Am I the only one worried about...

[rochrist]

This isn't reality, Ken. Just because their AAV will be 35M and 65M respectively doesn't mean that it happens all at once. In fact, it's typically gradually tapered. Witherspoon's 1st year cap hit is $15.37, followed by 14.1M Followed by $27M The THIRD year (so 2028) is when Witherspoon's contract starts seeing new money above and beyond the 5th year option.

You can expect the same sort of gradual uptick in Cap hit for Maye as well.

It would not surprise me if Gonzalez get's his deal this year and it mimics that of Witherspoons. Meaning it won't be until 2028 that the hit goes over $27M. I would expect it to mimic Witherspoon's and Witherspoon's contract does go over the $30M mark until 2030. That's 4 years from now.

If Maye get's an extension before the start of year 4, his year 4 cap hit would be adjusted to include any signing bonus money. But his year 5 cap hit would be whatever his 5th year option money is plus the signing bonus proration. Now, I'll be the first to say, that Maye's 2028 Money will be around $45M due to the 5th year option. But don't expect gigantic jumps until the 2030 or 2031 season Even then, the two of them are looking at combining for 100M at that time.. Which is only 20% of the Cap. Not 33%. And that still leaves $383M for 67 players. Or about 5.7M per player.




Where did you see that all none of the starters or primary back-ups will have taken a single live down in the pre-season? Jacas and Ponder have seen a ton of time already. So have many of the key back-ups at Cornerback and Safety. The O-line, especially, has seen the back-ups take a ton of snaps.

Pretty sure that they were tackling each other in the padded joint practices. Maybe I'm wrong in that.




Unfortunately, gone are the days of 2-a-days. They've tailored the game to focus on the WRs, RBs and Star QBs instead of making it a TEAM game. Part of that is because of all the concussion issues that have come up. Especially most recently where it was found that 1 in 4 players will develop CTE. I have a feeling that the number will end up being higher unless there are significant changes to the helmets far beyond the "Guardian".

The owners spent far too much time getting rich and treating the players like machines instead of ensuring for their care. Which is why the players were able to get so many concessions from the owners in 2010.

Unfortunately, we've not seen the downturn in injuries that the league wanted us to believe would occur with the lessening of the physicalness in practices and in TC. Just like I don't believe we've actually seen a downturn in the injuries on kick-offs with the changes implemented.

According to Schefter, the Pats aren't even willing to match the AAV Witherspoon got.

 

[imahobgoblin]

So you're saying that if Speedy gets injured, which happens in football, the Patriots may as well throw in the towel?
If that is not what you mean then I really don't know what point you're trying to make.

Injuries are part of the game. That's just football. They are not predictable or intentional, and you do your best to overcome them. Shipping out your best defender by choice because some old retired guy says its good business is idiotic. Is that clear enough?

 

[Kdo5]

..... The following things.

1. The Patriots are about to give Gonzo a roughly $35MM/yr contract, and NEXT year give Drake a roughly (we hope) $65MM/year deal. So, say next year's cap jumps to $330MM per team, am I the only one worried we are giving one third of our cap money to just TWO players? As salaries explode for star individuals, I wonder at what point the bottom 2/3rds of the roster revolt as their earning potential shrinks, while their a few of their teammates get ever higher percentages of the cap. It will be harder and harder to justify the ever-increasing number of players to risk their future health for less and less of the pie. Kind of mirrors our current economy, right.

2. Is anyone else worried about the fact that ALL of our starters and the key backups, when they line up against the Seahawks, will not have play a SINGLE live down this entire preseason. When Seattle runs the ball, it will be the first time Spillane will have tackle a guy to the ground since back in February. That's a pretty scary thought, imho. The joint practices are great, but all the contact there is "controlled", good work, of course, but NOT the same as game speed.

Now I know, I'm an old school guy. I played in an era where you scrimmaged at full go during parts of practice, 2 times a day, 3 or 4 days in a row. You developed those so called callouses and got ready for that 12-game season. Now granted, I personally never made to the actual game part schedule, but I would have been ready for it. .

I understand the thinking behind not playing those guys, but we all have to agree that it seriously affects the quality of play. Fans should get 20% discounts on their tickets for having to watch subpar execution. And none of us should be pissed when we see missed tackles from guys who are doing it live for the first time since last season.

Now those are the things I am worried about this August, what are yours?

I get it with both of your concerns but can’t hand wring too much. Maye is a top 5 offensive player in the league, Gonzo a top 5 defensive player in the league (probably). The money situation will inevitably be difficult.

Preseason I also am not a fan of the new era where guys don’t play in any preseason and just rely on joint practices basically. Kind of the way the league just operates though. Still difficult to get used to for those of us are used to starters playing at minimum a little bit in one or two preseason games.

 

[n1997y]

I'm a retired businessman. My take on Speedy Gonzales (I refuse to call him Gonzo) is to offer him a top 5 deal. He's is not the best at his position. If that doesn't work trade for a 1st rounder him to some team you will have a top 10 pick. Use that pick to draft another that will be just like him.
In the meantime, use that money to bring in 1 or 2 very good players. That makes business and football sense to me.
I'm also old school 2 a day smack each other around training camp guy. But that is not reality in today's NFL. The join practices fill that void or so I'm told.

Bad idea.

50% chance of your first round CB draft pick going bust.

No guarantee you have a top ten pick, in fact you probably don’t because a team that bad isn’t investing as much as they’ll have to in acquiring Gonzo.

Maybe you can trade up from pick #31 to get in the top ten by throwing in a king’s ransom but no guarantee of that and even if you do there’s still a good chance your pick washes out. Remember Emmanuel Forbes got drafted ahead of Gonzo. It’s not a sure thing evaluating draft prospects.