Indianapolis Colts perennial Pro Bowl wide receiver Reggie Wayne and defensive end Robert Mathis are skipping the team's mandatory mini-camp this weekend in protest of their contract situations.

Colts president Bill Polian tells ESPN's Paul Kuharsky that with the current labor situation, it's unlikely that either player gets a new deal.

"We're not in a regular environment, that's the problem," Polian said. "I've spoken to both their agents, and I certainly respect both men and they make a good case. But the problem is we don't have a system, and without a system you don't know where contracts might or might not fit.

"It's a jigsaw puzzle, and as one piece fits in then another falls in place and another falls in place," Polian said. "So the question is, what are the basic concepts and then where you go from there? What does one piece do to all the other pieces? That's the difficulty. You can't predict that, no one knows what it will be. No one knows until the parties sit down and hammer it out what it will be. And a small, little piece over here could change the whole complexion of things.

"So it's futile to plan beyond just baseline kind of planning because you don't know what the final product is going to look like."

Despite the current labor situation, a long-term deal is expected to happen for quarterback Peyton Manning. To read what Polian said on that, click the ESPN link.

I'll stick by what I wrote earlier this morning: Both players don't necessarily want more money, but want guarantees on what's owed in the remaining years.

Unfortunately for them, the Colts have all the leverage in this negotiation.

Unlike other contract situations--Manning's, for example--where the uncertainty of whether or not the next collective bargaining agreement will still contain the same mechanisms to restrict player movement (franchise tag, RFA tenders, etc...), both Wayne and Mathis are signed through the 2011 season, giving the Colts' front office plenty of time to hammer out an extension next off-season.