BarleyNY

That’s a fair point about the quality of MLB play in the league. But teams do not “more often than not” employ 3 or 4 LBs. Nickel (or Big Nickel) is base for every team in the league. Seattle was by far the last hold out, but finally changed a couple seasons ago IIRC. But to your point, except for a handful of off the ball LBs the league is very pedestrian at the position. It’s not well paid compared to most positions except for that handful of players. Even the top guys don’t make THAT much. Bobby Wagner just signed for 5/$50M. The 5th highest paid off the ball LB by AAV is Edmunds at $12.7M (if you count his 5th year option as a 1 year deal and not part of his 5 year rookie deal). Anyone arguing that he’s a top 5 MLB who is better than Wagner? So here’s my main point. If he was willing to sign a contract in the 5/$50M range, it would’ve happened last off-season. Now his AAV floor is in excess of this year’s $12.7M salary. The top MLB contracts are 4 or 5 year deals at $19.7M, $17M, $14.5 & $14.25M AAV. Spotrac has his MV at 4/$55M or $13.8M. For comparison the 12th highest paid MLB makes $5M AAV. I think he’s a middle of the pack starting MLB. The high end of that is $5M right now. If he’d have gotten $10M, then fine. I would have considered it an overpay, but it would not have been a killer while putting him tied for 7th highest AAV. Now we’re likely looking at something in the $15M-$20M a year range. I don’t blame him for taking that if some team offers it, but I hope it’s not the Bills. I’d rather have a solid MLB at market value plus keep a top player at their position like Poyer.

That’s not what I meant when I said “Try to punch the ball out.”

I would not get caught up in contract length. Guaranteed money is much more important.

Um. Okay?

That would not be surprising either, but it’s not a slam dunk. The Phish put a fragile QB behind a trash OL for two seasons. He looked like crap and got injured a lot. No surprise there. This will be the first time in the NFL that he has a decent shot to show what he can do. While there are valid questions about his arm strength and durability, he is a quality runner and an accurate mid to intermediate passer. He could wind up a lot like Kyler Murray - a middle of the pack QB who gets paid. I’m hoping for that as it would put the Phish in purgatory.

For sure. The injury risk alone makes that likely.

By actually putting an offense around Tua (though that OL still has holes) the Dolphins are seeing what they have in him before they are due to make a decision on whether or not to pay him. I can’t argue with that.

https://jetsxfactor.com/2022/07/22/ny-jets-robert-saleh-clarifies-mekhi-becton/amp/ Vote of confidence from HC. Always nice to get and always concerning when needed.

Nor does he have any bend to turn the corner. He may benefit greatly from Von Miller flushing QBs to his side while Oliver gets through the middle however. Rousseau does a very good job of using his length to shed blockers and that could be a great fit.

Next year he will be a LB already on the roster with a year’s experience in the system. I predicted that they’d take a player like that this past draft (because it should have happened a year prior). It helps whether or not they try to re-sign Edmunds as it gives the team at least a little negotiation leverage.

Be a camp arm. They needed a 4th QB for TC and QBs were due to report the following day.

I agree. He’s signed through 2028 so after 2026 makes the most sense for an extension. Regardless he will likely want to wait for the new broadcasting and gambling revenue to roll in and capture that in his deal.

It was a fair market value deal when it was signed. Neither side got anything more than they should have. No need to read anything more info it than that.

No chance. He’s depth at LB, which the Bills needed.

I only wish that this had happened to an AFC team.

I heard an analysis of QBs and roster building. The conclusion was that the best place to be is with a top 8 (ish) QB on a rookie deal. The second best place was to have a top 8 QB on ANY deal. Third was to have a QB in the middle half of the league (9-24 ish) on a rookie deal. But a bad place to be was to have a QB in that range on a market value contract. That’s because those QBs get paid about the same money as the top ones, but don’t get their teams the wins the top QBs do. I’d say this contract for Murray puts the Cardinals in that last category. Teams with bottom 8 QBs would not be paying out a big contract to one so they would be able to acquire one via the draft, trade or FA. They could more easily and quickly get to one of the two better places than a team that’s weighed down by a big, long term contract to a mediocre QB. These decisions are often more about maintaining jobs than winning a championship. Sure, sometimes Joe Flacco happens, but it’s an outside chance at best.

The counter argument I’ve heard from people who watched him play (including non-Jets fans) was that he pretty much carried his Jets teams by himself. He was before my time so I can’t speak to how valid that is.

Couple reasons. The option for the Browns to do so may already be part of the contract. It’s getting more common and it would make sense for it to be in this contract. It also saves effort by both the team and agent. On Watson’s side, he’d get his money sooner and the money moved to the new signing bonus would not be at risk if he were to be suspended again. Also there’s no downside so why fight it?

Conversion of base salary to signing bonus. Using round numbers, they could convert $44M of his 2023 salary of $46M into a signing bonus. That would be spread the cap hit over 4 years. That would clear $33M in 2023 and add $11M each in years 2024-2026. They could even add a void year to clear a little more space and spread the hit out one more season.

The contract is currently structured so that Y1 cap hit is $10M and Y2 is $55M. If he misses the season due to suspension then his contract would toll and Y1 would be delayed until 2023. It’s worth mentioning that the Browns are certain to restructure his contract in Y2 to greatly reduce that $55M cap hit.

Jimmy G is really the only available QB that would make sense for Cleveland. I don’t know what his preference would be if released though. SF either has to release/trade him or start him. He can’t be on the team if they go with Trey Lance. The only other sensible destination for him is Seattle, who plays in the same division. I don’t know if they are in full tank mode or if they’d sign him if he got released. If I’m SF I keep him until cut down day unless I get something of value for him. That way Lance has to earn the job, he’s there in case Lance gets hurt and he can’t help Seattle. If I’m Berry on the Browns, he’s only a trade option if Watson is out for an extended suspension. 12+ games. I don’t think I do it for 8. Now if he’s released and Seattle doesn’t bite, then maybe he comes cheap for the opportunity to start for part of a season.

I’m not a lawyer so it’s just an interesting question to me. I’ll just wait and see what the federal judge says. Edited to add: Snyder was accused by 40 or so women employees of sexual harassment, hostile working conditions, etc. One facet of that was him trying to prostitute cheerleaders out to his big customers. The NFL fined him $10M and he also briefly put the team in his wife’s name. That certainly could be a precedent in the NFL’s favor. Kraft and Jones, not so much however. Also it’s worth nothing that in Watson’s case the NFL didn’t bring up 26 women. They came in with 5 and one got thrown out. The judge will only consider the 4 in front of her.

Sue Robinson’s determination of the relevancy of the owner’s clause is of enormous importance in this case. That and the NFL’s blatant disregard for keeping their own house clean.

Yup. Or budgetary choices get made and they’re told to cut that corner.