HIGHTOWER'S BACK!!! (UPDATE: his contract is less than originally reported)

Players are pumped about this.

Soul_Survivor88 said:

Market never developed for Hightower. $7 million less guaranteed than Collins. Which is a damn shame, because Collins takes plays off while Hightower plays hurt.

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It's a shame, but one was dealing with the Browns and the other with an NFL team.

Soul_Survivor88 said:

Market never developed for Hightower. $7 million less guaranteed than Collins. Which is a damn shame, because Collins takes plays off while Hightower plays hurt.

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Cleveland has to pay the village idiot tax to keep talent plus Collins has all those elite measurable..

TommyD4207 said:

That's really tremendous. $10.75 AAV's up toward the high end, but only $19mil guaranteed, and I'm guessing the last year or two would be cuttable.

There must be a cupcake clause though

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It could be that the guaranteed money was stingy from all teams. We don't know Hightower's injury history. I suspect it is a lot worse than surface reports. He's been banged up a lot and plays a really physical style, almost like a safety.

AtomicDawg said:

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It was ballsy, but worthwhile. I said last week that it was probably going to be a good move since Hightower was going to be at least somewhat disappointed with what he perceived his market value to be. He's great in this system but he's not shown the ability to remain healthy through the entire season. It happens. LB is a violent position to play. But still, there was little doubt it was going to hurt his market value.

*high 5s HT*

Surprised the Pats went up to 11mil per. Or maybe that was the original offer? Recent report says they had the best offer from the start.

But only 19mil guaranteed is great for the Pats. Surprised he accepted that.

Doubt we'll ever know for sure, but I'd love to know what NY and Pitt offered.

Congrats on re-signing a team leader! Woulda been cool seeing him in green, but at least my favorite Jet Harris gets to stick around for another season or two.

Yeah he got less than Collins but don't forget he's made 8 Mi last year and 1st round pick money in the previous 4 years so it's not like he wasn't set for life before this contract, so now let's get to work.

festy1986 said:

**** yes.

On to Minnesota

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On to OTAs. Downtown East Minneapolis is a long way away.



reamer said:

Great deal! Less guaranteed than I expected, but I'm happy to have him back for 4 years, and at a very reasonable amount per annum. What a fantastic offseason.

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The $43M is probably max value, more than likely. But in reality, it couls be even smaller. We all know how the Pats so it when it comes to incentives in their contracts.

Good deal for everyone involved, especially the Pats who have a proven stud returning back at linebacker.

I was fearing the JAG LB core for a few days before they got this inked.

Talent matters in the NFL, you want to have a proven player you can trust at all levels of your defense and fill in around them.

Terrific news. Excellent deal too. The Pats totally read this one right. Avg of $10-11 million per. Like some others, I'd have tagged at the end of the season. Shows how much I know.

Next up on the to do list, Malcom Butler.

Soul_Survivor88 said:

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This. Might be too early to mention within all the euphoria, but it'd be relatively prudent for NE to see if they can find/groom someone to do sone of what HT brings to the D in case... Especially since 14 games is more probable than 16 for HT.

Thank Christ.

The LB core was looking grim without him. At least now they are serviceable.

I expect another LB signing and more additions via the draft.

They should still sign Zach Brown

Onward and upward

Welcome back Dont'a...Now don't do that ever again!