Martellus Bennett Questions

[I.M. Fletcher]

If a team wants to give Bennett 10mil a year, have at it. He might want to be top 5, but there is no historical comparable that got that type of money on his 3-4th contract, except Antonio gates, who is more comparable to gronks value than bennetts.

At 29, his comparables are Greg Olsen, delanie walker and Jason written. All below 8 a year. The cap can go up, but not a chance I get above that range. With 16 free agents at multiple key positions, they can't afford to go top of market for two guys who play the same position.

Love the player, but there really are only so many dollars.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Reed is 4 years younger and have similar or better stats with a bunch of scrubs .. Im sorry but if he wants 10m+ im fine with him leaving...

Greg Olsen is a good guy to compare (2 years older): 148G / 581 rec / 6.902 yars / 11.9 avg /46.6 yards per game / 51 TD / 7 FUM ( 7.5 m per extension signed when he was 29 years)

Bennett: 125G / 374 rec / 3.948 yars / 10.6 avg /31.6 yards per game / 27 TD / 4 FUM

Why would you pay Bennett more than that?

Because the open market doesn't work like that. Why would you pay Malik Jackson more than 50 defenders who are better? Why would you make Mario Williams the highest paid defensive end in football when his production was top 10 at best?

Certain teams like the Patriots use a successful and disciplined cap approach, while others don't think like that. Some teams just say "let's upgrade this position and get the best guy available" and then pay whatever they need to. Bennett is in a weak free agency class, so he may be the top TE on the market, though the case could be made for Reed. One of them will set the market by whatever a team is willing to pay; it is a fortunate situation for Bennett being in a weak TE free agency group, but that happens every season at certain positions, leading to contracts like the ones I referenced above.

It is almost a guarantee that a team will overpay for Bennett, the question is only how much, which is essentially why free agency is a losing proposition.