quote:
Hopefully Drew can agree to a reasonable deal. After 160 mill already in Saint dollars frick his life problems. Take 23-25 per over 3 or 4 years and call it a career.

I'm in the camp that thinks that the waiting on his deal is to create options, not stifle them. $25MM per year is fine... but I keep going back to the idea of him playing 3 more years total. He'll play through 2018-2019, his year 40 season. Doing so will leave him with most of the NFL records. So many things point to this for me, including how every single FA contract so far has been structured. See below. Jairus and Fleener can both be cut before 2019 starts with little cost. The only player on our team we are committed to post-Drew, so far is Cameron Jordan... (and this new crop of rookies).

If no more Josh Norman situations pop up before camp where we need over $10MM, it doesn't make sense to lower Drew's cap number just because... It actually makes sense to find a way to keep it the same but restructure it so the majority of it is part of his new prorated bonus.

Look at SAINT BRADY's contract extension...

To me it looks like he is going to play 2 more years (he'll be 40 that final season), and because of the growing cap they are kicking some of the dead money onto the books after he is gone to free up the cap while he is there. It also worked out for him, that with that 4 game suspension, he saved a couple million dollars in lost game checks, because all of his salary had been converted to a bonus. Coincidence? No.

3 Years of Drew and a 4-Game suspended 2-year Tom, puts Drew way ahead on all the records where they are close, and with nothing committed to the cap beyond Drew's last season, we'll do what the Patriots are doing, and kick some of Drew's contract onto the years after he is gone too....

Instead of just extending him 2 Years for $50MM ... you extend him 4 years $100MM, a signing bonus of the full $50MM he wants for the 2 years he'll play, $10MM salary fully guaranteed this season, keeps his cap number around the same $30MM which we can obviously fit. Minimum salaries in 2017 and 2018, drop his cap hits to around $12MM. $25MM salaries in years 2019 and 2020, $0 guaranteed because he will not be playing them, leaves $20MM dead money in 2019, $10MM dead money in 2020.

or 4 years $100MM, $30MM Signing bonus, $10MM per fully guaranteed in 2017 and 2018, cap number around $16MM each. $25MM salaries 2019 and 2020 he doesnt play, kicking just $12MM and $6MM of dead money into those years.

and that's just the two obvious ways... without any creativity...

The current NFLPA agreement expires after 2020, new agreement is going to EXPLODE the cap even further.

No matter how it shakes... The man it's going to look like he is getting $25MM per year, but he'll end up taking an almost $10MM pay cut this season to fit it in. Leaving his average take home number right at that $20MM mark the rest of the years he is actually playing. He won't get the credit for it, like he doesn't now... and when the dead cap money is on the books after he is gone, people will blame him like they do now... but that's how it goes...

I expect it happens, right around the time he is getting ready to start being hit again...