Jets Starting Contract Talks With Wilk

Most players and agents don't like the idea of being overpaid the first two years and underpaid the last two. It's contracts like that that turn players into Darrelle Revis and want to renegotiate every couple of years. I'm on board with hoping Wilk and his agent aren't like that but it becomes wishful thinking.

I agree that they are more than just 3-4 defensive ends but in the grand scheme of things wouldn't you rather have only one of them and an edge rusher like Justin Houston than both of them and no edge rusher? Because if we invest tons of money into both we will virtually never have an elite outside pass rusher unless we draft and develop one (which we can't seem to do).

 

Tanny DID promise Revis something he ultimately couldn't give him, he said he would make him the highest paid CB [during the Nnamdi era] or some outlandish statement.

I just really hope Wilk and Richardson stick together for the next 10 yrs or so - they play very well together - and both are 2 exciting players to watch - homegrown talent, I don't want to see them go. I think in the grand scheme of things, we can afford both Wilkerson, Richardson, a speed type edge rusher, inside linebacker and a free safety to help make this defense an elite unit. I do believe in generating interior pressure on the QB. 5 players on D, at least 1 high caliber player on each level of the defense. Also, getting interior pressure, that's how you stop the great QBs out there.

We just have to hope Wilkerson and his agent buy in to what Bowles and Mac's plan truly is.

 

keep in mind, its fashionable these days to front load a d-lineman's deal, and we have the space to pull it off.

http://overthecap.com/player/robert-quinn/1343/
http://overthecap.com/player/gerald-mccoy/1811/
http://overthecap.com/player/jj-watt/1669/

Picture Wilk's deal giving him 10 million this year with a roster bonus and a signing bonus of less than 10 mill. his cap hit would be huge this year, but the point is to pay him now and keep future flexibility in tact. we play this right and he sees his guaranteed sum all pile up into the next two years, and his annual cap hit kept closer to 10 million than 15.

I don't see the fret of this or Wilk wanting too much, he knows he's not Watt, this will get done with minimal financial risk and all parties involved happy. He'll be a jet for the rest of the decade, calling it now.

 

I don't want to lose mo like most of ypu, but I am accepting the fact it's a real possibility. Someone said earlier sheldon is better and I would have to agree and think he's someone they don't want to consider losing.. The big problem to me behind the scenes for the jets is the Suh contract train wreck in Detroit. Those morons have positioned themselves to possibly have to pay him 27 million dollars this year. This drastically impacts wilk and Richardson contracts. Detroit handling of suh contract is going to drastically change the dollar amounts for premier defensive lineman. Ofcourse like clockwork as this is going on, the jets have 2 premier defensive lineman that need to be locked up. Lol

 

I believe we offer Wilk 5 years $40million with $25Million guaranteed. If he says no, then we trade the Number 6 pick and Mo to Tennessee for the Number 2 pick.

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/rankings/average/defensive-end/

 

First of all, no way in hell would I personally do that. 2nd, are you suggesting that's what we do? Or is that what you're predicting? I think we offer him more than that if he says no to that type of a deal.

 

what would you want to do with the #2 pick?

 

Get a QB.

 

So you would trade one of the best DEs in football along with the 6th pick just to move up and take a QB that may be available at 6? And even if the QB isn't there we will have a shot at the top WR/OT/LB in the draft? Are you high?

 

Ok, so picture this: the Jets give Wilkerson a front-loaded deal with $40M in the first 2 seasons and then $8M a season for the next 3. The deal is just a shade under $13M a year.

Then it comes time to re-up Richardson and he's the Jets best defensive lineman and one of the top 3 in the NFL. So they're going to have to pay him more than they paid Wilkerson. The cap has gone up to $153 million by now and so all the deals signed in the $140M season are a bit under-value for the current cap.

The Jets get into negotiations with Richardson and it becomes pretty clear that his price is going to be $18M a year, which is what one of the best defensive linemen in the NFL commands in 2017. Wilkerson, who is a top 10 defensive lineman, is now in the $8M a year portion of his deal. It becomes clear that Wilkerson and his agents are threatening a holdout if his deal isn't "fixed" to reflect the new reality.

The Jets are pretty screwed no matter what they do at that point because trading Wilkerson accelerates the cap hit from the front-loaded 2 years right into 2017. They have no intention to cut Wilkerson on June 1st because they're not going to cut Wilkerson period, he's too valuable. Richardson signs a 6 year deal worth $108M with $50M guaranteed in the first 2 years (because Wilkerson's deal had $40M up front and the Jets need to better that).

The tabloids are playing the issue up at every turn, like they did with Revis, and the pressure on the Jets is really strong to act and do something but there are no good answers.

That's why you don't front-load Wilkerson's deal. It creates enormous uncertainties right down the road. A deal like that is dependent on Wilkerson to keep his word that he will never hold out and on Richardson to not ask for the sky in 2017. The first proposition has a good chance of coming through for you but the second one is never going to happem

 

Too bad the only good one goes # 1.

 

Zero chance that Wilkerson accepts this deal. It's below market now and will be in the ludicrous category by the time this season is in the books.

 

I think you presented a pretty doom and gloom scenario here. For one, I don't think Wilkerson holds out if Richardson gets his pay-day, especially if we are winning. He hasn't complained about his contract yet, and I think if we give him this particular contract he won't complain down the line.

Two, the cap is projected to go up to 160M in 2016 [http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/03/07/cap-could-hit-160-million-in-2016/], so I think the Jets will be able to afford both players. Let's say 2017, Wilkerson gets 8 to 10M while Richardson gets 18. 28M for 2 10 top defensive lineman that can stop the run and rush the passer, I don't think that's all that bad. If by some miracle the Jets develop a QB - there will still be room to pay that QB as well as provide some weapons.

Let's not compare this issue to the Revis issue where Revis held out his rookie season.

 

I'm no cap guru, but 5 yrs 60M [40M guaranteed] should get the job done. Right between Robert Quinn and Charles Johnson. That's 12M per season. He hasn't had a statistically monster season so he knows he's not getting JJ Watt / Mario Williams cash.

 

The fact you think titans will trade the 2nd pick for Wilk and our 6th makes me believe you don't know wtf your talking about

 

20.5 sacks? um. do you know the diff between a 3-4 lineman and an 4-3 edge rusher? That's like saying Wilk will never be 'great' because he'll never have a 5000 yard, 50 TD season.

 

a few things:

1. the figures used are pretty disingenuous. thats a ludicrous amount front loaded. it would be half as much as you state, a fraction of 40 million. look at Robert Quinns deal, thats what we're looking at in terms of front loading.not even Watt made that much in two years. and as for sheldon, thats probably NOT what a top 3 DE makes in 2017, the market won't fluctuate THAT much in two years… you may just be giving an example for proof of concept, but it colors things in such dramatic fashion thats unrealistic and undermine's your point.

2. If Richardson is really THAT GOOD, and he demands top dollar, Mo's camp won't want their cost to go up because they won't have a leg to stand on. what are the odds that after 2 years Wilk and his agent or whoever just made like 20-25 million (or in your example friggin 40 million) will complain about the base salary he negotiated not 2 years ago being a smidgen to low after another players value lifted his in a marginal fashion?

under your scenario he made more in two years than most NFLer's did in 5 or their whole careers, and he's got more coming. how does his camp come to the conclusion that the annual cash in hand they purposefully agreed to lower a bit for the sake of a bigger earlier payday needs to be raised? whats the plan of attack? why does it make sense to go after this goal?

Wilk isn't Revis, I'm 99.999% sure that once he's given a deal he'll honor it for a good while and won't seek a substantial pay raise so soon based on green eyes. no, not in that short a time certainly. I have a hard time believing that things change so much in 2 years that he deems it necessary to ask for more just to keep his value appropriate, especially after being paid so well the previous 2 years. once again, he is NOT Darelle Revis.

if anything Mo's deal might be built to accommodate SR's eventual extension. You're not looking at the market thats been set, and you're making judgments based on looking at a WWDRD arm band. that scenario's not realistic.

 

Get it done Mac!

 

there isn't anyone in this draft worth trading up for (just IMO) - we might well get burned if we take Mariota at #6