The Star-Ledger reports talks with Penny are "making progress:" http://www.nj.com/sports/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/114110907634360.xml&coll=1 Pennington Talks Make Progress Tuesday, February 28, 2006 BY DAVE HUTCHINSON Star-Ledger Staff The Jets have blinked in their stare down with Tom Condon, the agent for Chad Pennington, and there's "optimism" a compromise can be reached on the restructuring of the quarterback's contract, according to someone with knowledge of the discussions. Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum and Condon met late Saturday afternoon at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis. "They made a little bit of progress (on Saturday)," said the person, who requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the talks. "The Jets have moved. There's more optimism that a deal can get done." The Jets yesterday issued a statement saying that talks are "ongoing." Pennington, who is scheduled to earn $9 million this season, including a $3 million roster bonus due on Friday, was initially asked to take an $8 million pay cut with the chance to recoup the money in incentives. The Pennington camp flatly rejected that proposal and made a counter offer at their meeting. Condon told fellow agents this week in Indianapolis that he's seeking a base salary or guaranteed money of between $4 million and $5 million with the opportunity to earn the rest in incentives. Chances are the two sides will meet in the middle and Pennington will return. A decision must be made by Friday, when Pennington is due his bonus. Pennington, who had his second rotator cuff surgery in an eight-month span last October, wants to come back but he feels insulted by the Jets' initial offer. "They want to pay me less than what most backup quarterbacks are making," Pennington, who is working out daily in Florida at the IMG Academies in Bradenton, told the Sarasota Herald Tribune in Sunday's edition. A fallback plan for the Jets may be to acquire Redskins' quarterback Patrick Ramsey for a mid-round pick. Cincinnati's Jon Kitna, who will become an unrestricted free agent Friday, also is a possibility. Meanwhile, the Jets have no interest in moving up to the No. 1 slot overall to take USC quarterback Matt Leinart, it was learned. The Texans are shopping the pick and the Jets had been rumored to be interested. If the Jets draft a quarterback in the first round, it will be Vanderbilt's Jay Cutler. The Jets, however, are actively shopping defensive end John Abraham, with Washington, Denver, Houston and Cleveland among the teams believed to be interested. Abraham and his representatives, Tony Agnone and Rich Rosa, have made no secret of their desire to be traded and the Jets seem willing to accommodate them.
I am glad this looks like it will work out. I am not saying Chad will be the same, but he deserves the chance to be. He will get that chance here.
how credible is this source????????? I swear to God if we trade to the #1 spot and draft Cutler I will KILL somebody. Why are we not interested in Leinart? JAY CUTLER????????? What about Young?????????? What the HELL is going on???????????????
Thats why I'm asking how credible it is... Since it says were NOT interested in Lineart. I can maybe see Bush, but NOT CUTLER
Jets | No word on Pennington talks Tue, 28 Feb 2006 05:25:35 -0800 Randy Lange, of the Bergen Record, reports neither agent Tom Condon nor New York Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum had any comment about the attempts to restructure QB Chad Pennington's contract in advance of a Friday, March 3, deadline when he is due a $3 million roster bonus. NFL sources said talks that began Saturday, Feb. 25, in Indianapolis are continuing. Good to hear some progress is being made, this situations really been irritating me. Hopefully that would allow us to focus on RB this year, give Pennington a last chance to prove himself, and look to QB next year
The hell with the trading up the news here is that the Jets might find middle ground, stick to your guns. Give him 1 million and incentives or cut his ass, don't back down to a guy that has abslutely no leverage.
typical NFL BS -- a deal has already been reached but they are making is more suspenseful so that everyone can save some face and say they worked it til the last possible moment to get th ebest deal done for both sides! load of crap with all the stories now
I think...THINK..what he meant was that if the Jets trade up to the number 1 spot, they wouldnt take a QB...it would be Bush...not Leinart. The Jets, I believe, would only trade up to take Bush....or only the number 1 pick. They wouldnt trade up to take the 2 or 3. Getting into the hearts of EM/MT is impossible right now. Not sure how they can make that statement that the Jets would never want Leinart.
I've been leaning this way too, Rich. I see no reason for the Jets to give Pennington say, $4-5 million. For what? To wave towels? Give him $2-3 million max. As an aside, some of the above replies puzzle me. Did some of you guys actually read the article? APK, where does the article say anything about "trading to the #1 spot and drafting Cutler?"
"Meanwhile, the Jets have no interest in moving up to the No. 1 slot overall to take USC quarterback Matt Leinart, it was learned."
His leverage if he is cut, is sticking the Jets with 12 million in dead money when they are already strapped. They need to get that number down. Even to 4 million that would a hell of a lot.
Exactly. Cutting him isn't going to help the team too much. A good restructure is. I was hoping to get him down to ~3 million, but 4-5 isn't terrrible.
He'll probably just be cut at the end of the year anyway. I don't think Chad will reach those incentives, so he probably won't be much of a cap hit.
cut him and be done with it. let him hold a clipboard and disappoint in training camp on somebody else's team.
That sounds great and all, but it will be a serious cap hit this year. Cut hiim next year, but it needs to get restructured.
I think Chad knows two things for sure. I think he knows: (1) he has a snowball's chance in hell of making any of the incentives and (2) he's damn-near worthless on the open market. We're talking zero interest from other teams. Those two facts are going to make Chad accept whatever final offer the Jets lay on the table Thursday night in the way of guaranteed money. He's been on this gravy train and he likes it and wants more of it, even if it's a smaller percentage of the pie.
$4 or $5 million??!! He's going to be nothing more than a backup quarterback. What a ridiculous salary. If Pennington was so confident in his abilities--"they want to pay me less than most backups"--he would take the money and the chance for incentives and strive to get back to his old days. At least most backups can throw the ball, Chad. If the Jets cut him, he won't make anything close to even $1 million, let alone 4 or 5.
God I hope they just can not come to an agreement, and cut him. This way we go into a fullscale rebuilding of the team instead of piecemealing this shit together. Yes, I'm aware of the cap ramifications, and i am of the camp that wants us to do what the Titans did last year... thats cap hell now and free of it next year, with the ability to sign good players, and have good spot in the draft order... you know, build a real team. Face the facts that we have to sacrafice a little bit now to become much better and a more stable organization that contends on a regular basis, instead of 2 times every 5 year cycle. Ellis
