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

Miguel said:

Everything I read says that Colon had a $5.5 million salary for the Steelers

Ed: Harrison Cap No. An Easy Fix

Joe Linta, the agent for Willie Colon, says the Steelers have told him they currently plan to do nothing with his contract at the moment and they have not asked for a reduction. Colon is due a salary of $5.5 million this year.

is one such example

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FoxboroFlyer said:

I did see an article somewhere that said they already received a 1.5 mil. Credit, but the other 4 comes in June.

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voluntarysaftey said:

No way there's a handshake for a multiyear deal. The Patriots would have no reason to believe a guy they barely know will honor the handshake. And Sanders would be pretty dumb to give up free agency because of a handshake a year prior.
Or what if Sanders sucks; would the Patriots still honor the handshake?

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DaBruinz said:

As Miguel just pointed out, the Pats would not be able to restructure the deal for 1 year. Basically, after the Super Bowl in 2014.

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PP2 said:

The only restriction is that they cannot restructure to pay him any lower than the tender, otherwise Pats are free to restructure contract into a multi-year one at any time.

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FoxboroFlyer said:

Wouldn't surprise me at all, if Pittsburgh announces they are not matching the offer....I don't even think it will take them 5 days to reach that conclusion.

Boldin, for a 6th
Sanders, for a 3rd

Hmm...that was the topic of jokes in one steeler forum.
Ed Bouchette believes the steelers front office not only should not match, but "send the patriots a thank you bouquet" for alleviating some cap, and handing them a 3rd round pick.

If the Steelers land Cordarelle Patterson, or Tavon Austin to replace Sanders they're already a better team at wr...now throw in the fact they would have an additional 3rd rounder to go with that.

Looks like a win, for Pitt.

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On face value, the Patriots would be giving up a third-round pick for a player for only one year. That's where others around the NFL begin to suspend belief.

"I don't believe for a second that Bill Belichick is giving up a third-round pick for Sanders for only one year," an executive with an AFC team said. "Yeah, if it was October and you were desperate for a specific guy because you thought he would make a difference, maybe. But Sanders isn't that type of guy. Nice potential, he has flashed some ability, but you don't do this."

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The AFC executive and two other league sources raised the question of whether the Patriots have a deal in place with Sanders on a long-term contract. However, instead of signing Sanders to such a deal now that the Steelers might be interested in matching, New England signed him to a one-year deal that Pittsburgh would almost certainly not match.

This is the poker side of the Sanders deal. If Pittsburgh signs him to a one-year deal, Sanders can then sign with another team after the 2013 season and the best the Steelers could get in return is a compensatory third-round pick in 2015, if that.

Or the Steelers, who like New England declined to comment on the deal, can take the third-round pick this year.

While the Steelers could also try and work out a long-term deal with Sanders and agent Jordan Woy, there's no guarantee Pittsburgh could get a deal done before Sunday's deadline.

In other words, Pittsburgh may be backed into a corner on this deal.
If New England then signs Sanders to a long-term contract at some point in the near future, there would likely be all sorts of angry reaction around the league. However, there is no rule in the collective bargaining agreement against extending a restricted free agent in this situation.

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An anonymous AFC executive expects the Patriots to sign restricted free agent Emmanuel Sanders to a long-term contract if the Steelers to decline to match their one-year, $2.5 million offer sheet.

"I don't believe for a second that Bill Belichick is giving up a third-round pick for Sanders for only one year," the exec told Yahoo's Jason Cole. Such a move is considered dirty pool around the league, but isn't illegal. The "fair" way to conduct such a transaction would be to sign Sanders to his long-term deal from the get-go, giving the Steelers a chance to match the true parameters. Per Cole, Sanders is believed to be the first RFA in league history to sign a one-year offer sheet with a new team. The one-year arrangement is in the Pats' favor because the Steelers are right up against the cap. In a normal long-term agreement, Sanders' first-year cap number would likely be lower than $2.5 million.

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PP2 said:

Incorrect.

Because Pitts designed Colon a post June 1 cut they cannot claim all 5.5m this year. They can recover 3.2m this coming season and the rest is split over next season.

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Patsgofor4 said:

Sneaky was the wrong word but it is true that this is the first time that a RFA has been signed to a 1 year deal.

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Veteran Steelers beat reporter Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette opined on the Patriots signing receiver Emmanuel Sanders to a one-year, $2.5 million offer sheet, and his advice is straight-forward to the Steelers: Don't match.

Why wait until Sunday to file their decision with the NFL and the New England Patriots? The Steelers should act on the Emmanuel Sanders signing as fast as they did when they cut Chris Rainey. Take the third-round draft pick and send the Pats a big thank you bouquet.

This has nothing with their inability to match that one-year deal Sanders signed with the Patriots. Many have speculated New England signed Sanders to such a large contract that the cap-strapped Steelers could not afford to match. Are you kidding? What could the Patriots have given him, $3 million? If they gave him much more than that, plus losing a third-round draft pick, Bill Belichick would be out of his mind and that just isn’t so, although it’s strange they would do this deal in the first place. I mean, when did Emmanuel Sanders suddenly become Lynn Swann? ...


Bouchette adds that the Steelers would create much-needed salary cap space by not matching, while also picking up a third-round draft choice that "will average under $700,000 a year for four years."

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jsull87 said:

Yes but they would have to use their 1st round pick to get either of those players. The reality is if they don't match we have taken an AFC rivals #2 WR who has proven he can contribute to a "ok" level in the NFL. We got him relatively cheap and we have seen him produce a little in the league.

If we were going to spend a #rd rounder at WR this year if we didn't get him then i see this as a win for the pats.

Any discussion of Boldin and a 6th vs Sanders and a 3rd is ridiculous because it's 32 year old turning 33 during the season Boldin and 7.5 million for a 6th vs a 26 year old Sannders (probably a long term deal) and 2.5 Million for a 3rd.

You have to take into account all factors.

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Miguel said:

Rodney Bailey in 2004 was signed to a one-year deal.

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Rob0729 said:

Jason Cole writes that many executives around the league believe the Pats already have a long term deal in place with Sanders and only issued him an one year tender so the Steelers can match it. Obviously, he and his quotes come just short of accusing Belichick of underhanded maneuvering.





Y! SPORTS

Granted Rotoworld didn't have any problem crossing over the line of accusing the Pats of dirty pool:




Emmanuel Sanders - Pittsburgh Steelers - 2013 Player Profile - Rotoworld.com

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lillloyd said:

The draft picks will be covered by the money that will come free on June 1 (due to the Willie Colon release).

As far as other needs go, undoubtedly Pitt would like to add depth...but I think the point here is that the NE offer is so low (essentially, only adding $1.2 million to Pitt's salary cap, when you factor in Sanders' existing $1.3 million tender) that it's probably not enough to change Pittsburgh's approach. The $1.2 million Pitt would save by letting go of Sanders (and maybe less than that due to the salary of the extra 3rd rd pick?) probably amounts to a single, nondescript FA signing when you consider the vet minimum.

I really believe this decision ultimately will have very little to do with cap room--there's just not enough $$ involved. It just boils down to how much Pitt values that 3rd rounder, relative to a promising but somewhat injury-prone WR (who could still walk after this year)

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SVN said:

View from Pittsburgh: Take the pick - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston


Kinda agree with this sentiment. Not a big fan of this move.

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Patsgofor4 said:

Like I said, this is only the 2nd time that a RFA has been signed to a one year deal.

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SVN said:

View from Pittsburgh: Take the pick - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston


Kinda agree with this sentiment. Not a big fan of this move.

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Miguel said:

Browns force Ravens' hand, sign C. Taylor to an offer sheet - Baltimore Sun

Kansas City Chiefs - Chiefs Match Offer Sheet to LB Mike Maslowski

I am sure that other RFAs have also been signed to one-year offers.

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