Agent Is Hoping Chargers Have Turned Holland Loose

The agent for Charger wide receiver Jamie Holland is hoping today is the day his client is set free.

Steve Feldman said Thursday he hopes Holland is not on a list, to be released this morning, of 37 Charger players to be protected under the Plan B free-agent system.

If Holland is not on it, he will be an unrestricted free agent allowed to negotiate with any of the other 27 NFL teams.

Holland, whose three-year contract with the Chargers expired Thursday, made $180,000 last season, according to figures from the NFL Players Assn.

“If they let him go, I know we’ll get a much better deal,” Feldman said from Indianapolis, where he is attending a workout of college players. “It will be a nice increase.”

The average salary of players signed in 1989, the first year of Plan B, increased 40.3% to $198,000, according to the NFL Management Council. In addition, players received an average signing bonus of $35,000.

As with all of the players they do not protect, the Chargers would not be allowed to deal with Holland again until April 1. But Feldman said he did not expect that Holland would still be available anyway.

“Another team will take him,” Feldman said. “I’m sure of that.”

Holland, a 1987 seventh-round draft choice from Ohio State, has caught 71 passes for 1,010 yards and one touchdown in three seasons. Last season, he was fourth on the team with 26 catches for 336 yards.

Holland is one of 22 Chargers whose contracts expired Thursday. General Manager Bobby Beathard has declined to discuss specifics but has said that some of those 22 would be left unprotected. He also has said the unprotected group would not include quarterback Jim McMahon, whose contract paid him $800,000 last season, making him the highest-paid Charger.

The Chargers hold the rights to 56 players. Two--running backs Gary Anderson (1989 holdout) and Napoleon McCallum (military)--are exempt from Plan B consideration, leaving 17 players who have been left unprotected.