Rodney adjusts his contract [merged]

Re: Rodney adjusts his contract

solman said:

Huh?

1. If Belioli can save $700K in cap by saying "look Rodney, you've been injured", then its their JOB to do so. Paying $700K unnecessarily because they don't want to hurt somebody's feelings would be a violation of the trust placed in them by the Fans to do everything possible to win superbowls and field winning teams.

2. The $700K is hardly likely to have any impact on the Patriot's ability to win this year, since we will almost certainly be pushing money forward via LTBE incentives. Next year it could have an impact, but a very minor one, certainly not enough to make Rodney want to voluntarily give up some of his salary.

The only reason for him to do this would be BB and SP deciding that he is no longer worth his originally scheduled salary in 2007.



If Belioli can negotiate away $700K of cap hit, its their job

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I wouldn't go so far as to say it's their job. If they're nickel and diming one of the most crucial guys on the team because they have the leverage, well I guess it's their prerogative. But it's not their job. Their job is to win football games. Plain and simple. We don't know if this is a good move or a bad move.

Man, Rodney has had a stellar career, and he's made more than the average joe, but when you compare him to his peers in the NFL, the guy can't catch a break.

Re: Rodney adjusts his contract

solman said:

....
The ONLY reason for Rodney to accept this decrease is a belief that he would otherwise be cut.

Just be thankful that Belioli and Harrison were able to work through this situation WITHOUT cutting Rodney.

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PatsNutMe is right. Rodney is old, he's slow, and he hits like a little girl.
That's just what they think around the league, #37.

I didn't realize, however, that Solman is really
S o l o m o n.

He's got it just right.
And this is precisely why Robert The K pays that front office
the really big bux ... that never hit the salary cap.

Re: Rodney adjusts his contract

Box_O_Rocks said:

We could always wait until Miguel gooses the fat lady and that half mil turns up in a paperbag left at Ground Round.

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No wonder credentialed journalisti scorn the websters.
This is a new low in sports journalism.

Why, to think
that you might be right!

ps - henceforth, i'z checkin every paper bag i finds lyin round.

Re: Rodney adjusts his contract

PromisedLand said:

You're almost right. They haven't told Rodney they WON'T cut him, they told him if he didn't accept this restructure they WILL cut him. They would never promise a guy they won't cut him.

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Ummmm... yep. Pretty much.

Re: Rodney adjusts his contract

It's just business folks. How many times did they renegotiate McGinest and TJ?

When you get older and have injuries, your market value goes down. I wouldn't doubt they try to help these players in other ways, like Troy with the commercials.

His salary of 3 mil in 2008 remains.

Do you think there's a 2008 for Rodney? How's that work, does he get any of that if he doesn't voluntarily retire.

Rodney Reduced - why?

Sorry if this is already known and posted. Evidently, Rodney's been reduced from a $2.7M liability to $2.0M, with 200K available to him in possible incentives.

http://rotoworld.com/Content/home_NFL.aspx

Okay, guys, what is this team angling to use the money on? We seem to be in good shape as is, cap-wise, going into training camp.

Do they just sit around, look at each other, and say things like "Rodney's just been so banged up lately that even with cash lying around, we ought to slice off 700K," or is it more along the lines of... "We have onnnnne more move to make to really f**** with the rest of this league."

Or something in between? ("Lots of cash for in season fill-ins, and lots pushed forward via LTBEs, because we'll need the cash for Daunte and we think we'll be keeping him, if he produces.")

Or, is this a non-story to cap gurus, only turned into a story by the likes of roto-world, who doesn't understand how the details work and therefore reported a nothing as a something?

Inquiring minds want to know,

PFnV

Re: Rodney adjusts his contract

Miguel said:

I think that this is the best explanation for what happened.

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That is so wrong. Why in the world would they even approach that with Rodney at this time? If you look at the roster, who could we put in there that is even close to a healthy Rodney, even at this stage of his carrer?

There could be something coming up with another player(s) not on the roster now, that the Patriots may have felt that they need the extra cap space. Maybe they thought they would have had signed Samuel to a long term contract that would have reduced the cap hit on him, now they don't think so.

Many reasons that could have brought this about. But, cutting Rodney for $700,000 would not be one of them. I think that this was agreed to a long time ago.

Re: Rodney adjusts his contract

PATSNUTme said:

That is so wrong. Why in the world would they even approach that with Rodney at this time? If you look at the roster, who could we put in there that is even close to a healthy Rodney, even at this stage of his carrer?

There could be something coming up with another player(s) not on the roster now, that the Patriots may have felt that they need the extra cap space. Maybe they thought they would have had signed Samuel to a long term contract that would have reduced the cap hit on him, now they don't think so.

Many reasons that could have brought this about. But, cutting Rodney for $700,000 would not be one of them. I think that this was agreed to a long time ago.

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I still say all it is is an agreement that the raise he got a couple years back has been offset by his injuries.

This just makes me think that Rodney is treating this as his last year. Now we just have to win it all so Rodney,Tedy and Seau can go out on top.

Re: Rodney Reduced - why?

PatsFanInVa said:

Okay, guys, what is this team angling to use the money on? We seem to be in good shape as is, cap-wise, going into training camp.

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Probably not anything subtantial if anything at all. 700k is minimal to a team that already has the cap space the Pats have.

Do they just sit around, look at each other, and say things like "Rodney's just been so banged up lately that even with cash lying around, we ought to slice off 700K,"

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This is the likely situation. They feel his play doesn't warrant his salary so they go to him for a giveback. If he had said no, we end up with Lawyer Milloy part II.

It is very common in the NFL, not just in NE. Mgmt has the hammer and uses it as they see fit.

I find it hard to believe that NE did the Milloy treatment on Harrison. Harrison is a major part of this team and he clearly has plenty left in the tank to justify the $2.7mm that he was scheduled to earn.

When NE approached Milloy, it because he was coming off of a season where he had less impact than Harrison had last year despite starting every game. Not only that, but Milloy was a "negative leader" who didn't have the positive pressence that Harrison has on the locker room. On top of all of that, NE was trying to drop Milloy down to $.3mm more than Harrison was scheduled to earn this year in a year where the cap was over 20% lower than it is now.

No, I can't see this as a "restructure or we don't have a place for you" deal. There is more to this story.

Re: Rodney adjusts his contract

CrayzeeNepFan1 said:

No way they were planning on cutting Rodney that be a huge mistake he's a firecracker a live wire a team player a playmaker a freakin team captain you are way off on this assessment who else would of taught merriweather on the field?

Prediction in 2008 Geno will be our starting free safety and after merriweather adds 15 pounds he will be our starting strong safety.

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I disagree, I believe Merriweather will be the starting FS and Sanders will become the starting SS. He is the best in-the-box/at-the-line player of any of the Safties on the roster that aren't named Rodney. The kid has improved each and every year and was the best I had seen him last season. I think this season he may even push Rodney for his starters position, now I'm not saying he will get it as Rodney brings a lot of intangibles that Sanders lacks experience to bring, but the kid is Rodneys replacement IMHO. Merriweather is Wilson's and IMHO that happens this year.

Re: Rodney adjusts his contract

solman said:

Rodney is OLD. He has repeatedly gotten injured. He is doing this to prevent the Patriots from cutting him. Presumably, the Patriots have told him that in exchange for this adjustment he will NOT be cut.

I know that the very concept of cutting Rodney seems blasphemous to many fans here. Tough. This is the NFL, where teams which make sentimental decisions lose.

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Do you even follow the pats? The pats don't tell us much, but listen to what BB has said about rodney in the last couple months....all he does is talk about the impact rodney has on the team and that they look forward to him being on the field. (multiple interviews on WEEI) They just drafted a safety in the first round, why would they cut rodney when playing with him will greatly improve the rook this year and in the future. (not to mention all the other guys in the secondary)

Ya the pats will cut rodney; their best safety, who makes the defense much better when on the field, helps develop younger players, a team leader, someone everyone respects, a voice everyone listens to, someone who will make sure people (moss) won't get out of line, someone who makes sure the "patriot way" is how business is done, and someone the coaches (BB in particular) love............................all to save $700k in salary cap space

Re: Rodney adjusts his contract

CrayzeeNepFan1 said:

No way they were planning on cutting Rodney that be a huge mistake he's a firecracker a live wire a team player a playmaker a freakin team captain you are way off on this assessment who else would of taught merriweather on the field?

Prediction in 2008 Geno will be our starting free safety and after merriweather adds 15 pounds he will be our starting strong safety.

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Admittedly, I don't pay that much attention to college football, but everything I have read on Merriweather indicates to me that his coverage is a plus skill. Why would you want to change his physique and them put him in a position that doesn't utilize this skill. That would be like asking Kevin Faulk to add 20 points in an effort to turn him into a bruising type RB.

Oswlek said:

I find it hard to believe that NE did the Milloy treatment on Harrison. Harrison is a major part of this team and he clearly has plenty left in the tank to justify the $2.7mm that he was scheduled to earn.

When NE approached Milloy, it because he was coming off of a season where he had less impact than Harrison had last year despite starting every game. Not only that, but Milloy was a "negative leader" who didn't have the positive pressence that Harrison has on the locker room. On top of all of that, NE was trying to drop Milloy down to $.3mm more than Harrison was scheduled to earn this year in a year where the cap was over 20% lower than it is now.

No, I can't see this as a "restructure or we don't have a place for you" deal. There is more to this story.

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Actually Milloy was a team leader, in a good way....and he was loved by all his teamates (Brady in particular)

Re: Rodney adjusts his contract

Oswlek said:

Admittedly, I don't pay that much attention to college football, but everything I have read on Merriweather indicates to me that his coverage is a plus skill. Why would you want to change his physique and them put him in a position that doesn't utilize this skill. That would be like asking Kevin Faulk to add 20 points in an effort to turn him into a bruising type RB.

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The way BB and co run defenses, I think they drafted him because they think that he fits best into their system with his skill sets. This isn't a typical tampa 2 defense for instance...they will make sure they put him into the best position to utilize his skills. I don't think they will try to change to much, just use what he can do and make him better!

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2927281

Thirteen-year veteran strong safety Rodney Harrison, still regarded as the heart of the New England secondary but a defender whose productivity has diminished the past two seasons because of injuries, has restructured his contract.
...
Since the Patriots still have about $8.4 million in available cap funds, and more than sufficient money to sign their draft choices, the restructuring was not necessary to carve out more spending room. Instead, the move should be considered a reflection that Harrison is in the twilight of a celebrated career.

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This would depress the hell outta me if I didn't know that it must piss Rodney off.

mtbykr said:

Actually Milloy was a team leader, in a good way....and he was loved by all his teamates (Brady in particular)

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Milloy was loved by a good amount of his teammates, Brady certainly amongst them, but not all. And the "negative leader" is a direct quote from BB's self-scouting that Holley put in his book.

Re: Rodney adjusts his contract

mtbykr said:

The way BB and co run defenses, I think they drafted him because they think that he fits best into their system with his skill sets. This isn't a typical tampa 2 defense for instance...they will make sure they put him into the best position to utilize his skills. I don't think they will try to change to much, just use what he can do and make him better!

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I agree. If my post implied anything different, I apologize. My main point was why would you take someone who appears to be tailor-made for the FS postion and bulk him up to be a SS?

Re: Rodney Reduced - why?

dhamz said:

This is the likely situation. They feel his play doesn't warrant his salary so they go to him for a giveback. If he had said no, we end up with Lawyer Milloy part II.

It is very common in the NFL, not just in NE. Mgmt has the hammer and uses it as they see fit.

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That would be poor management, unless BB feels that Rodney is no longer an asset to the defense.

Why would you offend one of the purported best players on the defense and training camp/locker room leader over a small sum of money that's not apparently needed elsewhere? Threatened him with being cut if he said no? I find that hard to believe. If Rodney doesn't get hurt vs. Tennessee, we're likely the defending champs again. It's obvious to anybody watching that the defense is much better with Rodney than without. I could see it if Rodney was making 5 million a year, but he's not.

There's something we're all missing here...and I'm guessing it has to do with a shuffling of money from point A to point B. Rodney could easily be retiring next year, but it could also be the first step towards an extension.