eligible next offseason.
Given the differential $$ in play for 3 years of the extension, a potential holdout carries a far higher likelihood than "betting on himself" and playing out this final season of his 2nd contract with risk of injury scuttling the future.
Example:
A. 12-13% of $85.3 or $87.5M for 8 years
B. Same % of cap as above for 5 years and 3 (assume 4th contract would be more) years at same percentage of a >$92M cap.
In the end, I suspect it's Dahlin camp's strategy to get a bump from $10.5 to $11.5M per.