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

[kennyb]

Sanders has had two foot operations? PASS.

Denario Alexander...less money no compensatory picks. Incentive laden contract avoids risk.

YES.

 

[signbabybrady]

Does anybody know if there's an end date on when you can sign a RFA to an offer sheet? The reason I ask is if not why wouldn't the Patriots, or any team, have a wink-wink deal in place and not make the offer until the day after the draft? The 3rd rounder for Sanders now becomes a 2014 draft pick which is essentially a 4th round value. I have to imagine they have some sort of check in place for this but my google search returned no evidence of one.

off the top of my head I dont know the exact date but is about a week before the draft with enough time for the 5 day window to pass before the draft.

 

[everlong]

Yes, the end date is just before the draft. Once that passes, the player can't sign with another team. That's to avoid having the situation above.

Thanks I assumed that must be the case but couldn't find documentation on it.

 

[fester]

Possibly a case of waiting until the window is closer to squeeze Pittsburgh.
Horde some cap space, then make a late offer with a roster bonus that is harder to match. A roster bonus, rather than signing bonus, front-loads the contract.

My understanding is that the NFL and NFLPA will allow the tendering team (in this case the Steelers) to offer a substantially equivilent contract to an RFA to avoid poison pill clauses and structures.

For instance if the Patriots offer a 5 year deal with a 5 million dollar roster bonus the following salary and cap structure:
Year 1: 1 million cap hit 6 million
Year 2: 1.5 million 1.5
year 3: 2.5 million 2.5
Year 4: 3.5 million 3.5
Year 5: 5 million 5 million

The Steelers could "match" the offer with identical salary structure but replace the roster bonus with a 5 million dollar signing bonus. That brings down Year 1 cap hit to 2 million but bumps up each subsequent year's cap hit by a million per.

If anything a player should have a (minor) preference to the signing bonus contract structure as it gives them a bit of leverage in the middle years of a contract as dead cap space makes cutting them harder to do.

 

[PatsFaninAZ]

Does it matter that the reporter is female?

Gender is irrelevant, of course. Nobody said about Howe's blown reports earlier this week: "That male reporter blew the salary cap." Clearly, there are some inherent biases in that industry, reflected by fans.

All that said, almost equally troubling in the phrase "that female reporter" is the word "reporter" to the extent it implies that Erika Leigh is some kind of journalist. She had a pretty bad week -- without respect to her gender.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

Longer the pats wait the better..they do it the week before draft..pitt could be in trouble to match.

But if pats sign Vollmer and a vet pass rusher before then. I wonder if that would put a wrench in getting him. I have no idea what sanders would cost per year...4-5 mill?

 

[Brady6]

Emmanuel Sanders signs offer sheet (UPDATE: Still Unsigned)

Many mock drafts have Tavon Austin going to the Steelers at 17. Has anyone else given thought to the idea that we were just using the Sanders visit as a way to push the Steelers away from Austin?

I know 12 picks separate us if he gets passed them its a group of teams who aren't really in need for a WR and maybe we'd trade up to 20 or 21 to take him like we did for Jones.

 

[Sicilian]

Many mock drafts have Tavon Austin going to the Steelers at 17. Has anyone else given thought to the idea that we were just using the Sanders visit as a way to push the Steelers away from Austin?

I know 12 picks separate us if he gets passed them its a group of teams who aren't really in need for a WR and maybe we'd trade up to 20 or 21 to take him like we did for Jones.

Why would a threat of taking their WR make them less likely to draft a WR?

 

[Brady6]

Emmanuel Sanders signs offer sheet (UPDATE: Still Unsigned)

Why would a threat of taking their WR make them less likely to draft a WR?

Not sure just might of taken them off Austin since they're similar players

 

[Kontradiction]

Not sure just might of taken them off Austin since they're similar players

Even with either Sanders or Austin (who the Pats will not get), they would still need a Justin Hunter type.

 

[JMC00]

Many mock drafts have Tavon Austin going to the Steelers at 17. Has anyone else given thought to the idea that we were just using the Sanders visit as a way to push the Steelers away from Austin?

I know 12 picks separate us if he gets passed them its a group of teams who aren't really in need for a WR and maybe we'd trade up to 20 or 21 to take him like we did for Jones.

Austin won't get past the Rams at #16.

 

[TriplecHamp]

Not sure just might of taken them off Austin since they're similar players

Not sure if im following. If anything it would put them on Austin.

 

[Joey007]

This and the Abraham thread need to be killed. It's not helping anything to continue speculating until we get an official report of what the Pats are doing.

 

[Ozymandias]

We won't know what the plan is for this up until the last minute deadline the week before draft day. This could be all be a smokescreen for all we know. Everything is just rumor and innuendo at this point.

Though, I doubt they sign Sanders to a front loaded offer sheet that the Steelers would be unable/unwilling to match, if, for instance they sign Abraham in the free agency.

Also as said, Tavon Austin is not getting passed the Rams at 16 and their division rivals, 49ers, could leapfrog them to select him with their plethora of draft picks. There's no way the Patriots would give up that much draft capital to get Austin unless they do some serious wheeling-and-dealing to acquire a lot more picks for later rounds.

 

[Jimke]

This and the Abraham thread need to be killed. It's not helping anything to continue speculating until we get an official report of what the Pats are doing.

Agreed! Erika Leigh struck out on both counts.

 

[Joey007]

Agreed! Erika Leigh struck out on both counts.

I wouldn't say struck out. She could still be right about both of these. But obviously her reports that these were done deals were both very false.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

I wouldn't say struck out. She could still be right about both of these. But obviously her reports that these were done deals were both very false.

erika leigh is a nobody. all she did was graduate from some college and started her own website called New England Sports Journal. She has never worked for and was never employed by the top media outfits like NESN,CSNNE or ESPN Boston.

 

[BritPat]

Austin won't get past the Rams at #16.

I would certainly never say never - but Tavon Austin is simply not a Jeff Fisher type of receiver. He prefers 6'0+ deep burners/physical guys.

Patterson or Hunter if they go WR in the first round, I'd put money on that.

 

[JMC00]

Patterson or Hunter if they go WR in the first round, I'd put money on that.

and i'd put money on that Austin won't go past #16

 

[BritPat]

and i'd put money on that Austin won't go past #16

Fair enough.

It might be worth reading this though first:

NFL UK Forums - View Single Post - Drafting trends