Not neccessarily... this is the point in his career where he needs to get money to live the rest of his life on and I'm sure the typical greedy football player won't settle for an $8 million pay cut. I think the cut will be reduced to only $2-4 million and then he will accept.
He already offered to give 2 million back last year to get Coles back. Now I wonder if that's a sign money isn't as huge to him or he could use it as leverage in negotations. You know, talking about how he offered to give money back for the good of the team. I agree with Donnie on this one (though he may need to change his screen name soon!) that Pennington would go down to 2-4 million. If he went from 8 million down to 1 million, that's pretty outrageous. You can't realistically xpect that to happen. If I was Chad, I certainly wouldn't forfeit 89% of my salary!
What ever # he agrees to, which I think will be in the $2million to $4 million range, the real negotiating will come when it comes time to discuss the incentives he will be given to try and re-coup some of the $. I still love his quoate at the end of the season when he said theat whomever the Jets bring in better pack a lunch becuse it is gonna be a long fight. (I paraphrased)
This sounds callous, but I really don't care if Chad's considered a "team player" by anyone or not. I don't even really care if he considers himself a "team player" or if he prefers to have fans consider him a "team player" or perhaps if he's just content to have management consider him a "team player." It doesn't matter... shouldn't enter into the equation. Losing teams are loaded with "team players." Of course, so are some winning teams, the point being, it's a nice touch but it's not the bottom line to what matters most. What matters most is whether or not the Jets win. It's a business and we're in the business of building a winning team, period. Winning is the goal. If we go 1-15 next year, nobody's gonna sit in the stands and go, "Well, tell you what... that Chad's a real team player." If the Jets can win with their QB as a "team player," so be it. I like that. But that's all secondary. The Jets need to have Chad seriously restructure and he knows perfectly well why this needs to be done. This ain't no big surprise to him either... he knew it was coming for a long time. Doesn't take any Rhodes Scholar. If he wants to sign the papers and consider himself a "team player" for having done so, if that makes him feel better about it, gives him terrific self-esteem and a nice warm glow, all the better. But the bottom line is, the Jets need to build a winning team. That comes first and we need to get that done, whether or not we do it with Chad Pennington as a "team player."
I think Chad knows deep down if he is done or not. As much as he may want to return it jsust may not be in the cards. A man has to look out for himself and his family. If I am Chad I say screw you give me the 10mil and cut me. He can hop on somewhere else and try to make a go of it if not he is still pretty comfortable with 10mil.
Chad shouldn't accept that offer. He laid it all out on the line for the team playing hurt and deserves to keep every cent his contract owes him. What he should do is restructure defer some of the money so it eases the cap hit this year. If Chad was healthy and just not performing thats one thing but the guys career may be over and no matter what anyone says about the guy he played his ass off when he was out there and we shouldn't just kick him to the curb.
He needs money to look out for himself? Hasn't he already made about $30M so far in his career? If he doesn't have enough money now to live, I don't think he ever will. This isn't some guy working a dishwasher's job at night and mcdonalds during the day to make ends meet for his family. This is a multi-millionaire. Give me $10M and I guarantee you I don't have to work another day in my life. Also, if the team cuts him, he doesn't see anymore money. The signing bonus is already paid, it just becomes a cap hit either way. If he tells the team to screw themselves, they're pretty much in the same position if they cut him this year than if they kept him, actually, a better position, because he wouldn't be taking up huge amounts of cap space the next 4 years. He'd be gone for good and have no impact whatsoever after this year.
Am I the only one on this site who wants to WIN!!! Hey Chad - thanks for one good season - in which you stepped in and played great (up until the Raider game in which he played terrible) but your time is up. How can you guys FEEL SORRY for a guy who is not only a multi-millionaire... but can pretty much name his coaching job in a couple of years because he's brilliant... and by the way - if he doesn't take the pay cut and we cut him then he gets nothing next year.
With the way he played with his shoulder basically scotch taped together, Chad has proven he is a team player regardless of how this pay cut situation plays out.
Chad epitmoizes team player. However, I don't think he is capable of being a starter anymore so if he rejects the pay cut it doesn't matter.
How can i feel sorry for the guy?The fact that his career could be over is one reason,he might never again play the sport he loves.The fact that his dream of leading the Jets to a superbowl is over is another,the one thing he's focused and worked on for these 6 years he's been in the league,he played with a torn rotator cuff for this dream and it's all been for nothing. Yeah he's going to have a lot of money,but it's pretty shit to see guys who don't have half of Chad's class and have only put in half the effort that he has get a lot more money.It's a lot of money to us,but in the NFL chad won't of made as much as he could of.
He's already made 22 million dollars for playing a grand total of 18 games. Give me a break, this guy would have been cut already if he didnt have a 64 million contract. I'm still trying to figure out what he did to deserve it in the first place.
I Beleive Chad will come back stronger than ever with an aggressive attacking spirit where ever he is playing. One thing that bothers me is the leverage that Chad has, with Mangini having been analyzing him his entire life as a football player.
Chad also made money from his rookie contract...The man is set for life. And I just have the feel that he'll take the pay-cut and use the on-field incentives as a huge motivator to re-coup the money back.
If Chad doesn't take a cut and play nicey-nice, he may risk getting cut (still a big hit to the Jets) and not sniff a starting job for a while, if ever. At least the Jets are stating they will give him the opportunity to compete for it.
Look, of the $22 million already received, he's probably paid a third of that in taxes and lived off of some of the rest. That leaves him with $13-14 million left in the bank, net,net,net. My guess is, his financial advisor has it in a Vanguard or Fidelty account. Within that account and at his age, he's probably invested in securities (or securities mutual funds) to the tune of about 66%, which means Chad Pennington has about $10 million in the stock market. At an average historical rate of return in the stock market of 10% per year, if he leaves this alone he has an average annual income of $1 million per year off this account. If he leaves this in there and doesn't spend it, it compounds and doubles after 7.5 years. In other words, Chad just needs to "make a living" right now and live off of present income. The rest takes care of itself. In 7.5 years, he's worth $20 million and in 15 years he's worth $40 million. At 22.5 years from now, Chadwick Pennington is worth $80 million. And at age 60, or at year 30 of his investment, he's worth $160 million dollars. Believe me, Chad is okay. If he signs the papers and skips the emotional bullshit about "team player" and how he "gave it up" for Coles and all the rest and just plays football (even as a backup), he's done real well for himself. Earn the $1.5 million for now and live off it. The rest takes care of itself.
Football players have short carrers and need to make this money. If you take it away from Chad now what will he do? How will he buy food and clothes for his family? Could YOU live on what Chad has been paid already? See my point is that after football all these players can't do anything else. It's not like they went to college or anything. Sorry for my sarcastic rant here. But when we talk about all these millions of dollors like it's dimes and quarters it get me red with steam coming out of my ears. (I'm not saying Chad is but) alot of athletes are so greedy it's beyond my comprehention. What the heck is the difference between 8 million and 5 million, or 27 million and 22 million. And don't give me the straight math. Most of these people come from average homes. There is a certim point were you can't possibly spend the money (without WASTING it.) The excess is unbelievable. They fight for more money just to get a few million more. My family is happy as a pig in you know what to find an extra few hundred or maybe a thousand to take the family on vacation. The money that is paid in sports is too much. And I don't know what more to think about it. Football is the only sport I still am interested in. These greedy athletes really turn me off. Sorry again for the rant but it's how I feel.
I expect Chad to do what is in Chad's best interest. Should he completely decline to restructure and force a cut, I will think no less of him. It's a difficult situation.
