Stallworth Contract Breakdown - Only 1 year deal?

[PlattsFan]

Boy, that's a pretty sweet deal for the Patriots. If he bombs, it's not enough of a deal to hurt the Pats. If he blossoms, he's a top receiver for fairly short money. The only way it's at all a problem is if he shows just enough to make the deal possibly worth it, but not definitely. But all the cards are in the Patriots' hands.

No wonder Donte wanted to look around some more. Guess he didn't get all that much interest elsewhere.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

A graphical representation of the contract can be found at
http://www.patscap.com/stallworth.gif

Thanks. What a fair and smart deal for both sides. Reminds us once again why the NFL has it all over MLB.

 

[patsfan55]

Thanks, very nice job as always.

Not bad at all if he clicks with Brady. They offered Branch about $6M a year. Stallworth is a very different WR than Branch but equally good in different ways. It's either a one year short term fix or, hopefully, a long term solution. Nice deal.

when my dad asked me to compare him to branch this is exactly what i told him
hes a very different style, but hes just as good at his role

so, his cap hit for 08 would be a lil over 6, and not 11???

 

[BelichickFan]

so, his cap hit for 08 would be a lil over 6, and not 11???

Miguel has it here :

http://www.patscap.com/stallworth.gif

It would be $6.37 in 2008 and that's the largest of the numbers for the length of the deal although three others are very close.

 

[PatsMyBoyz!]

This is outstanding for the Pats and it's good for Donte. He's got to earn what he gets. If he steps up to this he should give us a banner year in terms of his production. The original "all he wants is a year to prove himself" statement was exactly what he got. It's also loaded with incentives-this is a perfect contract for a player like him.
The Pats also covered themselves very nicely on the Jackson situation. And if this motivates Chad a little bit,all the better. This signing is the perfect solution for that situation.
I'll be curious to know the other offers .

 

[Patriot Missile]

I love the contract. It benefits both teams and it sounds like both the club and the player will have mutual expectations.

 

[solman]

Its a one year deal, pure and simple.

If he's worth the $6M/yr that he would get for years 2-6, then the Pats are more likely to trade him (before the Rosenhaus hold out begins).

 

[BelichickFan]

Its a one year deal, pure and simple.

If he's worth the $6M/yr that he would get for years 2-6, then the Pats are more likely to trade him (before the Rosenhaus hold out begins).

They offered Branch $6M a year. They could well be happy to pay Stallworth that. It's a lot of money but not unreasonable for a good WR. Will be be a one year deal ? Perhaps. But it's not "pure and simple" in any way.

 

[salty]

FANTASTIC!

:rocker:

 

[solman]

They offered Branch $6M a year. They could well be happy to pay Stallworth that. It's a lot of money but not unreasonable for a good WR. Will be be a one year deal ? Perhaps. But it's not "pure and simple" in any way.

They didn't offer Branch anything remotely like the back five years of the Stallworth deal. A big part of Branch's problem was the lack of guarantees. If the Pats pick up Stallworth's 2008 option, it effectively protects the entire remainder of the contract.

Stallworth would have to actually earn his $400K in 2007 incentives for it to make sense for us to keep him on the roster.

And if he actually did this, we could get more value from trading him, than from leaving him on the team.

 

[hwc]

If the Pats pick up Stallworth's 2008 option, it effectively protects the entire remainder of the contract.

No it doesn't. No more so than any other 5 year contract. If they pick up all the options in the deal, they'd still be "right side up" at the beginning of the 2010 season, i.e. the dead money cap hit would be lower than the cap hit of keeping him. That's all you can really hope for in the final three years of a 5 year deal.

I'm not saying that the Pats would or would not keep him after a one-year evaluation in their system. But, if they were to keep him, a new 5 year $29.5 million deal with $11.5 million guaranteed is not out of line with the current market for a top #2 or decent #1 WR. It would certainly not put him in the upper echelons of WR contracts.

 

[patfanken]

The bottom line here is that this is a very favorable and prudent deal for the Pats, while still being a very fair deal for Dante. On thing that WILL be interesting to watch the next couple of weeks, is how often the "national media will refer to this as a 6 year $30+MM deal, and not mention its really a one year "prove it to me" deal.

 

[fgssand]

If I read this right..basically, year one only is a 3.6MM year.

That is an extremely cap friendly amount to spend for a guy of his caliber.

It also means we STILL have plenty of cash to keep on pursuing free agents of our choice and could even fir in a randy Moss if it were to work out.

Could the dominoes fall any better for our New England Patriots?? What a roll we are on.

19-0 baby!!

 

[BelichickFan]

If the Pats pick up Stallworth's 2008 option, it effectively protects the entire remainder of the contract.

No it doesn't. They could release him with 3 years left and "only" suffer about a $4M cap hit. That's nothing to laugh at, $4M, but it's not close to insurmountable either.

 

[broadwayjoe]

looks like a good contract with both sides being covered.

Thanks for the information and this looks more like a Patriot type deal and I feel more comfortable with it also Stallworth has to show the team what he can do for this team good move by the front office I look forward to hearing what Brady has to say about the additions on offense now.

 

[PromisedLand]

Good deal for the pats. If he has a great year next season and they want to retain him, it could get interesting. 11 million in cap hit is too much, so I they will want to restructure it. He may not though.

So, let's just enjoy the 07 season and see how it plays out.

All they have to do is guarantee the roster bonus(es) due in 2008, then they will be able to spread them out over the remainder of the contract years. So in essence the deal is a one year deal followed by a team option on a long term deal of $28M/5Yrs. Not at all that unreasonable for a top WR, in this day and age. How does that compare to what Branch got?

 

[spacecrime]

Re: Its a 1 year deal.

Second year is a joke as there is no way the Pats keep him. The option is all hte player's because we will not pay year two. When we rip up the contract after year one he is a free agent.

Why? If he is good and we want him, the rest of the deal will total about $33 mil for 6 years. That is what we offered Branch. Why is it a joke to pay Stallworth that amount?

 

[BelichickFan]

Re: Its a 1 year deal.

Why? If he is good and we want him, the rest of the deal will total about $33 mil for 6 years. That is what we offered Branch. Why is it a joke to pay Stallworth that amount?

It's not - and we get a #1 pick for our efforts

Bottom line, Stallworth is as good as Branch but in different ways. We need to see if Belichick is happy with him in the clubhouse, how hard he works and how he and Tommy bond - as long as that all goes OK, it's a nice deal for us.

 

[shakadave]

Let's hope he stays here to at least see year two.

Let's hope for either 1 year or 6. Anything but 2 years!

 

[Fumblerooski]

$2.7 mil cap hit for this season. Pats can walk away from this deal after one year and only have a "Dead" cap hit of $840K. A great deal for a player of Stallworth's stature. He will have the incentive to post some huge numbers and cash in on year 2 of the deal. A win-win for both sides.