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 by Elvis
5 years 10 months ago
 Total posts:   38381  
 Joined:  Mar 28 2015
United States of America   Los Angeles
Administrator

https://theramswire.usatoday.com/2018/0 ... l-holdout/

Two ACL tears in one day prove Aaron Donald's holdout is warranted

By: Cameron DaSilva | 3 hours ago

When the 2018 season begins, both the Los Angeles Chargers and Philadelphia Eagles will be without key players due to injuries suffered in OTAs. Unfortunately, both of those injuries were of the ACL variety and just happened to occur on the same exact day.

In a matter of hours, tight end Hunter Henry and linebacker Paul Worrilow of the Chargers and Eagles, respectively, tore their ACLs, sidelining them for the 2018 season. It’s an unfortunate occurrence that happens just about every year with players suffering injuries during voluntary workouts on an astonishingly regular basis, but it’s the reality.

And while Henry’s injury will undoubtedly prove to be one of the most devastating of 2018, both send the same message: injuries are unavoidable … unless you avoid practicing altogether.

That’s exactly why Aaron Donald, Khalil Mack and Zack Martin have stayed away from voluntary OTAs up to this point and are unlikely to participate in any capacity. You could make the same argument for Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, who’s ongoing disputes with the Patriots have been well documented this offseason.

Donald, for one, has been holding out for a new contract since last year. He skipped OTAs last offseason, too, only showing up for mandatory minicamp in June. And we all know that he skipped not only training camp, but the preseason, as well. His holdout ended just before the 2018 season began, forcing him to miss the season opener against the Colts.

He can’t stay away from the team as long as he did last year because he only has three accrued seasons toward free agency, but there’s no telling when he’ll be back in a Rams uniform. Mandatory minicamp? Training camp? August 7? Who knows.

What we do know is that Donald won’t risk injury until he gets some financial security. After seeing Henry and Worrilow go down with torn ACLs, can you blame him? If Donald were to show up for OTAs and blow out his Achilles (*knocks on wood*), he’d dramatically hurt his value as a player.

The Rams would be reluctant to hand him $20 million per year for five years, considering how significant of an injury that would be. At least with a long-term extension in his back pocket, he wouldn’t have to worry about being paid after suffering a devastating injury.

Regardless of when he reports to the Rams, no one in their right mind can blame him for staying away as long as he has. Football is a physical sport with big humans pushing, shoving and tackling other big humans. Injuries are bound to happen, and when you’re arguably the best player in the sport, why risk injury with no financial security? That’s Donald’s line of thinking.

 by Ramsdude
5 years 10 months ago
 Total posts:   1071  
 Joined:  May 22 2018
United States of America   Pa.
Pro Bowl

Sorry if this was already posted...

Sean McVay: Aaron Donald's holdout 'feels a lot different than last year'

https://theramswire.usatoday.com/2018/05/22/nfl-los-angeles-rams-aaron-donald-sean-mcvay-holdout-contract-otas/

Image

Just as everyone expected, Aaron Donald was a no-show when the Los Angeles Rams kicked off Phase 3 of their offseason program on Monday, bringing together veterans and rookies for the start of OTAs. He’s back home in Pittsburgh working out – and looking cut, by the way – while the rest of the team practices in Thousand Oaks.

The Rams knew this was going to happen, especially after Donald skipped OTAs last year, too. They are, after all, voluntary, so there’s no way for the team to discipline the reigning Defensive Player of the Year for skipping these workouts.

Sean McVay weighed in on Donald’s absence Monday, saying he understands what’s going on between the two sides as far as the contract negotiations go. He said the holdout “is where it’s been,” suggesting not much has changed.

“He and I have had good dialogue,” McVay said. “I spoke with him last week. This feels a lot different than last year. Certainly, any time that you have something where the team comes together, to have a player that’s as important as he is here, you would prefer that. But it is voluntary. We understand that, and we have a lot of respect and understanding for what’s going on.”

Donald, like several other high-profile athletes, would rather not risk injury with no financial stability ahead of him. He’ll make $6.9 million in 2018, but beyond that, there are no guarantees for him financially.

That’s why McVay understands his decision to stay away from the team, holding out for a new contract.

“It is something that we want to get resolved. As far as a timetable, don’t really have any dates on that. I don’t expect Aaron to be here until we get a resolution to that,” McVay said.

The second-year head coach has said repeatedly that Donald is much more responsive this time around, particularly when it comes to returning texts and calls. This time last year, there wasn’t nearly as much communication between Donald and McVay.

That by itself is a good sign, but McVay isn’t the one negotiating his contract. That comes down to Les Snead, Kevin Demoff and Tony Pastoors – the personnel and contract decision-makers. Everyone hopes to have a resolution soon, but until pen is put to paper, Donald is unlikely to return to the team.

 by Elvis
5 years 10 months ago
 Total posts:   38381  
 Joined:  Mar 28 2015
United States of America   Los Angeles
Administrator

https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2018/5/24 ... spute-otas

The Rams’ All-in Approach Has Complicated the Aaron Donald Contract Dispute
Why has Los Angeles been reluctant to give the reigning Defensive Player of the Year a massive payday?

By Robert Mays May 24, 2018, 8:26am EDT

Image

Earlier this week, recently acquired Rams cornerback Marcus Peters was asked about the lingering contract dispute between his new team and reigning Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald. Peters’s response had all the subtlety of a sledgehammer: “Pay the man,” Peters said. “I mean, shit. You win the MVP? Come on now.”

His comments echo the widespread sentiment surrounding the staredown between Donald and the organization that drafted him in 2014. Last season, Donald racked up 11 sacks and a league-leading 91 pressures, according to Pro Football Focus, en route to being named the NFL’s top defender. Over the past two seasons, he’s set the standard for defensive linemen. Relative to peers at his position, he might be the most dominant player in the entire league. And yet Donald is set to make only $6.9 million in 2018. The Rams will pay linebacker Alec Ogletree, who now plays for another team, just $500,000 less than that in dead money. All of these factors seem to point toward one proper resolution to the ordeal that’s prompted Donald to skip this week’s OTAs: The Rams need to end this charade and give Donald a multiyear deal that makes him the league’s highest-paid defensive player.

My initial reaction to the Donald contract dilemma falls along those lines. Beyond the endless joy he brings fans each week during the fall, I think his impact transcends traditional positional value. Donald may be an interior defender, but he can ruin a game just as easily as Von Miller or Khalil Mack and deserves to be compensated as such. Still, before mindlessly joining the pay the man chorus, I want to take a step back and weigh the ramifications a Donald extension would have on the Rams given their hectic offseason, current roster construction, and outlook moving forward.

Those frustrated with the Rams’ hesitance to extend Donald often point to the huge reserves of cap space the franchise is set to have come 2019. Based on an estimated salary cap of $190 million (a reasonable jump from this year’s total of $177.2 million given the cap’s annual increases in recent years), the Rams are projected to hold more than $72 million in room, according to Over The Cap. But that number is somewhat deceiving. Ndamukong Suh, LaMarcus Joyner, and Brandin Cooks are all on expiring deals in 2018 and account for more than $34 million of the team’s current spending. It’s possible that Suh and Joyner will both leave in free agency next spring, but given that the Rams traded a first-round pick to secure Cooks, he’s likely to get an extension in the near future. And if Suh and Joyner walk, they’ll leave two glaring holes in the Rams’ defense that will also need to be addressed.

Even considering those contract decisions, though, general manager Les Snead has plenty of wiggle room to fit a Donald megadeal into the budget. The question isn’t whether the Rams can afford to give Donald the deal he wants. It’s whether giving him a deal that’d make up more than 10 percent of the projected 2019 cap would be more prudent than the alternatives.

If the Rams were to hand Donald a contract comparable to the one Denver gave Miller in July 2016, Donald would become the first defender in NFL history with an average annual value of more than $20 million. Miller’s AAV checks in at $19 million, and considering the rises in the cap over the past two years, Donald’s asking price could conceivably be in the range of $22 million per season with more than $75 million in guarantees. Under the current cap projections, that’d mean Donald would probably account for at least one-tenth of the salary cap even in the early, cheaper years of his deal. Since the league’s current CBA was signed in 2011, only four of the 28 teams that have reached the conference championship game have rostered a non-QB making at least 10 percent of the cap: the 2016 Falcons (Julio Jones, 10.3 percent); the 2015 Panthers (Charles Johnson, 13.8 percent); the 2015 Cardinals (Patrick Peterson, 10.2 percent); and the 2012 49ers (Patrick Willis, 12.9 percent). On average, teams that reached the final four over that stretch paid their most expensive non-QB only 8.2 percent of the cap. The extension Donald wants would force the Rams to blow past that number, leaving Snead to question whether Donald is worth leveraging other areas of his roster.

Of course, Snead’s options aren’t limited to giving Donald a record-setting deal or watching him walk in free agency. The GM hasn’t been shy about using the franchise tag in years past, and in Donald’s case, the tag would represent a better financial decision than it would with virtually any other player in football. Donald is listed as a defensive tackle on the Rams’ official roster, and that’s no accident. Although some outlets label him a defensive end in coordinator Wade Phillips’s system, Donald does nearly all of his work on the interior. That designation is particularly important when it comes to the value of the franchise tag. For the 2018 season, the tag for defensive tackles settled at $13.9 million; for defensive ends such as recent Lions tag Ziggy Ansah, that number jumped to $17.1 million. Using the year-by-year escalators currently in place, the Rams could tag Donald three times for a total of $58.7 million, which would likely be close to or less than the money he’d make over the first three seasons of the extension he covets.

If the Rams’ approach to this situation is motivated solely by squeezing every drop they can from Donald’s value, their reluctance to give him a long-term deal makes sense. But these decisions don’t take place in a vacuum. Take Peters’s reaction when asked about Donald’s predicament. In the corner’s mind, Donald has more than proved his worth, and the team’s unwillingness to admit that is telling. Like Donald, Peters is also a former first-round pick. He’ll be in a similar scenario a year from now, playing on a fifth-year option and ready to seek a new deal. There’s no doubt he’s paying close attention to how this standoff shakes out. And he’s not the only one.

How teams incentivize and ultimately reward their players doesn’t go unnoticed around the locker room. The Eagles’ decision to extend in-house talent such as Lane Johnson and Zach Ertz before the final year of their deals sent a message to everyone in the building. Over the past 18 months, the Rams have embraced a different philosophy. Of Los Angeles’s eight highest-paid players in 2018, five (Suh, Andrew Whitworth, Aqib Talib, Robert Woods, and Cooks) have been acquired since the start of March 2017. One of the remaining three (Joyner) is playing on the franchise tag, which players famously abhor.

In the past four months, the Rams have traded a team captain (Ogletree) who received a four-year extension the previous October and signed Suh to a one-year deal that will pay him more than twice what Donald is set to make in 2018. Those moves have been celebrated on a football level, and rightfully so. With Jared Goff set to count for about $16.5 million combined against the cap over the next two seasons, the Rams understand they have to maximize the championship window they have right now. But similar to playing chicken with the best defensive player in the league for another year, that approach could carry consequences.

It’s possible that Phillips and head coach Sean McVay can turn their stockpile of 2018 talent into a juggernaut, but there are risks to the Rams’ approach that go beyond sacrificing draft capital and stretching the cap for a single year. Their version of going all in has a different set of challenges. By anointing Donald as the highest-paid non-QB in the league, L.A. would alleviate some in-house concerns. The message that would send to the rest of the locker room, combined with Donald’s steady on-field dominance, make him the rare player who’s worth such a massive payday.

 by Hacksaw
5 years 10 months ago
 Total posts:   24523  
 Joined:  Apr 15 2015
United States of America   AT THE BEACH
Moderator

Hard to imagine the team losing out by paying Donald the $20M if we are winning SB's.. If they can afford it and think he's a keeper, you godda pay him.

 by Elvis
5 years 9 months ago
 Total posts:   38381  
 Joined:  Mar 28 2015
United States of America   Los Angeles
Administrator

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/agen ... new-deals/

The data is in tables and much more readable at the link.

Agent's Take: Here's why Aaron Donald and Khalil Mack are still waiting for new deals

Will the Rams and Raiders stars become the NFL's first $20M-per-year non-quarterbacks? Let's take a look

by Joel Corry
@corryjoel
1h ago • 11 min read

The top of the quarterback market has seen remarkable growth in the last year. Raiders signal caller Derek Carr became the first NFL player to hit the $25-million-per-year mark last June. The Falcons recently made Matt Ryan the NFL's first $30-million-per-year player with a five-year, $150 million contract extension containing a league-record $100 million in overall guarantees.

Ryan's reign as the NFL's highest-paid player should be short lived. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is expected to sign an extension before the start of training camp in late July eclipsing Ryan's $30 million average yearly salary.

The same phenomenon isn't occurring with non-quarterbacks. The top of the non-quarterback market has been stagnant, comparatively speaking. In the almost seven years since the existing Collective Bargaining Agreement was ratified (in August 2011 after the lockout), the top of the non-quarterback market has grown by just over 18 percent. By contrast, the top of the quarterback market has increased by almost 67 percent. In fact, the market has escalated by 20 percent in a little less than a year.

Passers haven't always been immune to the stagnation afflicting non-quarterbacks. It took nearly three years before Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco supplanted Rodgers as the league's highest paid player in March 2016.

Next non-QBs in line

It's been widely assumed that Raiders edge rusher Khalil Mack and Rams interior defensive lineman Aaron Donald, who are scheduled to make $13.846 million and $6.892 million respectively this year in their contract years, would become football's first $20-million-per-year non-quarterbacks. Mack and Donald, as well as several other high-profile players, are expressing displeasure with their contract situations by skipping organized team activities. Withholding services has become old hat for Donald. The Rams won the battle in a contest of wills last preseason, when Donald ended his lengthy holdout right before the regular season began without getting a new contract.

The 2014 first-round picks, both 27 years old, didn't waste any time in making their presence felt in the NFL. Mack was the first player in league history to earn First Team All-Pro honors at two different positions during the same season (defensive end and outside linebacker) in 2015. Mack followed up that outstanding campaign by being named the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year in 2016. Mack's play in 2017 wasn't quite at the ridiculously high level of the previous two seasons, although he earned a third-consecutive Pro Bowl berth. His 36.5 sacks are second most in the NFL over the last three seasons and two more than what Broncos six-time All-Pro outside linebacker Von Miller has over that span.

Donald is the closest thing to a modern-day John Randle, an undersized interior defensive lineman who is in the Hall of Fame because of his ability to consistently pressure opposing quarterbacks during the 1990s and early 2000s. Donald, the 2014 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, solidified his standing as the league's most disruptive force from the interior of a defensive line last season, when he was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year. According to Pro Football Focus, Donald led the league with 91 quarterback pressures (combined sacks, quarterback hurries and quarterback hits) despite sitting out the season opener because his holdout had just ended and sitting out the season finale as a precautionary measure with the playoffs looming.

Sticker shock for Raiders and Rams?

Signing players of this magnitude is supposed to be a smooth process. It wouldn't be a surprise if the Raiders and Rams are having sticker shock. I suspect that restoring the traditional financial relationship between the highest-paid quarterback and non-quarterback that's existed under the current CBA is the end game with these dominant defenders. Both have high-powered representation that has helped shape the upper portion of the non-quarterback market with player-friendly deals.

Todd France, Donald's agent, negotiated Marcell Dareus' 2015 extension with the Bills, which made him the NFL's second-highest-paid NFL interior defensive lineman behind Ndamukong Suh at $15.85 million per year. The six-year extension was worth a maximum of $100.35 million thanks to salary escalators based on All-Pro honors. Dareus' $60 million in overall guarantees was a record for non-quarterbacks. His $42.9 million fully guaranteed at signing was on par with the top quarterback contracts in existence at that time. The six-year, $102 million extension with $63.299 million of guarantees France got defensive tackle Fletcher Cox from the Eagles in 2016 also raised the bar for non-quarterback guarantees.

Mack is represented by Joel Segal. Segal made Chiefs outside linebacker Justin Houston, who had been designated as a franchise player, the NFL's second highest-paid non-quarterback in 2015 with a six-year, $101 million contract containing $52.5 million of guarantees.

Segal also helped cornerback Trumaine Johnson play the franchise-tag game to perfection. After making slightly under $30.7 million the last two seasons with the Rams while on franchise tags, Johnson signed a five-year, $72.5 million deal with the Jets containing $45 million in guarantees this offseason. He is making a little less than $56.7 million from 2016 through 2018, which includes the first year of the Jets contract. The almost $56.7 million is NFL record compensation for a cornerback over a three-year period.

It's become a common practice for agents to adjust contracts into the existing salary-cap climate when preparing for negotiations on behalf of clients, which is something these two savvy negotiators probably have done to help formulate contract offers. How persuasive this methodology is with NFL teams varies.

Average yearly salary

Average yearly salary is a necessary but somewhat misleading contract measure. This metric doesn't give a complete picture of a contract. Despite average yearly salary being simplistic, adjusting top non-quarterback contracts signed under the 2011 CBA to the current $177.2 million salary cap could be providing a general framework for Mack and Donald. The chart below outlines these contracts.

POSITION TEAM YEAR SIGNED SALARY CAP GROWTH FACTOR NEW $ AVERAGE ADJUSTED NEW $ AVERAGE CONTRACT LENGTH
Calvin Johnson

WR

Lions

2012

$120,600,000

46.93%

$16,207,143

$23,813,480

7-year extension

Larry Fitzgerald

WR

Cardinals

2011

$120,375,000

47.21%

$16,142,857

$23,763,359

7-year extension

Ndamukong Suh

DT

Dolphins

2015

$143,280,000

23.67%

$19,062,500

$23,575,342

6 years

Mario Williams

DE/OLB

Bills

2012

$120,600,000

46.93%

$16,000,000

$23,509,121

6 years

J.J. Watt

DL

Texans

2014

$133,000,000

33.23%

$16,666,667

$22,205,514

6-year extension

Avg.

$23,399,514


Surprisingly, Von Miller, who is the current standard bearer for non-quarterbacks, isn't in the top five. His adjusted contract ranks sixth at slightly more than $21.775 million per year. Miller signed a six year, $114.5 million contract averaging $19,083,333 per year as a franchise player in 2016. The Super Bowl 50 MVP's $70 million in overall guarantees is also the benchmark for non-quarterbacks.

The top adjusted contracts are consistent with the traditional economic relationship between the NFL's highest-paid quarterback and non-quarterback during this timeframe, which can also help put into context a re-setting of the market for players that don't throw the football. The chart below illustrates the difference.

YEAR HIGHEST-PAID QB AVERAGE SALARY HIGHEST-PAID NON-QUARTERBACK AVERAGE SALARY % OF QB SALARY
2011

Tom Brady/Peyton Manning

$18,000,000

Larry Fitzgerald

$16,142,857

89.68%

2012

Drew Brees

$20,000,000

Calvin Johnson

$16,207,143

81.04%

2013

Aaron Rodgers

$22,000,000

Calvin Johnson

$16,207,143

73.67%

2014

Aaron Rodgers

$22,000,000

J.J. Watt

$16,666,667

75.76%

2015

Aaron Rodgers

$22,000,000

Ndamukong Suh

$19,062,500

86.65%

2016

Andrew Luck

$24,564,000

Von Miller

$19,083,333

77.69%

2017

Matthew Stafford

$27,000,000

Von Miller

$19,083,333

70.68%

Total

$155,564,000

$122,452,976

78.72%


The difference between the highest-paid quarterback and non-quarterback when applied to Ryan's $30 million per average yearly salary suggests slightly over $23.6 million per year for Mack or Donald.

Guaranteed money

Contract security is of the utmost importance in the NFL because of the lack of full guarantees. Quarterback Kirk Cousins broke new ground in free agency this year with the NFL's first lucrative fully-guaranteed veteran contract. He signed a three-year, $84 million deal (worth a maximum of $90 million through incentives) with the Vikings. His contract laid the groundwork for Ryan to raise the bar for full guarantees to $94.5 million with his recent deal. In just a matter of months, the amount fully guaranteed at signing has gone up a little more than 55 percent since Matthew Stafford received a five-year, $135 million extension from the Lions last preseason. Stafford's $60.5 million fully guaranteed at signing replaced Suh as the league benchmark. Suh's $59.955 million fully guaranteed had been significantly more than any other NFL player. The next closest was Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, with $47 million fully guaranteed at signing.

France and Segal are likely insisting that some sort of market correction for non-quarterbacks is in order. A way to quantify the adjustment is by first looking at the difference in overall contract guarantees for quarterbacks and non-quarterbacks. The following chart summarizes the disparity between the two in recent years.

YEAR QUARTERBACK GUARANTEES NON-QB GUARANTEES % OF QB GUARANTEES
2011

Peyton Manning

$51,000,000

Larry Fitzgerald

$45,000,000

88.24%

2012

Drew Brees

$60,500,000

Calvin Johnson

$53,250,000

88.02%

2013

Drew Brees

$60,500,000

Calvin Johnson

$53,250,000

88.02%

2014

Colin Kaepernick

$61,000,000

Calvin Johnson

$53,250,000

87.3%

2015

Philip Rivers/Eli Manning

$65,000,000

Marcell Dareus

$60,000,000

92.31%

2016

Andrew Luck

$87,000,000

Von Miller

$70,000,000

80.46%

2017

Matthew Stafford

$92,000,000

Von Miller

$70,000,000

76.09%

Total

$477,000,000

$404,750,000

84.85%


The $28 million option bonus in Peyton Manning's 2011 contract with the Colts is included as a part of his guaranteed money even though he was released during the team's two-day window to exit the deal after the first year without making the payment. Although an option bonus, which is essentially an additional signing bonus that's usually paid in the second or third year of a contract to exercise later years in the deal, doesn't quite provide the same security as a signing bonus, it's unusual for a team to release a player with a lucrative contract before paying it. The Colts' dismal 2-14 record in 2011 while Manning recovered from a career-threatening neck injury that sidelined him for the season created extenuating circumstances.

Kaepernick was used instead of Brees in 2014 despite just under $13 million being fully guaranteed at signing. This was about one-third of the fully-guaranteed amount in other quarterback deals (Jay Cutler and Tony Romo) at the time with a comparable average yearly salary.

The $4.5 million roster bonus from Johnson's rookie contract, which was payable on the same day as his extension was signed, is being included in his guaranteed money since it was a part of the new contract. This is why Johnson's guaranteed money isn't the $48.75 million sometimes associated with his deal.

The disparity between the most overall guarantees for quarterbacks and non-quarterbacks puts Mack/Donald in the $85 million neighborhood based on Ryan's new benchmark.

The correlation between the most overall guarantees for non-quarterbacks and the corresponding full guarantee could also be a useful tool for Mack and Donald. The chart below highlights the discrepancy.

YEAR PLAYER OVERALL GUARANTEES FULLY GUARANTEED AT SIGNING % OF OVERALL GUARANTEE
2011

Larry Fitzgerald

$45,000,000

$35,000,000

77.78%

2012

Calvin Johnson

$53,250,000

$53,250,000

100%

2013

Calvin Johnson

$53,250,000

$53,250,000

100%

2014

Calvin Johnson

$53,250,000

$53,250,000

100%

2015

Marcell Dareus

$60,000,000

$42,900,000

71.5%

2016

Von Miller

$70,000,000

$42,000,000

60%

2017

Von Miller

$70,000,000

$42,000,000

60%

Total

$404,750,000

$321,650,000

79.47%

By applying the difference in these guarantee metrics to the projected almost $85 million in overall guarantees, Mack/Donald would be justified in insisting upon approximately $67.5 million fully guaranteed at signing.

Challenges to reaching an agreement
Based on the information currently in the marketplace, the data suggests the following contract for Mack/Donald.

Average per year: $23.5 million
Overall guarantees: $85 million
Fully guaranteed: $67.5 million
Contract length: 6-year extension

The Raiders and Rams are surely more comfortable with a modest increase over Miller's contract instead of a drastic re-setting of the non-quarterback market. The suggested deal would be nearly 25 percent more than Miller's contract. The modest increase would be in line with the trends of becoming the highest-paid non-quarterback since the lockout. The average increase over the previous standard during the five times when a player has become the highest-paid non-quarterback under the existing CBA is slightly under five percent. The biggest jump was in 2014, when Suh raised the bar by almost 15 percent as he replaced Watt. Standard growth would put Mack/Donald at approximately $20.025 million per year. If my suspicions are in the same general ballpark as France and Segal's actual offers, bridging the gap won't be an easy task.

There are additional dynamics with Mack's situation that don't exist with Donald. Contract security could be just as much of a sticking point as the overall dollars in Mack's negotiations because of Carr's $70.2 million in overall guarantees and $40 million fully guaranteed at signing. Typically, the starting quarterback is a team's standard bearer in most contract metrics when he has a lucrative deal in place.

The Raiders are likely to become the first team in league history with a $20 million-per-year non-quarterback and a $25 million-per-year quarterback. The Rams aren't faced with this dilemma for at least another season. Quarterback Jared Goff, 2016's first-overall pick, is a bargain on his rookie contract. Under CBA rules, he isn't eligible for a new deal until the conclusion of the upcoming regular season. Goff's 2018 and 2019 cap numbers are slightly over $7.6 million and just under $8.9 million. His fifth-year option salary in 2020 could be in the $23 million neighborhood.

A lengthy holdout isn't as viable of an option for Donald as with Mack. Donald didn't earn a year of service of free agency, which is an accrued season in the CBA, due to last year's holdout. A player doesn't get the free-agency service time (i.e.; an accrued season) if he doesn't report to training camp at least 30 days prior to NFL's first regular-season game. It doesn't matter that Donald played 14 games last season, because he missed the reporting deadline. Since Donald has three accrued seasons when four are necessary to become an unrestricted free agent at the expiration of a contract, he really can't afford to miss out on another one. The reporting deadline this year is August 7. Donald would need to be committed to missing multiple regular-season games, if not the entire year, to get what he felt was an appropriate contract after this date.

If Donald missed this August 7 deadline and played out his rookie deal with a failed holdout, it would make him a restricted free agent in 2019. From a practical standpoint, the Rams would probably use a franchise tag on Donald anyway because the first-round pick compensation for restricted free agents wouldn't be enough to deter another team from signing a player of his magnitude to an offer sheet. Getting the year of service isn't a concern for a Mack holdout because he already has the necessary four accrued seasons to qualify for unrestricted free agency should be play out his contract.

 by /zn/
5 years 9 months ago
 Total posts:   6758  
 Joined:  Jun 28 2015
United States of America   Maine
Hall of Fame

The Raiders and Rams are surely more comfortable with a modest increase over Miller's contract instead of a drastic re-setting of the non-quarterback market.


As this article points out, the "quarterback market" is not stagnant and acting like it is distorts the picture. The last 2 qbs who got second contracts, Cousins and SF's JG, were in the 27-28 M range. Last year 2nd contracts for starting qbs were in the 25 M range. Players signing 3rd or 4th contracts are quite as predictable as 2nd contracts and those can be more variable (cause age and injuries come into the picture), but Ryan signed for 30 M.

I have seen people write in posts that a non-qb should not be getting anything in the 20 M range because that's qb money. That means that if you act like qb money is in the low 20 M range, you are basing that on OLD CONTRACTS, signed 4-5 years ago. What rule says that non-qbs can't get what qbs were getting 4-5 years ago????

If you look at the changing dynamic of 2nd contracts, which are always going UP, then, qb money is actually (at this point) MORE THAN 27 M.

The articles says that Donald should be in the 23 M range and that sounds about right.

 by R4L
5 years 9 months ago
 Total posts:   1301  
 Joined:  May 08 2017
United States of America   Dayton, Ohio
Pro Bowl

/zn/ wrote:As this article points out, the "quarterback market" is not stagnant and acting like it is distorts the picture. The last 2 qbs who got second contracts, Cousins and SF's JG, were in the 27-28 M range. Last year 2nd contracts for starting qbs were in the 25 M range. Players signing 3rd or 4th contracts are quite as predictable as 2nd contracts and those can be more variable (cause age and injuries come into the picture), but Ryan signed for 30 M.

I have seen people write in posts that a non-qb should not be getting anything in the 20 M range because that's qb money. That means that if you act like qb money is in the low 20 M range, you are basing that on OLD CONTRACTS, signed 4-5 years ago. What rule says that non-qbs can't get what qbs were getting 4-5 years ago????

If you look at the changing dynamic of 2nd contracts, which are always going UP, then, qb money is actually (at this point) MORE THAN 27 M.

The articles says that Donald should be in the 23 M range and that sounds about right.


Again leaving out key facts. Not ALL QB's get 28 mil. Your boy Bradford makes 20 mil. The best backup QB of all time Case Keenum makes 18 mil. So 20 mil is QB money. Only the elite get the money you're speaking of.

Donald is behind the 8 ball imo. The Rams can hold his rights for 3 more seasons and by that time he will be 29 and could end up like Suh living off of one-year deals in the twilight of his career.

 by /zn/
5 years 9 months ago
 Total posts:   6758  
 Joined:  Jun 28 2015
United States of America   Maine
Hall of Fame

R4L wrote:Again leaving out key facts. Not ALL QB's get 28 mil.


You didn't follow me.

#1, that around 28 M (give or take) range is the 2018 number for 2nd contracts. That's just a fact. That was the range for JG and Cousins. (JG got 27.5 but still.)

#2, I said 3rd and 4th contracts are different. I said those were a lot more variable. Keenum is not a 2nd contract. Not only that but he's not a true starting caliber qb anyway--he's in a class with McCown, who is a career #2 caliber qb who has found his way into starting for qb starved teams.

The key for what counts as the standard of qb money is 2nd contracts for starting qbs. That's a young starter in his prime where you assume you're buying his best years. 3rd and 4th contracts are too variable to be a standard. You get big disparities with those, not the kind of across the board rising annual numbers as you do with 2nd contracts for starting qbs,

Etc.

 by R4L
5 years 9 months ago
 Total posts:   1301  
 Joined:  May 08 2017
United States of America   Dayton, Ohio
Pro Bowl

/zn/ wrote:You didn't follow me.

#1, that around 28 M (give or take) range is the 2018 number for 2nd contracts. That's just a fact. That was the range for JG and Cousins. (JG got 27.5 but still.)

#2, I said 3rd and 4th contracts are different. I said those were a lot more variable. Keenum is not a 2nd contract. Not only that but he's not a true starting caliber qb anyway--he's in a class with McCown, who is a career #2 caliber qb who has found his way into starting for qb starved teams.

The key for what counts as the standard of qb money is 2nd contracts for starting qbs. That's a young starter in his prime where you assume you're buying his best years. 3rd and 4th contracts are too variable to be a standard. You get big disparities with those, not the kind of across the board rising annual numbers as you do with 2nd contracts for starting qbs,

Etc.


No i followed you. I just didn't know you meant exclusively elite QBs. In that case, yes i agree. :shock2:

As to whether Donald is worth 23 mil is another story. This is where the "does he deserve QB money" comes into play.

I know he's a generational player but the Rams can win without him imo. This isn't a popular opinion but if the Rams could trade him for a boat load of picks, I'd be all for it.

If not he will continue to hold the team hostage and try to milk them for every penny he can get.

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70 posts Mar 28 2024