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Richard Sherman's real contract doesn't actually begin until 2015. His deal only gave him a bonus to sign an extension, still playing under the rookie deal etc. etc. He's something like a $3.5 million cap charge this year. I don't understand why you think Sherman's deal counts while Gronk's doesn't. Gronk has a $5.5 million cap charge this year and to this point he has been perpetually injured and unavailable.
Because we are talking about the next four years with Sherman in the Seahawks and you are talking about players this year with the Pats. Gronk isn't even guaranteed to see the meat of his contract since the Pats may not pick up his $10 million option next year. And if they do, Mankins will likely be gone by then.
If you were comparing the next four years of Gronk and Sherman, then you would have a point. But then you have to take Mankins out of the equation because this is likely going to be his last year as a Patriot unless he takes a pay cut.
I used overthecap.com for all my contract value comparisons.
http://overthecap.com/top-player-salaries.php?Position=43OLB
You see Mayo is #1 by a healthy margin.
But over the cap is wrong. Mayo signed a seven year deal for $48.5 million but they have him making $9.7 a year average. How does that math add up?
Sportrac has him as the 19th ranked LB in terms of average salary. It doesn't break it down by 4-3 OLB or anything like that.
http://www.spotrac.com/rankings/nfl/average/linebacker/limit-25/
I think you are engaged in an exercise of wishful thinking. That you used Gronkowski's contract while ignoring that Sherman's deal is also an extension, in a thread ON Sherman's extension, tells me you're just expressing the hope Seattle falls off a cliff somehow. I don't think they've been any unwiser with their players and money than New England, and I would expect McCourty and (perhaps) Revis to each wind up with similar deals, provided the latter aces his try-out year like Sherman aced last year.
First, there is no wishful thinking going on at all I am stating the fact that all these new deals are going to force the Seahawks to make sacrifices in other areas. That is a fact. I stated they were a deep team this past year because they had a lot of star players on rookie deals and allowed them to add players like Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett last year (which they won't be able to do something similar in two years). And that is a fact also. That means there is no guarantees about their success and the quality of their defense over the next four years. I never said that they would fall off the cliff. I also never said they wouldn't win the next five Super Bowls. All I said is there is no guarantees.
Second, I wouldn't accusing me of being a hypocrite when you are being one yourself. You said that the Pats currently have four players being paid as 1-2 at their position. Then you fail to acknowledge that Gronk will only be that case IF he is on the roster in 2016 and other TEs like Vernon Davis and Jimmy Graham don't get bigger deals. You also fail to acknowldge that by that time Mankins will either be gone or playing on a much reduced salary.
Third, I never said the Pats weren't dealing with paying big contracts that forces them to leave holes at other positions. They do. Now the Seahawks are just catching up to them. If the Pats were in the same cap position the Seahawks were last year over the last five years, they probably would have won 2-3 Super Bowls. The fact of the matter is they were never in a position where all their marquee stars were in rookie deals at the same time so they could have a stacked team from top to bottom. Have you been paying attention over the last few years with everyone complaining about the huge holes (or forced to go cheap and young) at certain positions the Pats have had over the last few years whether it was WR last year or safety position years before that?
All I said was now that the Seahawks are getting all their star players into their second contracts, they will not have the cap flexibility to be stacked at all areas. With their secondary being paid so much, they are probably going to have leave holes in their front seven and use either average to below average players to start or play key roles just like the Pats and most other teams. That means there is no guarantees of what type of team (or defense) they will be over the next four years. That is the reality of the NFL.
That is what I am responding to the people who act like locking up Sherman, Thomas, and Chancellor guarantees them anything. It doesn't. It certainly helps to guarantee them being a top team and defense, but it could hurt them too. That is all I am saying.
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