Rodney adjusts his contract [merged]

[PATSNUTme]

Harrison must have. Why else agree to a paycut when the team did not need the extra cap space??

So the Pats feel that Harrison is not worth $2.7 million and asked him to take a pay cut but are not willing to release him if he declines. If he says no, the Pats have to release him. Otherwise, they will never be able to get other players to agree to accept a paycut.

How about, if he says no, we never hear about it.

I'm still not buying the "take the cut or be cut" theory. It just does not make sense.

Those who think Sanders is the answer just haven't watched the games. Meriweather could be a CB more than he could a SS at this point. Three years from now, maybe. He still hasn't played one NFL game.

 

[dhamz]

How about, if he says no, we never hear about it.

I'm still not buying the "take the cut or be cut" theory. It just does not make sense.

WE have nothing to do with it. You can bet the other players in the locker room and their agents would have heard about it if he said no and the team caved.

 

[PATSNUTme]

WE have nothing to do with it. You can bet the other players in the locker room and their agents would have heard about it if he said no and the team caved.

So again, do you think the team was willing to cut Rodney if he said no?

And, before I hear another "well they did it to Lawyer" answer, remember they had Rodney on the roster and they were talking about a lot more than 700K.

How does anyone know that the team members and their agents would know about it? That's assuming that Rodney blabs his business to others instead of being a professional and keeping that stuff to himself.

 

[Miguel]

If a player shows up to camp out of condition and doesn't participate in off-season activities then I can see an argument. But shaving someone's salary because they put their body on the line for the team and were badly injured doing it doesn't sound like the Patriots management I and other fans have admired.

See Don Davis in 2006.

His salary was reduced in 2006 once he went on IR.

Yes. Well, that's my argument. Even assuming the attitude, it doesn't make rational sense to engage in brinkmanship with Rodney (a proud individual if ever there was one) at this stage. If they really believe that Rodney is only marginal to the team, threatening him with a cut after evaluating his performance in training camp makes much more sense.

And no, I don't have a better explanation ...

Fair enough.

 

[Miguel]

I can only infer, then, that you feel that Rodney is no longer a top notch strong safety. Or just one that can't be counted on. Which would make your posts dead-on.

How much faith do you have that Harrison, a 34-year old player, will play 19 games this season.

Because the market trend for good players overall has been sharply upward. In fact, besides aging running backs, it seems all players are making much more money come contract time.

The fact that Harrison is making less than than year and his salary is taking up a smaller percentage of the cap is very telling to me.



That just doesn't jibe with what I see on the field. Keep in mind that Donovan Darius, who will be 32 Opening Day, just signed a free agent contract extremely late in free agency for three years, 7.1 million. He's missed about as much time over the last two years that Rodney has. I can't imagine that Rodney wouldn't think he could do better if the Patriots cut him.[/quote]

 

[Miguel]

Why the snobby attitude? Just because you are a moderator here and the resident capologist doesn't automatically make your viewpoint superior to everyone else's.

I have explained my case and said clearly that I have no idea what other conditions must exist, just that I think that they do.

Wow.

I do not know what to say except to say that I had thought that you may have come up with a reason in the interim. If I have offended you, I apologize.

 

[Miguel]

Miguel is far slower to anger than me, but dozens of posts putting emotional fandom over the cold hard facts can take their toll even on him.

Let's just say that I do not think that the methods of BB and Pioli are steeped in mystery and I strongly believe in Ockham's razor.

 

[Miguel]

So again, do you think the team was willing to cut Rodney if he said no?

I do.

If the Patriots initiated the talks and I think that they did, then they had to be ready to cut Harrison if he said no. They could not afford to be seen as weak when it comes to dealing with players.

 

[Miguel]

How much faith do you have that Harrison, a 34-year old player, will play 19 games this season.


The fact that Harrison is making less than than year and his salary is taking up a smaller percentage of the cap is very telling to me.

That just doesn't jibe with what I see on the field.

And yet Harrison accepted a paycut.

Keep in mind that Donovan Darius, who will be 32 Opening Day, just signed a free agent contract extremely late in free agency for three years, 7.1 million. He's missed about as much time over the last two years that Rodney has. I can't imagine that Rodney wouldn't think he could do better if the Patriots cut him.

How much money will Darius get this year?? For all we know, he could get most of the money in the last year of the deal.

Let's say that the Patriots had released Harrison. He would be a 34-year old player coming off two injury-filled seasons released by one of the best, if not the best, talent evaluation tandems in the business. I think that getting released by the Pats would raise questions in the minds of the other GMs about Harrison. In other words, the very fact that there are so many posts in this thread questioning the rationale behind the move would, IMO, work against Harrison in the FA market.

 

[Miguel]

There seems to be continued speculation about "quid pro quos" and "gentleman's agreements" that result in the player receiving money but aren't formal parts of the contract.

It is extremely likely that if the Patriots were caught doing this they would pay for it in draft picks. Considering the minimal benefit and substantial potential consequences (which also include fines and a very reputation hit for the Krafts) the Patriots would be insane to even consider this sort of thing.

Harrison would have to be insane himself to take a $700,000 paycut in return for a verbal promise.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

I wouldn't call it a conspiracy theory. In fact, it's an easily plausible scenario. However, I would think that Rodney as a free agent would land a million+ dollar signing bonus on a two-year deal and therefore not need to worry about getting cut. However, I can't claim to have the pulse on the 2008 free agency market.

First off, a million dollar signing bonus on a two year deal doesn't protect you from getting cut because your dead cap is $500K. Darius current dead cap is $600K in 2007 and none thereafter. Rodney's dead cap is $732K this year and next. What protects a veteran player with little dead cap from being cut is a combination of performance and willingness to adjust his salary to be in line with his value.

As for what Rodney could get on the open market, here's an update from PFT with the details on Darius contract. He got no signing bonus, $600K guaranteed of his $1.6M salary for 2007 (yup, that's $400-600K LESS than old Rodney is still getting on his recently tweeked deal) and with straight salary and no roster/option bonuses on his remaining 2008-2009 salaries Darius can be asked to restructure (take a pay cut) or be as sat on through camp and cut in August of any 2008 or 2009. He didn't get the deal he wanted, he took the only deal available. So I guess that tells us something about the market for 30++ safeties coming off back to back injury plagued seasons.

http://www.profootballtalk.com/rumormill.htm

DARIUS DEAL HAS LOW RISK FOR RAIDERS

A league source tells us that the contract given by the Raiders to safety Donovin Darius includes a signing bonus of (drum roll, please) nothing. Zero dollars, zero cents.

But the deal contains $600,000 in guaranteed base salary for 2007, which means that Darius has some protection against getting cut -- and the team has some protection in the event that it needs to cut him, since a decision that Darius no longer has it means that the team will have spent (wasted) only $600,000.

Also, the absence of a signing bonus means that there will be no cap consequences in 2008 or 2009 if the team decides to move on. (Sorry, but we're not in the mood tonight.)

In all, the deal has base salaries of $1.6 million in 2007, $2.5 million in 2008, and $3 million in 2009. And the fact that the 2007 and 2008 compensation is entirely in the form of base salary means that the team can squat on Darius until the eve of the regular season, and drop him with no consequence.

The better approach for Darius would have been for $1 million of the base salaries in 2008 and 2009 to have been pushed into roster bonuses, due on the first day of each league year. This would have forced the Raiders to make a quick decision each year as to his status. And if the decision would be to move on (still not in the mood), Darius would have had plenty of time to land elsewhere.

Then again, the deal Darius signed simply might be the best one he could get, and that the Raiders refused to move any of the base salaries in 2008 or 2009 into roster bonuses. It's not as if any other team was beating down the door to sign him.