Butler's agent in search for 1st rounder + big contract

[mariomega]

This agent is a donkey. Apparently doesn't understand Restricted free agent. 1st round tag means BB has a heads I win, tails you lose situation. Only way to win is give BB a #1 to go along with a tall CB who's as good or better, or come back and play well, if he wants FA bucks next year.

He couldn't have played it worse. Butler has no leverage now and probably a hit to his reputation.

He really needs to stop the whining. Leaking that he wants a new home doesn't help either.

I got what they are trying to do, maximize his value. But as we all know, he is a RFA. And he knows Bill. If he wants to holdout, look at Bill's concern:

 

[PatriotReign]

You make it sound like Butler is up the creek without a paddle. He is 1 year away from free agency and will make almost $4 million in the meantime.

As I said in a previous post, Butler is hardly the first player to turn down short-term guaranteed money in exchange for chasing a big payday down the road. It's a gamble, no doubt about it.... but this is hardly some sort of epic gaffe on the part of Butler's representation.

And then they franchise tag him for the next two seasons. Then he's 30 years old

 

[Soul_Survivor88]

If Butler does not sign his tender by a certain date the Patriots have the right to drop the tender down to $600,000. I would say that the Pats are clearly in the drivers seat in this situation and Butlers rep is clearly in over his head.

This is what Ben Trollin says in response... and I doubt very mucb it's as simple as he describes

"But Butler doesn’t have any offseason workout bonuses, and if he wanted to show his displeasure with the Patriots, he could skip spring practices, sign by June 15, and still collect his $3.91 million."​

I'm no expert on holdouts, but I doubt very much Butler can simply sign a contract and collect a paycheck. Teams can fine players for failing to appear for workouts, training camp, and games, and I doubt very much Butler wants to take this that far, and risk losing what little he stands to earn

 

[Rusty Coupe]

Butler is asking for Gilmore money 5/$65. What is kind of ironic about that is Jemarcus Russell got 6/$61 with $32m guaranteed.

What Butler is asking teams to do is go back to the old draft rules, give up a 1R for a player without the new salary structure.

 

[luuked]

It is impossible to know who is to blame here if anyone...regardless of what so called experts like Volin and Giardi want to say. At best, maybe they have small bits of information and not the whole picture.
This situation is analogous to the Bronco's situation with Chris Harris in 2014 (see link below); not the absolute dollars..but Harris was a RFA with a 2nd round tender and Broncos had a #1 CB VERY big bucks (Talib). I think Elway handled it nicely.

For whatever reason, things have spun out of control. It's is too bad because having 2 top flight CBs like the Broncos really allows for you to build a very strong D.

I do think that Butler does need to realize that if he wants to get the big contract a year earlier than he is entitled to, compromise on total dollars is necessary.

Chris Harris agrees to 5-year, $42.5M contract extension with Broncos – The Denver Post

Yeah you shouldn't put fat fcuk Volin and Giardi into one sentence. That reflects poorly on you. Compared to Volin Giardi actually knows what he is saying and not just throwing **** at the wall and generally trolling.


The situation is not particularly hard to understand unless you are related to Volin maybe. It is not rocket science and has played out in the league many times with RFAs.

The Patriots offered him an extension last year taking into account the cheap years they still had. The agent/Butler didn't like that and wanted an extension to be at close to market value. Which is where he screwed up. He should have negotiated down the length of the contract and accepted below market value (like Harris in your example did) just to be able to go into FA while still under 30 ("in their prime" if you like tropes). In fact the Pats like to structure their contracts anyway with "end in sight" so he could have most probably easily gotten an extension done last offseason for 2 additional years on top of where the UDFA contract ends and everyone would have been happy. Malcom would have had a base amount of money guaranteed if he gets hit by a truck tmw and another potential big payday ahead and the Pats would have their #1 CB under contract until the end of the 2018 season.

Finally, things are not out of control at all but what we are seeing is an incompetent agent scrambling on day 4 of FA after trying to play poker with BB/Caserio. The scenario that plays out right now is why you always need to have plan B and a point where you commit to it.

 

[luuked]

Gilmore quit on the field against the Patriots, go watch Hogan torching him, he stopped chasing

You can repeat this silly nonsense all you want when the reality is that the safety blew this play because as pointed out by many people Gilmore was clearly expecting over the top help here. And no this is not revisionist "oh he is a Patriots" talk but this has been discussed after the game happened numerous times.

 

[luuked]

Food for thought:

I rather trust Reiss, Curran & co. than what Bedard has to say from afar.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

It's funny how clueless you come off...

First off, I never said agents don't go looking for deals after 1 good season. My point is agents don't go asking for top of the market deals after 1 good season and that's what Butler's agent did.



Seriously you are absolutely clueless. He gave up some money because he signed the f**king deal 2 years into his rookie contract and bought out the the last 2 to get a bump.

So using your logic the guy that has 1 client in the nfl and that happened by chance asking for top of the market money 1 year into his client being a starter is brilliant? If the top agent in football Drew Rosenhaus conforms to the "gotta take less, to get a bump or wait for UFA" maybe this guy that has zero clue on how the nfl works should conform to it too.

Aaron Hernandez was extended the same offseason as Gronkowski...and this illustrates exactly why teams take on a heavy risk in handing out extensions before UFA. Patriots wasted a lot of money by re-upping too early before they realized that their talented tight end was murdering people in his spare time. More common risk factors include dropoff in play, injuries, attitude issues that surface, etc., all things that can surface in the course of a year or two. Teams are taking risk in offering deals early, since they are foregoing more years of evaluation and ensuring the player is the dependable, durable, and of the skill set they desire. That is precisely why players need to take a discount if they want to get a pay day before they hit UFA.

 

[Deus Irae]

Aaron Hernandez was extended the same offseason as Gronkowski...and this illustrates exactly why teams take on a heavy risk in handing out extensions before UFA. Patriots wasted a lot of money by re-upping too early before they realized that their talented tight end was murdering people in his spare time. More common risk factors include dropoff in play, injuries, attitude issues that surface, etc., all things that can surface in the course of a year or two. Teams are taking risk in offering deals early, since they are foregoing more years of evaluation and ensuring the player is the dependable, durable, and of the skill set they desire. That is precisely why players need to take a discount if they want to get a pay day before they hit UFA.

There are no early deals being offered in these cases, and teams sure as hell aren't "foregoing more years of evaluation and ensuring the player is the dependable, durable, and of the skill set they desire." RFA is a way to keep players tied to a team for another season, rather than allowing the player true free agency.

 

[supafly]

And then they franchise tag him for the next two seasons. Then he's 30 years old

Sure, with another 35-40m dollars of guaranteed money in his pocket for those two years. Not a bad gig either way you look at it.

 

[supafly]

This is what Ben Trollin says in response... and I doubt very mucb it's as simple as he describes

"But Butler doesn’t have any offseason workout bonuses, and if he wanted to show his displeasure with the Patriots, he could skip spring practices, sign by June 15, and still collect his $3.91 million."​

I'm no expert on holdouts, but I doubt very much Butler can simply sign a contract and collect a paycheck. Teams can fine players for failing to appear for workouts, training camp, and games, and I doubt very much Butler wants to take this that far, and risk losing what little he stands to earn

What is the significance of the June 15th date? I thought everyone needed to sign their tender by the end of April?

 

[cupofjoe1962]

I hope he gets his contract & we get a 1st round pick.

Thanks for the memories....

 

[TommyD4207]

People act like the player has no leverage, he can just go to practice and dog it and pretty much force himself out.

He can pretty much be a waste of $3.9 million if that's the way him and his agent want to play it.

Yeah teams will line up to give THAT guy a big contract. Sure.

 

[PatsBoy12]

Butler's agent Derek Simpson has ONE client in the NFL and his client is playing for BB.

Yep, he had no idea who he was dealing with. BB isn't going to loosen up for a player, no matter how good he is , he cares about very specific stats and he cares about the contract rules of the NFL.

Butler could get Gilmore's money with the Pats, just not this year.

I'm only going to slightly disagree with you. He maybe could have gotten Gilmore money... that is until his agent pissed the team off and they went out and signed Gilmore. It was never going to be a tandem. It was always going to be one and the other was gone. No way the same coach who historically has not invested big in the corner position was going to pay two corners elite money regardless of cap space.

ESPN and all the others that don't bother to educate themselves about the situation are going to say the Pats screwed him and it's just another example of them not wanting to pay people. They'll completely ignore the Gilmore signing in that instance because NE haters have tunnel vision. However, it was Butler's agent who screwed his client. Butler may strike it rich... Check that, he will strike it rich somewhere. But I wonder how he'll do elsewhere. I do wish him the absolute best. This situation has been very disappointing to say the least.

 

[PatsBoy12]

The Jets have a weird fetish with our players. Send us that high #1 for the Super Bowl hero, Woody

Respect BFan, it's not like Bill hasn't poached talent from other AFCE teams over the years. It's kind of always been that way.

 

[Luxusdk]

Honestly I think its fair to say. Butler and hes ( trying to become ) agent isnt worth useing time on. Butler is a CB afterall, not a QB.

I hope that if and thats a big IF, Butler finds a team Pats wont match.
If not then he plays a year on tag and is gone next year.

BB cant teach stupid, applys on and off the field.

 

[maineman209]

What is the significance of the June 15th date? I thought everyone needed to sign their tender by the end of April?

April 21st is the deadline for other teams to make offers to unsigned RFAs.

June 15th is the deadline for RFAs to sign their tenders or face reductions in the tendered salary amount. I might have this wrong, but I think that Butler's tender amount could go from $3.91M down to 110% of his 2016 salary = $726k. I don't think that has to happen all at once, though. I think that the Pats could reduce the amount incrementally for as long as he refuses to sign.

What I'm pretty certain of is that the Pats can't trade him until he signs his tender and is under officially under contract to them. However, the Pats and Butler's agent could negotiate a trade deal with another team even while Butler remains unsigned. The terms would include what the other team will be paying Butler, as well as what the Pats would be getting in exchange. Then, when a deal is reached that's acceptable to all parties, Butler signs and the deal is consummated.

 

[TB12TheGoat]

You play out your contract, or you can sign long term for a discount. That's how Bill has always done it. Look at Gronk and Hernandez. They could have got more if they waited on FA, but they signed for a discount to have long term safety

 

[resdubwhite]

Incredibly naive of butlers agent to think with RFA designation his guy was getting a 13 million a year contract. Surely over the lifetime it reduces the number per year significantly. Why would the team give up the cheap year otherwise?

 

[Addictive]

Let's think of this another way. Imagine if Butler had been a first round draft choice. He would be on a traditional long term contract.

Does anyone know how much Butler would be earning if he was in his third year of his rookie contract as a 1st rounder. Would it be $4 million or less?

I agree with board members who are saying Butler and his agent have poorly played their hand.

As a player you have to play to your contract. That's why so many players have career years during their contract year but then don't play to the same standard.

Personally I would like Butler to stay with the Patriots as we would have a fierce and hard to play against set of DBs. The NFL is more and more a passing league and know Butler plays WRs tough, he was impressive in regular season.

If he wants to extend now I would give him slightly more than Logan Ryan got, so about 11m per season but Butlerms agent seems not to agree with that value.

I'd rather keep Butler for this upcoming season than take a first rounder for him.

However, two teams that might be interested in Butler are the Eagles and Titans as both of them have two 1st rounders this draft.