It's entirely possible to negotiate option excercise dates. Asking for 5-10 years to decide if you want to buy is within the realms of possibility for software engineers at early stage startups (pre b round).
Sure. But since this is a negotiation, you probably have to make some choices. Should you press on exercise dates, or on number of shares? If both of these are worth zero in your calculus, you have no means to assess.
Same with early excercise.