2019 NFL: News & Transactions

Super Nomario

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You're right here. I didn't quite make the point I wanted to make when I initially brought this up. These contracts are generally more team-friendly in a front loaded fashion because when you front load a contract, you normally have to give up less guaranteed money. The player getting his guarantee all in the first year of the contract gives them present value of that money and strengthens your negotiating position for less guaranteed money. Less guaranteed money=more cap space.
I don't agree with any of this. The contract is "front loaded" in a cap sense but not necessarily in cash. Signing bonuses give the player the present value of that money, too. And front loading to lower the guaranteed money doesn't make sense because obviously the player gets the frontloaded money; it is effectively guaranteed (whether actually guaranteed or not).

The cap is an accounting tool. Frontloading from a cap standpoint is just an arbitrary decision to account in a particular way.

In a lot of ways I'm saying pre-paying the cap money has the benefit of keeping a possibly undisciplined front office, more open to all their options.
I think the only real benefit is PR; it can be bad form to have a gargantuan amount of cap space and front loading makes it look like you're spending money and not tanking.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

Found no thrill on Blueberry Hill
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Sep 9, 2008
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And just like that, the Patriots surge back into the lead for 2020 compensatory picks over the Ravens!
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Mar 26, 2005
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Ravens let all their good young defensive players go and sign an oft-injured older player. This isn't the Ozzie Newsome Ravens anymore.
Ravens haven't been shy of being outbid for young free agents. Not many of them have panned out either. You can start with Adelius Thomas and Bart Scott and go on from there - Paul Kruger, Pernell McPhee, Osemele, Ryan Jensen, Rick Wagner, Courtney Upshaw, etc.
 

tims4wins

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Jul 15, 2005
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Hingham, MA
I thought the Ravens were supposed to be well run? These are two awful contracts. The days of Ozzie are long over.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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I thought the Ravens were supposed to be well run? These are two awful contracts. The days of Ozzie are long over.
If ET is healthy and stays health-ish, it's not a bad contract. Understand health is a major question mark so I guess it's high risk.

OTOH, iIt's also a huge area of need for BAL - BAL's defense was top-ranked last year without Weddle or Mosley really being able to cover the middle. CF-type safety would really help Wink (I would think).
 

RedOctober3829

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Jul 19, 2005
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deep inside Guido territory
Ravens haven't been shy of being outbid for young free agents. Not many of them have panned out either. You can start with Adelius Thomas and Bart Scott and go on from there - Paul Kruger, Pernell McPhee, Osemele, Ryan Jensen, Rick Wagner, Courtney Upshaw, etc.
Osemele is still a good player. Courtney Upshaw got hurt, didn't he? Bart Scott was really good with the Jets. Paul Kruger didn't work out after Baltimore. But if they thought their valuation of CJ Mosley and Smith was over what they got then I get it but don't go out and sign an older player for a big payday. That would be like the Pats letting Flowers go and signing Justin Houston to a 4 or 5 year deal at big money. It doesn't make much sense.
 

johnmd20

mad dog
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Le'Von Bell lit 14 million dollars on fire. And it's gone and it's never coming back. He got a nice deal, but I figure he would have gotten it anyway. Sitting out was a poor choice.
 

dcmissle

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If ET is healthy and stays health-ish, it's not a bad contract. Understand health is a major question mark so I guess it's high risk.

OTOH, iIt's also a huge area of need for BAL - BAL's defense was top-ranked last year without Weddle or Mosley really being able to cover the middle. CF-type safety would really help Wink (I would think).
Have no problem with letting Suggs, Weddle and Mosley go. No way am I jumping ugly on Ingram signing, especially with no idea of the guaranteed money.

ET is risky, as you note.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

Found no thrill on Blueberry Hill
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Sep 9, 2008
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Can teams do physicals before 4:00 today? I was thinking Thomas was going to have trouble getting a deal without a physical.

The deal is probably pending a physical, but I'm surprised the team would let the agent leak the deal until the physical was completed and done.
 

Ed Hillel

Wants to be startin somethin
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Dec 12, 2007
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Le'Von Bell lit 14 million dollars on fire. And it's gone and it's never coming back. He got a nice deal, but I figure he would have gotten it anyway. Sitting out was a poor choice.
Well, depends. If he was planning on eating pizza and drinking beer the next 5 years, this was the preferable route. He got to do it last year, now gets 17 million more in his pocket than he would have and can continue to the rest of his life. If he had taken it and quit last year, he might have lost money.

My hope is these are his plans. You do you, Lev.
 

BigJimEd

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Jan 4, 2002
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Le'Von Bell lit 14 million dollars on fire. And it's gone and it's never coming back. He got a nice deal, but I figure he would have gotten it anyway. Sitting out was a poor choice.
Maybe or maybe he gets hurt and ends his career. I don't think he's concerned about it.
 

tims4wins

PN23's replacement
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Jul 15, 2005
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Rumor is he was offered 5/$70M by the Steelers last year and got 4/$52.5M this year. Of course guarantees aren't 100% known, but still, it looks like he cost himself some money.
 

Vinho Tinto

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Dec 9, 2003
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Maybe or maybe he gets hurt and ends his career. I don't think he's concerned about it.
He got 2 million extra in guaranteed money vs the reported 33 guaranteed the Steelers offered him, but he will have earned millions less if he plays out the deal. The main upside to this rigamarole is that he will now play in NYC vs Pittsburgh, but that was never mentioned as being important to him.
 

tims4wins

PN23's replacement
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Jul 15, 2005
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He got 2 million extra in guaranteed money vs the reported 33 guaranteed the Steelers offered him, but he will have earned millions less if he plays out the deal. The main upside to this rigamarole is that he will now play in NYC vs Pittsburgh, but that was never mentioned as being important to him.
And the extra $2M comes a year later, so there is some value to discounting for time value of money. I'd personally rather have $33M guaranteed in 2018-2019 and the possibility of being released or earning more in 2020 vs. getting $36M in 2019-2020 and then earning more.

He lost. Period. Big time.
 

tims4wins

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When Gurley signed for 4/$60M Bell tweeted something like lol and y'all thought I was trippin

Apparently yeah you were trippin, because you got less.
 

54thMA

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Aug 15, 2012
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"Offseason champs" blah blah blah, but let's not kid ourselves. The Jets are much better now than they were at the end of the season.
With the Dolphins in full tank mode and the Bills being the Bills, the Jets this off season have positioned themselves nicely to be that annoying pain in the balls AFC East opponent on the road who fucks up the Patriots playoff positioning.

Wonderful.

Maybe Fireman Ed will come back now too in order to really amp up the annoyance factor.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

Found no thrill on Blueberry Hill
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Sep 9, 2008
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Bell took a gamble and lost in part. But he has over 1200 career carries and had 321 carries the prior year and there was every indication that he was going to be worked like crazy again last year. He wasn't willing to do that for a guarantee of $14.5 million and by waiting he added more than $20 million guaranteed dollars. Maybe he could have gotten that from the Steelers but he was betting that he might do better. He "lost" that bet but losing in this case means more extra guaranteed money than his entire career earnings to date.

It's really impossible to know what kind of contract he might have gotten after another 321 carries. In the end, for all the bluster, he chose a route that got him $35 million guaranteed. Maybe that ended up being a conservative play, but it isn't exactly unsound from a fiscal conservation standpoint.
 

tims4wins

PN23's replacement
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Bell took a gamble and lost in part. But he has over 1200 career carries and had 321 carries the prior year and there was every indication that he was going to be worked like crazy again last year. He wasn't willing to do that for a guarantee of $14.5 million and by waiting he added more than $20 million guaranteed dollars. Maybe he could have gotten that from the Steelers but he was betting that he might do better. He "lost" that bet but losing in this case means more extra guaranteed money than his entire career earnings to date.

It's really impossible to know what kind of contract he might have gotten after another 321 carries. In the end, for all the bluster, he chose a route that got him $35 million guaranteed. Maybe that ended up being a conservative play, but it isn't exactly unsound from a fiscal conservation standpoint.
But reports are the Steelers offered him ~$30M guaranteed before the 2018 season. If that is the case it was a terrible decision, and can't be defended.
 

DJnVa

Dorito Dawg
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Dec 16, 2010
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I thought the Ravens were supposed to be well run? These are two awful contracts. The days of Ozzie are long over.
Ingram isn't that bad though--last 3 seasons his ypc is like 4.9, he can catch the ball. Depending on how that contract is structured I don't think I'd mind it if I was a Ravens fan.

I'm fucking glad I'm not though, because fuck the Ravens.
 

tims4wins

PN23's replacement
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Ingram isn't that bad though--last 3 seasons his ypc is like 4.9, he can catch the ball. Depending on how that contract is structured I don't think I'd mind it if I was a Ravens fan.

I'm fucking glad I'm not though, because fuck the Ravens.
$5M AAV to a RB who is going to turn 30 this year seems pretty stupid to me.
 

KiltedFool

has a terminal case of creeping sharia
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Dec 22, 2005
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The Steelers are generally pretty reticent with the guaranteed money, but they also have a tendency to structure their contracts initially so that they intend for the player to play and receive most of the money. They're not all that prone to giving out contracts with huge headline grabbing big numbers that amount to very little in real terms. Funny thing is someone tweeted at Bell last year to come to the Jets for $60M, he sent back something scoffing. Shockingly that tweet is now deleted. He's got some Beeman and some Veruca in him.

Bell pulled an anti-Flacco. He bet on himself and ended up less well compensated. He's healthier. He's wealthy. He's someone else's problem now.
 

DJnVa

Dorito Dawg
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Dec 16, 2010
53,838
$5M AAV to a RB who is going to turn 30 this year seems pretty stupid to me.
Granted, but the market seems a bit nuts over all and do we know what part is guaranteed?

And here are more takes that don't make this seem crazy in today's market:

https://www.baltimorebeatdown.com/2019/3/13/18264121/instant-reactions-ravens-agree-to-terms-with-fs-earl-thomas-rb-mark-ingram-nfl-free-agency-2019
Missing out on Le’Veon Bell hurts but the signing of Thomas and Mark Ingram at around and 18 million dollar total cap hit suddenly has them back in the mix for a division that was being handed to Cleveland 12 hours ago.
Mark Ingram for $5 million a year is an absolutely beautiful signing. Ingram is the power back that will excel with Lamar Jackson in Greg Roman’s run-heavy scheme. Ingram was overshadowed by Alvin Kamara in New Orleans, but he is a solid pass catcher and blocker and certainly an upgrade over what was on the roster. Eric DeCosta’s patience paid off in a big way with these two signings.
While getting Le’Veon Bell would have been more ideal, settling for Mark Ingram is a more than suitable consolation prize

Saints offer was about $4.5M per season.
 
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ifmanis5

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Sep 29, 2007
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In a broadcast trade, Super Bowls are switching...

Variety‏Verified account @Variety 1m1 minute ago
CBS, NBC to Swap Super Bowl Broadcasts

CBS, which was supposed to broadcast the event next in 2022, will instead take the 2021 event, while NBC will move back a year, CBS confirmed Wednesday. The arrangement allows NBC to align the Super Bowl with its 2022 broadcast of the Winter Olympics and gives CBS a Super Bowl that won’t have to compete with the NBC sports extravaganza.
 

kelpapa

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Feb 15, 2010
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$5M AAV to a RB who is going to turn 30 this year seems pretty stupid to me.
He doesn't have nearly the mileage of a typical running back turning 30. He's had more than 170 attempts 3 times in his career. I think it's a pretty good deal, depending on the guaranteed portion.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Mar 26, 2005
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Osemele is still a good player. Courtney Upshaw got hurt, didn't he? Bart Scott was really good with the Jets. Paul Kruger didn't work out after Baltimore. But if they thought their valuation of CJ Mosley and Smith was over what they got then I get it but don't go out and sign an older player for a big payday. That would be like the Pats letting Flowers go and signing Justin Houston to a 4 or 5 year deal at big money. It doesn't make much sense.
Posted upthread an article from PFF about why Mosley wouldn't be worth the $ he was expected to get and he got more. Plus, Mosley has been playing behind one or two of the best run stuffing DTs in the league for last few years. Hard pass on him at the $.

Smith I heard yesterday is the 5th highest edge rusher in the league except he's not really an edge rusher because last year he produced most of his disruptions from the interior. https://packerswire.usatoday.com/2019/03/12/5-things-to-know-about-new-packers-olb-zadarius-smith/. Maybe the Pack are going to use him solely from the inside but seems way too much for him.

Finally if the Ravens are going to take a risk on someone, I'd say taking a risk on someone like Earl Thomas is the guy they should. I don't know if I'd give out that contract but that would depend a lot on how they evaluated the rest of the team. They clearly think that they have a playoff contender even while losing everyone that they did. It will be interesting to see if they are correct.

As for Ingram, I will have to see how it is structured.
 

steveluck7

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He doesn't have nearly the mileage of a typical running back turning 30. He's had more than 170 attempts 3 times in his career. I think it's a pretty good deal, depending on the guaranteed portion.
He also averaged around 210 touches / yr for his 3 season at Alabama so there is some decent wear on the tires
 

tims4wins

PN23's replacement
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He doesn't have nearly the mileage of a typical running back turning 30. He's had more than 170 attempts 3 times in his career. I think it's a pretty good deal, depending on the guaranteed portion.
I guess I am so conditioned to hating any veteran RB signing for multi-years at decent $. The Pats signed Burkhead to 3 / $9.75M for his ages 28-30 seasons. You can debate the merits of each player but that's about as high as I'd like to see.