RFA Emmanuel Sanders visits Pats 3/16; signs offer sheet 4/10, sheet matched 4/14

[PatsWickedPissah]

Sanders, then Edelman, why just this week were besotted with woe because free agency had passed, the Pats had done nothing, and all rational hope for the 2013 season was lost.

 

[Froob]

Sweet, only a year deal? 3rd round pick? Sounds really strange....

 

[Ozymandias]

Analysis: Emmanuel Sanders offer - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

That's spot on analysis from Reiss as usual. The most interesting part was seeing what would factor into the decision making:

Having seen three years of Sanders in the NFL probably gives the club more comfort in making this move, which reminds us of something Bill Belichick said at the NFL’s annual meeting in March: “As I’ve said many times before, I think the college passing game is a lot different than the (pro) passing game so that it involves, pass protection, pass rush, pass execution and pass defense. So, we all look at the same film. We’re all trying to evaluate the same players. But, it’s a lot easier to watch a guy in the NFL perform and translate his skills for your team than watch a guy in college perform because of the discrepancy in the passing game. It’s nobody’s fault. That’s just the way it is.’

 

[Rob0729]

Who were the others?

Can't remember. I know none of them were of any note other than one of their CBs, but I can't remember which one. All were in the earlier part of last decade.

 

[belichick010405]

Froob - I would wait until all of the deals regarding the offer are announced.

If it is a one-year deal then more work has to be done for obvious reasons.

Sweet, only a year deal? 3rd round pick? Sounds really strange....

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Not sure if someone mentioned this, but the steelers have removed sanders from their depth chart. Maybe they are moving on?

Pittsburgh Steelers | Depth Chart

 

[Brady6]

Emmanuel Sanders, a RFA, visited the Pats. Has signed 1-year tender

The Pats can franchise Sanders in 2014.

Franchise and extend or Franchise and trade.

He'd really have to have an incredible year to be worth $9 mil plus which is the likely tag amount. But either way I see your point we are protected.

 

[Username]

So this all but guarantees the Pats trade out of the first round to accumulate more picks doesn't it?

 

[SHOWTIME15]

So this all but guarantees the Pats trade out of the first round to accumulate more picks doesn't it?

Not necessarily. The pats still have the ryan mallett card to acquire more picks. With bb it's no telling what the pats will do. He always surprises us.

 

[Froob]

Froob - I would wait until all of the deals regarding the offer are announced.

If it is a one-year deal then more work has to be done for obvious reasons.

Yeah just saying from the sounds of it would be odd if there's no extension on this. But, this is the patriots not the brooklyn nets so I assume BB has something in mind.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Not necessarily. The pats still have the ryan mallett card to acquire more picks. With bb it's no telling what the pats will do. He always surprises us.

He may surprise some here by trading The Hammer for the Browns 3rd and a 2014 conditional

 

[chasa]

Not necessarily. The pats still have the ryan mallett card to acquire more picks. With bb it's no telling what the pats will do. He always surprises us.

yep we could probably recoup that 3rd from a mallet trade.

Anyone who expects more then a third for mallet has not been paying attention this off season

 

[letekro]

Anyone who expects more then a third for mallet has not been paying attention this off season

Care to elaborate?

 

[tonyto3690]

So this all but guarantees the Pats trade out of the first round to accumulate more picks doesn't it?

Right now I think belichick is comfortable going into the season as is. While there are certainly places I want upgraded or added long term prospects (s, de, dt, cb, wr) none of which are desperate needs. We are now in position to take luxury picks or trade for the future.

We trade back unless a value is too good to pass up, just like it always is. Chandler and Hightower were anomalies. I'm sure they had them way higher on their board than where we got them.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Ed weirdner is saying he expects the steelers to match

Report: ‘Expect’ Steelers to keep Emmanuel Sanders | ProFootballTalk

 

[TruthSeeker]

Ed weirdner is saying he expects the steelers to match

Report: ‘Expect’ Steelers to keep Emmanuel Sanders | ProFootballTalk

I hope this is true. I really don't like this deal. An injury prone, average receiver, for 1 year and losing a 3rd round pick (when we only have 5 picks). I rather we upgrade through the draft, so many talented, fast, big receivers available. Some experts are saying Da'Rick Rogers will be there in the 3rd round, I'd take him over Sanders any day, personality problems and all.

 

[patfanken]

Ed weirdner is saying he expects the steelers to match

Report: ‘Expect’ Steelers to keep Emmanuel Sanders | ProFootballTalk

What he doesn't say is how exactly they plan on doing that.

Right now the Steelers are reportedly $2.5MM under the cap. I've read where their rookie cap number is over $3.5MM, so they have work to do before the draft just to be able to sign their own draft picks let alone match the Pats offer.

IIRC the 3rd round tender was about $1.5MM, so if the Pats one year offer is around $3MM, they are going to have come up with about $3MM more in savings just to be able to match and sign their rookies, and then be left with NOTHING in reserve for the rest of the season.

However if they don't match, they gain that $1.5MM in cap room, and have enough to sign their rookies, Then can do a couple of restructures so they can add some players after June 1, and/or go into the season with a couple of Million in reserve.

If Ed Werter is saying they Steelers are going to match, I'm not seeing how they do it without hurting themselves down the road

 

[The Scrizz]

So here's my thoughts on why the 1 year deal, not sure if it has been mentioned in this mega thread.

The Pats can offer him the 1 year deal w/ an agreement in place to extend. So let's assume such an agreement exists.

The Steelers are in the position where if they match, the only thing they know is that they are getting Sanders for 1 year and very likely losing him next year as a UFA anyway.

So their decision comes down to - is 1 year of Sanders worth moving Cap space to future years and passing on a 3rd round pick? I don't see how they can possibly match.

BB painted them into a corner. I don't know how Sanders will turn out but from the point of view of the maneuvering and structure of this deal the Steelers just got their asses handed to them. Even if they match the offer they are getting a crap deal.

The general issue with signing RFA is that many teams think that they are merely doing the negotiation for the other team. With this 1 year deal BB is basically saying, we may or may not have negotiated something larger with Sanders but you don't know what it is.

Whether you like Sanders or not this appears to have been flawlessly executed Game Theory.

 

[JMC00]

Ed weirdner is saying he expects the steelers to match

Report: ‘Expect’ Steelers to keep Emmanuel Sanders | ProFootballTalk

I'm shocked that ESPN and Jerry Jones let Werder out of his cage in Dallas to speak about something that didn't have to do with the Cowboys

 

[FoxboroFlyer]

What he doesn't say is how exactly they plan on doing that.

Right now the Steelers are reportedly $2.5MM under the cap. I've read where their rookie cap number is over $3.5MM, so they have work to do before the draft just to be able to sign their own draft picks let alone match the Pats offer.

IIRC the 3rd round tender was about $1.5MM, so if the Pats one year offer is around $3MM, they are going to have come up with about $3MM more in savings just to be able to match and sign their rookies, and then be left with NOTHING in reserve for the rest of the season.

However if they don't match, they gain that $1.5MM in cap room, and have enough to sign their rookies, Then can do a couple of restructures so they can add some players after June 1, and/or go into the season with a couple of Million in reserve.

If Ed Werter is saying they Steelers are going to match, I'm not seeing how they do it without hurting themselves down the road

His 1.3 mill current tender would go toward the new deal, and they currently have 2 mill. in space. That leaves like 700,000$ to come up with. they won't have any issues doing that.
They are also getting close to 5 mill. back on June 1st for the O lineman they cut ( Willie Colon). That will more than pay their rookie class.

Saying all that I still get the sense (at least from their fans) that they will value the draft pick higher than they value the player, and let him walk.
There was concern even if he stayed this year they wouldn't be able to extend him next year, with their cap issues. So moving on, and getting a 3rd round pick for him now, is better than losing him next year for nothing.