I think his problem is that it's a 3 year contract for $24m. He'd immediately accept a 1 year, $12m contract - he's afraid that if he plays well enough in 2016 to be the starter in 2017, he'll still only get $6m. And also 2018. If he has a Kurt Warner thing where he has this late career renaissance, he wants to be paid accordingly. It seems like he is interested in coming back, but he's wary of getting underpaid later on.
For that reason I proposed giving Fitz a player option after 2016 on the condition that if he uses it he has to return 4M to the Jets. This way he has an out if he wants it but the Jets don't have to eat any dead money if he terminates the contract. OTOH if the Jets cut him, he doesn't have to return anything.
Where are the Jets getting the $12M for him this year on the cap? I just don't see it. You can jump through hoops to make it happen by why are you doing that for a 34 year old QB who has never made the playoffs?
60 days till TC and no deal Ian Rappaport sayin on NFL network this morning the Jets could offer RF a one year deal that's worth more than 12 mil as a "possible solution" to the stalemate IMO we can also frontload a two or three year deal to 15 or 18 mil up front so Fitz doesn't whine about 6 mil the following years where he thinks he will get us to playoffs and SB Don't ask me how this gets done . We can thank Mevi$, Skrine and Cromartie for tying up a lot of dough. Plus let Marshall and decker restructure their contracts if they want Fitz back so much!!! I want to believe in Fitz but he is morphing into hybrid Ivy League snob/snake oil salesman Has Mac backed himself into a corner with this? We are bidding against ourselves and that's what sucks
Kurt Warner was a great QB who then had an injury-ravaged middle of his career before returning to a high level of play for a few years at the end. It's not the same thing. I get that Fitzpatrick doesn't want to be underpaid, but it is only in his imagination that $8M a year over a 3 year deal with $12M up front is underpaid. You can't devote your cap to fixing the frustrations of an NFL Walter Mitty. The Jets have an organizational problem with overpaying players who are stars or perceived to be stars. It's an ongoing thing and it has damaged the Jets competitive position recently with players like D'Brick and Harris overpaid for good solid play and players like Revis shooting the moon on us and inspiring other very good players to try to do the same. You have to fix this somewhere or the Jets will always be the team with that guy trying to break the piggy bank with his teammates supporting him and never the team full of hungry over-achievers winning it all.
This is Ryan Fitzpatrick we're talking about. It's not Eli Manning with 2 Super Bowl MVP's on his record and clearly the player the franchise is built around. If the Jets can't say no to Fitzpatrick and particularly if they have a locker room issue with other players because of that we might as well just kick it all in and start over because this team isn't winning anything in that situation.
I'm past caring now. Let's use the money to lock up Fireman Ed to a long-term contract. Or just use the money to lock up Fireman Ed.
You make some good points,, but blowing it all up for the tenth time is just way too depressing Do the players all want to charge us down to nothing?? Did Mevi$ start this money grab rolling??? Maybe you are right I am sure Mac is aware what players and their agents are capable of I am starting to believe Idzik pinched pennies so that we had cash on hand that Mac used but also failed to draft Bridgewater Carr Mettenburg and got GeNo thus screwing us at QB for the next 5 years. Brilliant.... So here we are between a rock and a hard place
He's not Bruce Smith or JJ Watt correct, he's Muhammad Wilkerson. IMO, his name carries his own value as he continues to make a name for himself, he's a much different player then Smith or Watt. Most sacks in a season for a 300 pound lineman last year since Warren Sapp. He's an elite player in this league and a top 5 interior defensive lineman. Underrated because we have talent on the defensive line. Mo is exactly the type of player that can help you win a SB. Shores up the run defense and is stellar rushing the passer. He is the true glue-guy to this defense, he holds it together, makes those around him better, do I believe JJ Watt does this? Absolutely not. I'm not trading him for a 4th rounder unless there are clearly no options left, and I would much rather try and take the money we were going to give to Fitz and look to find a way to lock Mo up in another contractual negotiation.
The best decision sometimes isn't the popular one. If a reasonable accommodation can't be had with Fitz, then move on. Don't hurt the team to keep the popular short term solution. Sent from my KIW-L24 using Tapatalk
If the Jets bring him back and he struggles boy is he going to get killed over this. Then again, he'll get killed regardless of this anyway. The man is trying to get his money. I can't fault him. But the Jets shouldn't really budge, Fitzpatrick is not a proven commodity. What the Jets are offering him is more than fair IMO, even with the less money in years 2 and 3. If he has another big year for the Jets he can always holdout next season.
That's not what I said. The cap number is 8M per year like before. Fitz pockets 12M this year but 6M of that is a prorated signing bonus. The only difference is that he can opt out by returning 4M of the signing bonus so the Jets have no dead money if he walks.
I don't get your psychology. If I want a big contract and my team won't give it, I'll find another team that will. The teams "full of hungry overachievers" don't exist. If you're thinking the Pats are like that, they aren't. They have some underpaid players but those players stick around to play for Belichick. If we want our players to play for cheap we have to show them we can contend for a SB. Either that or lock them up midway through their rookie deals like other teams do.
I seem to remember a bunch of concussions as well. He got beat up pretty good when he played. He played pro ball for nearly 20 years. He was one tough son of a bitch.
11 in the NFL and 4 in the arena league and I believe he's only had about 5 concussions. Don't get me wrong; gotta love Kurt. He's a great story but the poster that said he had a great early career an I njury riddled middle and strong end is factually incorrect.
It would be so depressing having Bridgewater as our franchise QB and knowing that he was not good enough to get us over the top. He's a high floor low ceiling guy and unless everything goes just right for him he's going to look like a poor man's Philip Rivers in a few years. You can't win with the real thing, how are you going to win with a guy with a mediocre arm and a check-down mentality?
