Peter King and Dan Patrick were finalists for that award so honestly I'm not all that impressed. They're just personalities, not real football experts. Maybe his guess as to the 49ers releasing Aldon Smith before the 2014 season will be accurate, but like I said it's just a guess of his based on frustrations of a couple people who work in the 49ers front office. I'm not likening him to Mehta or anything, as far as I know he doesn't throw around blatant inaccuracies, but he's just reporting a personal guess. I'm not investing anything into that opinion until I hear more about the legal implications for Smith.
http://www.ganggreennation.com/2014/4/16/5619826/chris-johnson-seeking-2-years-10m Pretty much what I expected. I say guarantee him $4 million (full salary) for 2014, next year guarantee him $1 million (of a $3.5 million salary). He'll be guaranteed $5 million, with the chance to earn $7.5, but we'd be able to save $2.5 million if he is clearly declining. I think his skills are worth 4 million this year, and we'll have a pretty good idea if he's worth 3.5 next year once the offseason rolls around. I think he's proven durable enough to guarantee all 4 million year 1, and he'll play hard because he knows if he gets cut he's missing out on $2.5 million, and by then he'll be 30. If he thinks he's being low balled now, just wait until he sees what teams are willing to pay for a 30 year old back who got cut after 1 season.
If that's really what he's seeking and the Jets want him I think they should just make it happen. Assuming they're in the 3-4 million/year range it's not like the difference is huge in terms of cap space (I realize it's significant percentage wise) and it's only a 2 year deal so they aren't committing to a bad deal long term. Worst case scenario he fizzles out and they let him walk in a couple of years.
When you think about it $1,000,000 is kind of a lot of money. Also, giving him$5 million year two is basically just a surefire way of saying yeah we're going to cut you next year, and in that case we wouldn't guarantee him any money for year two. At that point why not just give a 1 year deal? He wouldn't want that because he wants to extend his earnings. The chance to make $7.5 million over two years is better than making 5 over 1 year and possibly being out of the league, so he'll take less. He is too old for a prove it year.
Looking at what the RB's have gotten this off season I think going up to $4.5M for a 2 year $9M contract would not be overpaying, so somewhat meeting him in the middle. If you look at the 2 highest FA contracts this off season you have Brown and Gerhart at 3 years/$10.5M, neither of them has ever come close to 1000 yards rushing. I understand Johnson has more wear and tear on him but he has shown he can produce and if they keep it at 2 years and guarantee $6M of the $9 the team is pretty well covered..
You don't pay a player more than he's worth unless he's the last piece of the puzzle. The Jets have had overpaid guys all over the roster the last 5 years. It's good that they're not bending on starting that process up again. The cap really is a long-term asset. Treating it like a one night stand is what got the Jets in the trouble they were in after 2012.
Did I not specifically qualify my statement with "in terms of cap space"? I mean c'mon. You don't need to tell me, or anyone, that $1 million is a lot of money. What a ridiculous comment. That makes sense but I think you run the risk of losing a player you want to another team over what amounts to be a small percentage of the salary cap for the short term.
We were not in trouble. We had one year we couldn't spend like drunken sailors and now we have all the money in the world this year and even more next year if we don't carry over a penny.
It's a short term over pay and not a huge amount. If we were making a bunch of moves like this it would be a problem but one guy a little over paid for the short term isn't going to kill any long term assets. We aren't talking about a $42 million Calvin Pace deal.
Year 1 it's almost a full percent of the cap difference between Idzik's number and CJs. Maybe you can stomach that year 1, but I promise you signing him to a 2 year $10 million contract is equal to signing him to a 1 year $5 million, because there is no way he'll be worth $5 million a year from now. Keep him hungry for carries, and make him earn it.
With Idzik as GM we better hope all our future FA gives us a home town discount. Because if not we will lose them.
Yeah, it really is going to kill long-term assets. It's going to make it harder to get the Jets young players to agree to reasonable deals. You overpay a vet coming in and every young player on the squad perks up and starts recalculating the mortgage they'll be able to afford on their new deal. If CJ was the last piece maybe you bite that bullet. He's not and so the Jets didn't. An extra $1M a year for him doesn't sound huge but then if you calculate in an extra $1M a year for 5 other players too it begins to add up. Put another way: none of the players looks at a short-term overpay as something that is going away in a year or two. All of them look at it as an opportunity to get overpaid. That's just human nature.
I believe the Jets young stars will get paid well enough to stay. I don't think any good but not great players will be overpaid.
I don't see why he would change with our FA. This dumb mother fucker won't move off a offer he makes.