Hightower not willing to take a pay cut

Simpelton said:

I guess I see a difference here. Hightower is useful but not elite. Devin McCourty is an elite safety and has a far higher impact on the team, as well as being a team leader. If Hightower holds out for more money it's going to be a lot easier to part with him compared to McCourty -- if you properly value what McCourty does, he's probably more valuable than Edelman.

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Aside from TB12, I can't think of a single instance in the BB era in which a 32 year old player had made more than $8m. DMC is slated to make $9.5m. Hes certainly worth it but they want that cap # to come down. Something has got to give.

robertweathers said:

Aside from TB12, I can't think of a single instance in the BB era in which a 32 year old player had made more than $8m. DMC is slated to make $9.5m. Hes certainly worth it but they want that cap # to come down. Something has got to give.

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Given that McCourty was literally the fastest ball carrier in the NFL on his pick six, I think he's probably got a couple more years left in him if he wants to keep playing. They could restructure him to get about $5M in cap space by turning $8M of that into a signing bonus.

robertweathers said:

Aside from TB12, I can't think of a single instance in the BB era in which a 32 year old player had made more than $8m. DMC is slated to make $9.5m. Hes certainly worth it but they want that cap # to come down. Something has got to give.

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I just want to note that the salary cap has skyrocketed during this run. The estimated salary cap in 2019 is 190m. The cap 10 years ago in 2009 was 123m and 80.6m in 2004. That 8m number you mention was the equivalent of 5m in 2009 and 3.5m in 2004. I think he did keep 32 year old players at those rates back then, but maybe I’m mistaken.

This is a lot of trade/cutting talk for a linebacker for what is essentially a contrived topic. No one has asked anyone to take a paycut as far as we know. I suspect that what happened is that a reported asked Hightower if he would take a pay cut and he gave the obvious answer (who says, out of the blue, "yes, I'll take a pay cut"?)

Personally, I'd rather has speculation threads on something a little more concrete than this. Yes, I can indeed ignore the thread. But I thought I'd try to derail it first.

Simpelton said:

I guess I see a difference here. Hightower is useful but not elite. Devin McCourty is an elite safety and has a far higher impact on the team, as well as being a team leader. If Hightower holds out for more money it's going to be a lot easier to part with him compared to McCourty -- if you properly value what McCourty does, he's probably more valuable than Edelman.

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Hightower's signed for this year and next (much less dead money next year). There's no "holdout" indication. He'll likely get extended next year, I think.

ctpatsfan77 said:

Given that McCourty was literally the fastest ball carrier in the NFL on his pick six, I think he's probably got a couple more years left in him if he wants to keep playing. They could restructure him to get about $5M in cap space by turning $8M of that into a signing bonus.

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I would fully support that move. Hes still playing at a high level and the comp is justified.

Just need that cap space.

Hammer of Thor said:

I just want to note that the salary cap has skyrocketed during this run. The estimated salary cap in 2019 is 190m. The cap 10 years ago in 2009 was 123m and 80.6m in 2004. That 8m number you mention was the equivalent of 5m in 2009 and 3.5m in 2004. I think he did keep 32 year old players at those rates back then, but maybe I’m mistaken.

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Interesting perspective. Makes a lot of sense.

He absolutely kept older players but at small $. See Rodney, Roman, OTIS, Troy Brown, Washington, etc.

My angle is the $13m in cap space for 2019. They need it.

JMC00 said:

In the playoffs he allowed 3 catches on 6 targets for 11 yards.

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That type of **** production can not be tolerated around here. Trade his ass for 2 first rd picks or force him to play for vet minimum.

All jokes aside, I was very critical of his play/effort during the first half of the season. But man, when he turned it on, it was ON!

Hammer of Thor said:

I just want to note that the salary cap has skyrocketed during this run. The estimated salary cap in 2019 is 190m. The cap 10 years ago in 2009 was 123m and 80.6m in 2004. That 8m number you mention was the equivalent of 5m in 2009 and 3.5m in 2004. I think he did keep 32 year old players at those rates back then, but maybe I’m mistaken.

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Yeah, this is a good point people need to remember when they're talking arbitrary salary figures.

TommyBrady12 said:

Hightower is the most important player on defense, but with 3 super bowls, he has nothing left to prove here.

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Brady has nothing left to prove

MrBigglesWorth said:

Brady has nothing left to prove

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LMAO

I always suspected that Hightower wouldn't age well, since there's little reason to think a 270 pound linebacker would. It would be a major hit to the team to lose him, but if it comes down to him I still think cutting him and taking a $5M dead cap hit is preferable to paying him $10.9M. I think that $6M in 2019 and $11M+ in 2020 could be better used elsewhere in the roster, though obviously I'm hoping it doesn't come to that.

MrBigglesWorth said:

Brady has nothing left to prove

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Yes he does. 8 Super Bowls, including 19-0

Hightower is a shadow candidate for hall of fame. He's a GAMER like McGinest was. He has 3 Superbowl Rings and 2 Alabama Rings. No coincidence the D generated zero punts two Superbowls ago against Philly when Hightower was hurt and just put up a historic Superbowl defensive game this last one with Hightower playing.

DropKickFlutie said:

Hightower is a shadow candidate for hall of fame. He's a GAMER like McGinest was. He has 3 Superbowl Rings and 2 Alabama Rings. No coincidence the D generated zero punts two Superbowls ago against Philly when Hightower was hurt and just put up a historic Superbowl defensive game this last one with Hightower playing.

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If HT and Edelman played in SB52, we beat the Giggles.

ChrisR2223 said:

No flowers no hightower that would be crazy.
Trade him to Detroit with a third for Golladay.

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we used to say the same about butler, jones, and collins

holyredeemer said:

That type of **** production can not be tolerated around here. Trade his ass for 2 first rd picks or force him to play for vet minimum.

All jokes aside, I was very critical of his play/effort during the first half of the season. But man, when he turned it on, it was ON!

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That seemed to be a pattern with a lot of the Pats this year. I'm okay with that .

robertweathers said:

I would fully support that move. Hes still playing at a high level and the comp is justified.

Just need that cap space.

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2019 cap is $188 million, about $11 more than last year.

I’d be curious to see the splits of the this defense with and without Hightower. It reminds me of the Rodney Harrison effect. Much different team without him, moreso than you’d think logically.

TommyBrady12 said:

2019 cap is $188 million, about $11 more than last year.

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Crazy. Still can't afford end zone cameras. Need a bake sale still.