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It is clear that the market has cleared at very high levels, likely because of the great amounts of cap room available and the fact that this must be spent by next year (at least on a cash basis).
IMHO, Belichick has yet to grossly overpay for anyone, although Slater got a very nice contract. As always, we have "lost" lots of players to other teams. Perhaps we could have gotten some of these player if we were to win the bidding war. IMHO, few have been signed that we had a chance to sign at a reasonable amount. Sometimes, we bid and lost (e,g, Reggie Wayne). After all, we cannot win all close contests for players, if this were even close, especially re-signs.
CONCLUSION #1
We may need to "overpay" some for players we want. We did so for Slater. Perhaps, we will for Lloyd and/or Landry.
CONCLUSION #2
It is NOT clear that Belichick will grossly overpay anyone.
THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
What will we do with Welker? Will we pay him the 2012 market value for his services? Will we even come close?
Apparently, Welker refused a 2-year $16M deal as being much too low for this market. He was right.
IMHO, we should do what is necessary to sign Welker to a 2 or 3 year deal at amount we normally would not pay. If we sign a 3 year deal, we should be able to make the contract cap-friendly for 2012. A restructure in 2013 will push even more money to 2014 when more cap money will be available.
BTW, I don't think we trat Welker right if we simply ASSUME that he will sign the franchise tag, participate in of-season activities and play out the season on the tag. If this were really, true, we shouldn't even bother overpaying. We should simply franchise him again next year.
IMHO, Belichick has yet to grossly overpay for anyone, although Slater got a very nice contract. As always, we have "lost" lots of players to other teams. Perhaps we could have gotten some of these player if we were to win the bidding war. IMHO, few have been signed that we had a chance to sign at a reasonable amount. Sometimes, we bid and lost (e,g, Reggie Wayne). After all, we cannot win all close contests for players, if this were even close, especially re-signs.
CONCLUSION #1
We may need to "overpay" some for players we want. We did so for Slater. Perhaps, we will for Lloyd and/or Landry.
CONCLUSION #2
It is NOT clear that Belichick will grossly overpay anyone.
THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
What will we do with Welker? Will we pay him the 2012 market value for his services? Will we even come close?
Apparently, Welker refused a 2-year $16M deal as being much too low for this market. He was right.
IMHO, we should do what is necessary to sign Welker to a 2 or 3 year deal at amount we normally would not pay. If we sign a 3 year deal, we should be able to make the contract cap-friendly for 2012. A restructure in 2013 will push even more money to 2014 when more cap money will be available.
BTW, I don't think we trat Welker right if we simply ASSUME that he will sign the franchise tag, participate in of-season activities and play out the season on the tag. If this were really, true, we shouldn't even bother overpaying. We should simply franchise him again next year.
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