Reiss proposes transitional tag for High

[long distance]

From his today's quick-hits:
From parade to Club 15, Bill Belichick's 'no days off' chant catches on

quote:
2. If the Patriots place a tag on soon-to-be-free-agent linebacker Dont’a Hightower, the only option I see the team considering is the transition tag. That would be around $11 million on a one-year term, and give the Patriots (who paid Hightower $7.751 million in 2016) the right of first refusal on any offer Hightower receives in free agency. Because the franchise tag is so rich (at anywhere between $14.5 million-$15 million on a one-year deal), a strong case could be made that it actually creates more leverage for Hightower than the team, as he could shut things down in negotiations and position himself for free agency again next year. That’s why I don’t see the team going in that direction, and it’s the seldom-used transition tag or no tag at all.
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That might be risky because there is no compensation here . but it wouldn't be outside BB's market attitude.

From the 3 options below “non-exclusive“ FT sounds the best insurance/value . although I don't know if anyone already calculated the 2017 cost.

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• An "exclusive" franchise player must be offered a one-year contract for an amount no less than the average of the top five salaries at the player's position as of a date in April of the current year in which the tag will apply, or 120 percent of the player's previous year's salary, whichever is greater. Exclusive franchise players cannot negotiate with other teams. The player's team has all the negotiating rights to the exclusive player.

• A "non-exclusive" franchise player must be offered a one-year contract for an amount no less than the average of the top five cap hits at the player's position for the previous five years applied to the current salary cap, or 120 percent of the player's previous year's salary, whichever is greater. A non-exclusive franchise player may negotiate with other NFL teams, but if the player signs an offer sheet from another team, the original team has a right to match the terms of that offer, or if it does not match the offer and thus loses the player, is entitled to receive two first-round draft picks as compensation.

• Under the Capped years a team can designate one additional player only as a transitional tag. A transition player must be offered a minimum of the average of the top 10 salaries of the prior season at the player's position or 120 percent of the player's prior year's salary, whichever is greater. A transition player designation gives the club a first-refusal right to match within seven days an offer sheet given to the player by another club after his contract expires. If the club matches, it retains the player. If it does not match, it receives no compensation.

 

[zimmy]

I've pointed out the problem with the franchise tag before. It creates a baseline for negotiations from Hightower's point of view which exceeds his actual value.

Okay, you are going to pay me $15m this year, therefore I want that plus a further 4 years at $XXm. Suddenly you are paying $14m average. The franchise tag number is artificially higher than it should be because it doesn't differentiate between on and off the line LBs like Von Miller.

Top $ for an ILB is Kuechly's $12m a year (who is better than Hightower) or Collins recent $12.5m.

You could easily end up in a Josh Norman situation, where you end up rescinding the tag and letting him hit the market. The transition tag at least lets you negotiate from a more sensible price and allows you to match whatever he might get elsewhere.

The other problem with the tag is that you would be paying Hightower more than Brady. That doesn't sit right with me.

 

[luuked]

I've pointed out the problem with the franchise tag before. It creates a baseline for negotiations from Hightower's point of view which exceeds his actual value.

One could argue that Collins' contract already set the floor for the negotiations anyway. Personally, I don't think the problem in the negotiations between the team and the agent/player will be the overall size of the contract but rather the relative amount of injury-related stipulations the Pats want to put into the contract vs. what HT's camp wants to be completely guaranteed because of his history.

 

[long distance]

While he deserves much of it, Hightower certainly benefited greatly by waiting.
Not only by the fact that the tag is most beneficial to ILB players like you mentioned (it should be between 11-12M) but also because it is a weak top end LB market plus this FA market will be flooded with money - due to the end of previous cash spending period (look Miguel's tweets below).

Even with his injury history . now he has all the leverage. Kudos to his agent for seeing all this and going through. It was risky but it will obviously pay off big time.

 

[Gwedd]

The Transition tag is how we lost Curtis Martin to the jets. Parcells knew that he was one of, if npt THE, most important player on the roster and created a "poison pill" offer that New England simply could not match. The Jets had more cap room and could suck up the cost/ It was a final FU to new England, and especially Robert Kraft, when Parcells left for the Jets HC position.

 

[JarOfMayo51]

Way too risky to use the transition tag.. I'd rather pay $3 million more and be sure that if some team signs him away, we're heavily compensated.. A transition tag at $11.5 million would have a lot of defensive needy teams trying to offer him a big deal and pry him away... and if they succeeded, we get NOTHING in return (which is insanity.. they should change that transition tag rule to award one 1st rounder, or a 2nd rounder or something)

If we franchise him, we're guaranteed his services for this year, a year that we have a plethora of cap room, and then if he doesn't negotiate and walks, he'd almost certainly net a high compensation pick in return unless we signed some other mega star free agent

 

[convertedpatsfan]

If Hightower had been healthier, I think they would be much further along on a deal, and could have potentially avoided any tag altogether.

But I think this will go beyond just average per year, and will not only be about guaranteed money, but type of guaranteed money.

The league seems to be moving towards more non-guaranteed guaranteed money, if that makes sense. It isn't just in the signing bonus, but you see a lot more option bonuses which can be declined by certain dates, so it's not totally 100% guaranteed money. The Tyrod Taylor deal was like that.

Revis's contract negotiation isn't the same situation, but I think there are some lessons to glean from that. From reading through a kazillion Revis articles, it seemed like the Patriots may or may not have been close on guaranteed money, and part of that seemed to be the structure of it. The total amount of guarantees wasn't much, but the type of bonuses seemed like the Patriots were using a lot more in option bonuses per year, while the Jets were willing to give it all up front in a signing bonus.

That's why I think there were so many conflicting reports about how "close" it was. I saw reports saying they weren't far off in total guarantees, but then Revis commented on how it wasn't even in the same ballpark pretty much.

Tying this all back to Hightower, my guess is the Patriots are not off in terms of money being offered. I don't think they're low-balling him way below market value, but the structure and type of guarantees are probably what is preventing a deal from happening. I also think Mayo's rapid decline in health is still fresh in the team's minds (there was a $4.4M salary cap hit this year from that deal), which might make them more insistent upon some of those contract protection clauses.

I think the transition tag will result in either a normal contract that we can match, or a ridiculous deal like the Jets gave Revis where you just laugh and shrug and run (don't walk) away as fast as you can.

Edit: On second thought, I think we skip the transition tag. I thought players under transition tag that are lost still qualify for comp picks, but this link indicates that's no longer the case:

A Comment On Compensatory Picks And The Transition Tag | Over the Cap

So I think if we don't do the franchise tag, we will have an unofficial transition tag in place where we'll get a phone call saying he's leaving and BB can try to do some magic a la McCourty.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

Way too risky to use the transition tag.. I'd rather pay $3 million more and be sure that if some team signs him away, we're heavily compensated.. A transition tag at $11.5 million would have a lot of defensive needy teams trying to offer him a big deal and pry him away... and if they succeeded, we get NOTHING in return (which is insanity.. they should change that transition tag rule to award one 1st rounder, or a 2nd rounder or something)

If we franchise him, we're guaranteed his services for this year, a year that we have a plethora of cap room, and then if he doesn't negotiate and walks, he'd almost certainly net a high compensation pick in return unless we signed some other mega star free agent

Players lost via the transition tag used to qualify for comp picks, so I was looking for a link on that but as it turns out, last year, they didn't.

A Comment On Compensatory Picks And The Transition Tag | Over the Cap

So this was a useful post and informative, thanks.

 

[sieglo]

Hope they find a way to get a contract done. Without High two Super Bowl wins would be losses.

 

[luuked]

More from Reiss

 

[RobertWeathers]

The Transition tag is how we lost Curtis Martin to the jets. Parcells knew that he was one of, if npt THE, most important player on the roster and created a "poison pill" offer that New England simply could not match. The Jets had more cap room and could suck up the cost/ It was a final FU to new England, and especially Robert Kraft, when Parcells left for the Jets HC position.

Difference now is the Pats have cap room to deal w it. In 1997 they could not.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Hope they find a way to get a contract done. Without High two Super Bowl wins would be losses.

Agreed but the reason you pay High is for what they think he will do and not for what he has done.

 

[Simpelton]

Ahh. So his point is less "The Patriots are definitely solidly considering transition tagging Hightower" and more "the Patriots are likely not to consider tagging Hightower at all, but if they do, the transition tag is the only one I see them using."

 

[juny]

Agreed but the reason you pay High is for what they think he will do and not for what he has done.

High will turn 27 next month, so he has plenty of peak years left. One way or another he is going to get paid and he deserves it.

 

[Wordsmyth]

"Pay the man!" "Neon" Deion Sanders

 

[patchick]

The Transition tag is how we lost Curtis Martin to the jets. Parcells knew that he was one of, if npt THE, most important player on the roster and created a "poison pill" offer that New England simply could not match. The Jets had more cap room and could suck up the cost/ It was a final FU to new England, and especially Robert Kraft, when Parcells left for the Jets HC position.

Wasn't Curtis Martin signed away as a RFA? I don't believe transition tags even existed back then.

In either case, of course, poison pills are now illegal -- you can't include terms in a matchable offer sheet that would materially differ in consequences to the two teams. So a transition designation does seem like a reasonable option for Hightower, if only to make him a smidgen less attractive to another team. (In the premium FA market, the 7 day waiting period for the current team to decide to match can handcuff the offering team.)

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Wasn't Curtis Martin was signed away as a RFA? I don't believe transition tags even existed back then.

In either case, of course, poison pills are now illegal -- you can't include terms in a matchable offer sheet that would materially differ in consequences to the two teams. So a transition designation does seem like a reasonable option for Hightower, if only to make him a smidgen less attractive to another team. (In the premium FA market, the 7 day waiting period for the current team to decide to match can handcuff the offering team.)

As a minor aside, you can include them, but they don't count as "principal terms" the tagging team has to match. It doesn't prevent a move like the one the Pats used on Chris Hogan.

 

[patchick]

As a minor aside, you can include them, but they don't count as "principal terms" the tagging team has to match. It doesn't prevent a move like the one the Pats used on Chris Hogan.

Was there a provision in Hogan's contract that made it materially different for the two teams? I thought the issue was just that Buffalo had no cap space and so made the mistake of giving him the low RFA tender, then couldn't afford to match. Was there something trickier about the contract details?

 

[Hammer of Thor]

Was there a provision in Hogan's contract that made it materially different for the two teams? I thought the issue was just that Buffalo had no cap space and so made the mistake of giving him the low RFA tender, then couldn't afford to match. Was there something trickier about the contract details?

Right - they've done away with being forced to match terms such as, "if Curtis Martin plays 8 games in New England next season he receives a $10m bonus." However, you can still structure the "normal" dollar figures in such a way that it would cause cap issues for the matching team, and that's what the Pats did to get Hogan last year.

 

[patchick]

Right - they've done away with being forced to match terms such as, "if Curtis Martin plays 8 games in New England next season he receives a $10m bonus." However, you can still structure the "normal" dollar figures in such a way that it would cause cap issues for the matching team, and that's what the Pats did to get Hogan last year.

Absolutely -- if a team leaves itself hard against the cap, it's out of luck.