New Orleans Saints Forums - blackandgold.com

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScottyRo (Post 129223)

An opposite situation is unfolding in New Orleans, where the Saints signed their franchise defensive end Charles Grant to a seven-year contract worth up to $63 million. Grant is now happy; New Orleans other defensive end, Pro Bowl selection Will Smith, is not.

Smith has two years remaining on a contract that is scheduled to pay him less than $1 million this season. Smith now is seeking a new contract and he is hoping and expecting talks aimed at a new contract to start soon, if they haven't already.

Personnel people around the league believe that Smith is every bit the player that Grant is, if not better, it's just that Grant had the fortune of having his contract expire now. But this is a prime example of the ripple effects of any lucrative contract that any team in the league now hands out. Somebody is going to be happy, and somebody is not.

http://www.nfl.com/nflnetwork/story/10164717

Above is the article where PFT got their information. My feeling is that Smith should wait another year before asking for a new contract. I don't mind players wanting to get a new deal with one year left since that can get us past the hassle of the franchise tag, but two years is just too early.

Instead of greedily wanting to get his money now, the signing of Grant should indicate to him that the Saints are going to give big contracts to their important players. We can go back and forth on the which DE is better debate, but the bottomline is Grant played out his contract without pulling any of this dissension in the ranks crap. One has acted like a leader (at least until the franchise tag) and the other is acting like a greedy prima dona.

My vote will be for keeping the leader and drafting the prima dona's replacement next year.

I completely agree here with ScottyRo. Sure, Will Smith deserves more money than he's making, but he's the one who signed the G**da** contract in the first place. If he's not willing to honor a promise that he made to this franchise, then why should we pay him a freakin cent? I hate sh** like this. These guys are making 25-50X as much as a typical fan, and they're sitting there whining about not making enough. Yes, equity theory says that we compare our inputs/outputs to other people's inputs/outputs and judge accordingly, but Will Smith signed his contract, so he needs to stop acting like a spoiled brat, shut up, and play football.

And I completely agree with your other point ScottyRo; when we signed Charles Grant, I think it showed that the franchise is committed to keeping our key players. Will Smith should understand this, and see that Grant played out his contract, and then got a new, fat one for his play over the last few years.

And on a side note, Charles Grant deserves every penny we're paying him in his new contract. He's got good stats, but IMO, more importantly, he brings more emotion to our defense than anybody else.