So tell me.....if they tell him to stop acting like frat boy and he says.....I'm not hurting anyone, I'm still going to have my off seasons the way I wish....what can the pats do?
What kind of feedback do you think he's getting from mankins who stood up to the org and wound up getting what he wanted?
What can the pats do besides cut him and pay him all his guaranteed money? He hasn't technically done anything wrong.
How much you wanna bet you'll see the same gronk at the end if next season?
You'd think the org would have addressed this at contract time.....fact is he's done nothing wrong despite stupid claims to the contrary
Even Mankins says he's a meathead... Players count on each other giving 110%. Guys who don't or who in any way jeopardize their teamates seasons find out that their teamates support evaporates when someone elses's behavior or performance adversely impacts their season or career...
And they can trade his ass because he doesn't have any guaranteed money beyond an $8M signing bonus which would count against the patscap which is chump change when it comes to sunk cost, especially if you get something in return. His deal was in it's own way the prove it deal of the two TE's... We know he's talented so it must be something else they are waiting for him to prove...
They could cut him at the end of 2014 and the dead cap would be $3.2M. They could trade him tomorrow and the dead cap would be $6.4M because the $4M in guaranteed salary he'd be owed between now and next season would become the responsibility of any team they traded him to.
Gronk's deal was set up with a $4.6M AAV in the first 4 years and a spike to $9M+ in the last 4. He's going to have to earn it. $18M between 2012 and 2015. $37M only if the option is exercised before the last day of the 2015 season...
It sounds as if the team has checked him or reigned him in again...hopefully this time it sinks in. Because I'm sure the last thing they'd ever want to do is be put in a position where they had to move on from him because the on field performance wasn't exceeding the off field hype.
Rosenhaus was a lousy choice of agent for a kid like Gronk. Drew sells the lifestyle and basks in the glow of the hype and does deals that don't necessarily do his clients any favors... Fortunately for Gronk he's part of an organization that sets a tone designed to offset bad advice.
Signing bonus
Gronkowski: $8 million
Hernandez: $12.5 million ($6 million up front, $3.25 million of March of 2013, and $3.25 million in March of 2014)
Base salaries
Gronkowski: $540,000 (2012), $630,000 (2013), $3.75 million (2014), $4.75 million (2015), $2.25 million (2016), $4.25 million (2017), $8 million (2018), $9 million (2019)
Hernandez: $540,000 (2012); $1.323 million (2013), $1.2 million (2014), $2.3 million (2015), $5 million (2016), $6 million (2017), $6 million (2018)
ANALYSIS: Gronkowski has a higher earning ceiling, which he can feel good about if he performs at a high level over the course of the deal. One key part of his contract is a $10 million option bonus the team can pick up on the final day of the 2015 league year. That activates the final four years of the contract. For Hernandez, his ceiling might not be as high, but he received more up-front bonus money and also has one less year on his contract. The deal for Hernandez looks more “real” in the sense that he could realistically play it out as it doesn’t have the volatile spike that Gronkowski’s does in the final two years when it comes to base salaries.