5th Year Options: Picked up Wynn & Likely Decline Michel

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
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They must really like Stevenson or Michel knee is worse than we thought...
I think most of us figured that when they drafted Stevenson, that signaled that the Pats wouldn't pick up Sony's option. Doesn't mean he won't be back. Just means that they won't pick up the option.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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I'm not sure Wynn is a 10M player in a vacuum but having a solution in place for one of the OT spots in 2022 has some real value.

Roster and salary cap planning probably got a lot easier once the team could project to paying relative peanuts at the QB position in 2022 (and hopefully a few years after that).
 

Shelterdog

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I'm not sure Wynn is a 10M player in a vacuum but having a solution in place for one of the OT spots in 2022 has some real value.

Roster and salary cap planning probably got a lot easier once the team could project to paying relative peanuts at the QB position in 2022 (and hopefully a few years after that).
Wynn is tough because a healthy Wynn is a pretty good left tackle and that is, ballpark, a ten million dollar a year player but he's not been healthy since becoming a pro. For one year it's not terrible.

Even if Michel rushes for 1200 yards this year and is healthy for sixteen games you still have a good chance of signing him for roughly the option amount so that's an easy enough call.
 

lexrageorge

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I thought Wynn played well last year, and his injuries have all been of the freak or no long term after affect variety: Achilles, turf toe, and a minor knee procedure. His contract could be restructured if needed.

Probably the last year for Michel, which is fine; getting 4 decent years of production from a running back on a rookie scale contract is not the worst outcome.

EDIT: Knee, not Covid.
 
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Mystic Merlin

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They need to hedge against potentially losing both starting tackles after this year (Brown is a UDFA), or risk being in KC’s position of having to scrounge for two starting tackles. That, coupled with the fact Wynn is good and the commitment is affordable and only for one year, makes exercising the fifth year option a good call.

It also doesn’t preclude them from pursuing a team friendly extension, though my guess is they see how it goes this year before going that direction.
 

Average Game James

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I'm not sure Wynn is a 10M player in a vacuum but having a solution in place for one of the OT spots in 2022 has some real value.

Roster and salary cap planning probably got a lot easier once the team could project to paying relative peanuts at the QB position in 2022 (and hopefully a few years after that).
$10.4 million would rank Wynn 16th among LT in terms of cap hit terms for 2022 and 17th in AAV of existing LT contracts. He’s an above average LT when healthy, so getting him at a ~average price on only a one year deal seems like a reasonable trade off for the health risk.
 

tims4wins

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Agree with both these decisions and the takes here. They had to have a starting tackle signed for the 2022 season. Obviously his injury history complicates thing but at least they have a talented guy on the roster. Hopefully they can find a way to extend big Trent.
 

Shelterdog

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It wasn't COVID, he got rolled up on and hurt his knee. So that's three leg injuries in three years.
It's so frustrating too because he's not a guy who had any real injury history that i'm aware of--he started 40 of 41 games over this last three years of Georgia. Now you have to wonder if one injury is leading to another.

It just happens in football sometimes I guess.
 

radsoxfan

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They must really like Stevenson or Michel knee is worse than we thought...
I think everyone kind of assumes Michel's knee is toast. Multiple ACL tears, clean out procedures, injections, recurrent fluid build-up.

I have zero inside info but I'd bet the house his knee is an arthritic mess. Lot of functional NFL players have bad knees, but I'm sure his is worse than most.

He will manage it until he can't play anymore, but definitely not surprised they declined his option. He is going to be a year-to-year guy the rest of his career.
 

Granite Sox

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For context, the majority of the last dozen first round picks had their options declined. So Michel (pick #31) is far from an outlier. Lamar Jackson (pick #32) is a notable exception.
 

Harry Hooper

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FYI, the tracker on NFL.com does not list any status yet for Sony Michel (and a handful of other players) in regard to options getting picked up or declined by the deadline today. It does list Wynn's option as being picked up by the Pats (cites Rappaport).
 
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Bowser

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Sep 27, 2019
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Worth noting what an elite mover and technician Wynn is. It's a shame he hasn't been able to stay healthy.

 

OnTheBlack

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Dec 23, 2020
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I agree that’s he’s great when healthy. Option is a no brainer. Hopefully he stays on the field all year.