The official "Branch is dead to me" thread.

[DaBruinz]

Not that it really matters, but the way I read Reiss' piece was that it was $300,000 over the 4 years or $75,000 a year.

"The breakdown in talks traces to May, when the Patriots attempted to spark negotiations by offering Branch a contract extension through 2009. The offer included a $4 million signing bonus and $4 million option bonus payable in 2007. Branch's base salary for 2006 would be $1.045 million, followed by salaries of $1.4 million in 2007, $4.3 million in 2008, and $4.75 million in 2009. The deal also included workout bonuses of $300,000. Over the four years of the deal, Branch would be paid just shy of $5 million per year. Assessing only the three years added to the original contract, plus bonus money, Branch would be averaging about $6.25 million per year."

You might be right, Miguel. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[BelichickFan]

But if a deal doesn't get done you can forget about it next year.

Nope, they'll Franchise him. For two years in a row. That's three total. A WR Franchise is costly but not THAT much more than what they offered annually. And there's way less risk going year to year for the Patriots - career ending injury ? No cap hit. If this stays nasty they'll Franchise him and probably trade him. But he's controlled by us for three more years including this one.

 

[mcbee]

Do they get to knock his fines off of the salary cap?

Looks like he'll only be getting 500K this year, if he shows up at all.

30+ days missed * 14K per day, 500K in salary hits for him!

Sweet!

 

[BelichickFan]

Do they get to knock his fines off of the salary cap?

Looks like he'll only be getting 500K this year, if he shows up at all.

30+ days missed * 14K per day, 500K in salary hits for him!

Sweet!

And if he carries out his threat to sit out until Week Ten, I assume he doesn't get paid for the games he watches from home. He'd basically get paid nothing if so. Either way, he's stuck in this power play. You could say that he'll win next year if Franchised but as he said he'd report this year if we promised not to Franchise him, obviously that doesn't appeal to him.

 

[ClosingTime]

Nope, they'll Franchise him. For two years in a row. That's three total. A WR Franchise is costly but not THAT much more than what they offered annually. And there's way less risk going year to year for the Patriots - career ending injury ? No cap hit. If this stays nasty they'll Franchise him and probably trade him. But he's controlled by us for three more years including this one.

They would be stupid to franchise him. Deion is not near a top 5 WR and is injury prone. No smart teams use the franchise tag unless it is to buy some extra time to sign a contract, trade (which is very rare) or if the position make it negligible (i.e. a kicker).

 

[onegameatatime]

I think I have a different take from many of the posters:

1. It's a cop-out to blame the agent. The agent works for Deion. If Deion does not like what he's saying, Deion should tell him to shut the pie-hole.

2. I do not resent Deion. His labor is his business. If he wants to hold out, he's got to pay the price (14k per day), and maybe he can get more of what he wants from taking this tactic.

3. The Pats seem to be making a reasonable deal. People who compare to certain other players forget that an extension is different because you are paying much more that is required now.

4. When this thing is resolved, I'll be as much for Deion as I was before.

In short, I think he's shortsighted and wrong, but I do not resent him, or see him as dead to me. It's all business and they (Deion and Pats) both have rules they play by. This is their problem.

 

[BelichickFan]

They would be stupid to franchise him. Deion is not near a top 5 WR and is injury prone. No smart teams use the franchise tag unless it is to buy some extra time to sign a contract, trade (which is very rare) or if the position make it negligible (i.e. a kicker).

Franchising him keeps him under our control. Not stupid at all.

 

[ClosingTime]

For a hefty price

 

[BelichickFan]

For a hefty price

No price if we trade him. The only price is having the cap space available temporarily while he is under the Franchise Tag. That shouldn't be a problem. The WR Franchise # is about $8M, I believe, only $3M or so more than we offered him on a multi year basis.

 

[spacecrime]

For a hefty price

I thought so, also, until someone pointed out that one year at current salary plus one year at frachise amount is very reasonably priced average for two years, and that one year at current price + three years at franchise amount isn't much more than we offered him and less than the amount it would take to cave in to his demands. By franchising, it would actually cost less than giving him what he wants, and if he does get hurt (you may not know he has durability problems) there are no dead money years to deal with.

The only downside is that you get a player who is definately not happy.

All that said, I doubt the Pats will franchise him. They didn't Vinatieri. I think the franchising last year was like three years ago, only done to to retain rights until a long-term deal was be put into place.

But if they did franchise Branch, it wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing as my initial gut reaction thought it would be.

 

[Miguel]

I thought so, also, until someone pointed out that one year at current salary plus one year at frachise amount is very reasonably priced average for two years, and that one year at current price + three years at franchise amount isn't much more than we offered him and less than the amount it would take to cave in to his demands. By franchising, it would actually cost less than giving him what he wants, and if he does get hurt (you may not know he has durability problems) there are no dead money years to deal with.

The only downside is that you get a player who is definately not happy.

All that said, I doubt the Pats will franchise him. They didn't Vinatieri. I think the franchising last year was like three years ago, only done to to retain rights until a long-term deal was be put into place.

But if they did franchise Branch, it wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing as my initial gut reaction thought it would be.

Randy Moss Oakland $10,021,250
Andre Johnson Houston $7,787,714
Torry Holt St. Louis $7,405,000
Terrell Owens Dallas $6,666,666
Rod Smith Denver $6,546,000
Chris Chambers Miami $6,516,666
Marvin Harrison Indy $6,400,000
Amani Toomer NY Giants $6,375,000
Muhsin Muhammad Chicago $6,220,000
Chad Johnson Cincy $5,957,000


If my above estimates are correct and they are probably not, then the 2007 tag numbers for WRs would be
$7,685,000 Franchise number
$6,990,000 Transistion number


With an 20% raise
it would cost $9,222,000 to tag Branch in 2008
at least $11,066,00 to tag in 2009. It is very likely that another position (QB) will have a franchise tag number higher than that in 2009.

To sum up, it would cost the Pats over $29 million to tag Branch 3 years. In other words, Branch would make more than $10 million by being franchised as opposed to taking the Patriots' offer.

 

[Clonamery]

Randy Moss Oakland $10,021,250
Andre Johnson Houston $7,787,714
Torry Holt St. Louis $7,405,000
Terrell Owens Dallas $6,666,666
Rod Smith Denver $6,546,000
Chris Chambers Miami $6,516,666
Marvin Harrison Indy $6,400,000
Amani Toomer NY Giants $6,375,000
Muhsin Muhammad Chicago $6,220,000
Chad Johnson Cincy $5,957,000


If my above estimates are correct and they are probably not, then the 2007 tag numbers for WRs would be
$7,685,000 Franchise number
$6,990,000 Transistion number


With an 20% raise
it would cost $9,222,000 to tag Branch in 2008
at least $11,066,00 to tag in 2009. It is very likely that another position (QB) will have a franchise tag number higher than that in 2009.

To sum up, it would cost the Pats over $29 million to tag Branch 3 years. In other words, Branch would make more than $10 million by being franchised as opposed to taking the Patriots' offer.

Enlightening as usual, Miguel.

More ammo that either Branch's agent is not wise or has an agenda that is not apparent (yet).

 

[BelichickFan]

To sum up, it would cost the Pats over $29 million to tag Branch 3 years. In other words, Branch would make more than $10 million by being franchised as opposed to taking the Patriots' offer.

Which is why it's weird that the agent appears so afraid of it unless it's just a reputation thing. Or if Branch is so unhappy that he wants out at any cost.

The reason would be that a devastating injury in the first Franchised year would end the guarantees he'd otherwise get but 1) he could always buy a career insurance policy for that year and 2) he'd still have made $10M or so over his career.

Personally I would trade the guy now even if we had to take a 2008 draft choice to get something good. And, meanwhile, look into Stallworth, Lelie, Porter, etc.