Will Smith Not Happy
 

WILL SMITH NOT HAPPY

Adam Schefter of NFL Network reports that Saints defensive end Will Smith is unhappy with his contract.

The development comes not long after the team's other starting defensive end, Charles Grant, received a seven-year, $63 million deal while limited by the franchise tag.

The difference? Grant played out his rookie contract before getting paid. Smith has two years remaining on his rookie deal, and he's due to make $695,000 in 2007 and $850,000 in 2008.

But he also has received bonus money intend to represent advance compensation for his services over the life of the deal.

With that said, this is one of the consequences of the explosion of the salary cap, and the resulting rise in player salaries. The question for the Saints is whether they will insist that Smith honor his deal, with the understanding that he'll be paid once his current contract expires.

http://www.profootballtalk.com/rumormill.htm

He needs to wait his turn... he's going to get his it's just a matter of time. There's no need to air this out in the media. Bad move by Smith.

Of course he's not happy. He's only making 1.6 Mil over the next two years before bonuses and all.

Just once, I want to see the FO of any team in any league say, "you know what? F@#$ you! You signed a contract and you're going to honor it. We're not restructuring. Hold out if you want to, but you're not getting paid."

i think that after this season we should redo his contract. i can understand where he is coming from but at the same time he needs to play close to near the end of his contract. hopefully we sign him to a new one after this season.

I know it sounds like I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth, but you're right; smith does deserve the big contract more than Grant. And Grant's contract is going to (already has) come back bite us.

Yeah he deserves it. From his point, if that is what C Grant is worth, then by Smith making the Pro Bowl, logic would say that he should be worth more. And as a player at a premier position, you know that if the team you are on wont pay, then someone will.

WHODAT,

Stick to your guns. Yes, Smith is a good player....but whenin the hell are people going to HONOR what they say they are going to commit to doing something.

I'm totally in agreement with you that the FO needs to tell these guys, "Pi$$ off! You signed the contract, when your contract is up then we will talk about more money.".

As Smith is the RDE, he goes up against some of the most premiere LOT (why did we move Brown to LOT?) who are there to protect the blind side...of a right handed QB. As such, Smith's production is at a much higher level IMHO.

I don't know what Smith actually said, so hate to over-generalize and group him with all of the other greedy players out there.

The bottom line is, he signed what he and his agent thought was a fair contract. Suddenly, the guy next to him gets a raise, and he's pissed.

Is he a bigger asset than Grant? Yes.
Does he deserve more money? Not yet.

My thought is that the FO knew this was coming when they signed Grant. The plan for next year might be to cut 3rd and 4th year dead weight and go with the cheaper option of playing our strong draft picks and FA signings.

Of course Will Smith is unhappy. A lot of players are unhappy with there current contracts. With the cap incresing this year a lot of underserving players got fat deals(Ovie Mughelli FB, Atlanta Falcons a six-year contract worth $18 million . The deal includes a $5 million signing bonus.)
I am not saying C Grant is underserving, I am just saying he was paid what the market determined in a given year. In 2 years when Will Smith's contract is up he will be paid a lot more than Grant. The cap is expected to rise anoth 25 million over the next 2 years. The big contracts the Saints have now ( Brees, Bush, Grant, even Jason Daivd) are front loaded. Smith will get his and he deserves it.

I am very hopeful we can keep these two together for many more years. It's sad to see Smith air his discontent to the media. He should have professionally made his case with Loomis and Payton and done his job. I fully agree he will be due for a big pay day, and hopefully the path he takes to get there would have reflected their willingness to re-structure him prior to his contract running out.

Now with this I can see the team getting their feathers ruffled and it becoming an area of contention for this season and into next. I am sure the team would have approached him the following offseason to start some talks had he not jumped the gun like this. Too bad.

Yep... this definately should have been kept behind closed doors.

In the days of the internet very few things are kept in house.
I have yet to see a quote from Smith himself, only a report from Adam Schefter. He probably is upset, along with a ot of other players in the league.

Exactly. Also, we all have seen where an agent gets ahead of his headlights on things of this nature. We may wake up one morning to see Smith's looking for a new agent.

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.

Smith is scheduled to make $695K this year (plus some incentives)...and Grant is making around $8mm this year...with Smith having better numbers and Pro Bowl 2006 year. I believe I would be asking for a RAISE (contract or no contract). Just don't do it though the media!

No difference. If the coworker got a new contract that paid more even though production was the same, then how could I complain. I would expect the same raise, when my contract was to be renewed.

Comparing what Grant said/did when he was franchised to what Smith is doing now is not fair to Grant. Grant played out his contract before complaining. Will Smith has not. That's why Smith is acting prima dona to me.

There's a big difference in that.

Will smith will be paid a lot of money very soon. The probelm this year is teams had a lot of salary cap space and a not so good free agent class. When you look at what the Cowboys, Browns, Chargers, and Bills paid for Leonard Davis, Eric Steinbach, Kris Dielman, and Derrick Dockery, respectively, you see a problem throughout the league. That problem being none of these guys have ever been named to a Pro Bowl. Yet each of them is swimming in over $15 million in guaranteed money. The floor is getting pushed up for future deals, and the number will only continue to skyrocket. If Nate Clements gets $80 million over eight years, what would a guy like Champ Bailey get? Ditto C. Grant/ Will Smith

The difference is that me and my coworker do not play in the NFL. I agree through the media is not the correct way to do it. But honoring the original contract is crap IMO because if Im a player, why should I? I certainly know that if the team thought I was worth less than I was making, they would restructure or terminate my contract before it was up. So why should I, thinking that I am worth more than I am making, honor the original terms, especially when I know that other suitors will be lining up to offer a lucrative contract for my services. I dont like that it hurts the Saints but from a player's perspective, I would be doing the exact same thing because I know somewhere down the line, likely with a year or two left on a present contract, I will be asked to take a pay cut or my contract will be terminated. Goes both ways.

All fake money... don't be fooled by the value of the contracts you see. Of that 80 million for Clement, he's probably only going to see about 25 million of that over the first 3 years.

I have settled on that one.
for now..

I agree with you, but you know the player's agent won't go for that.

It's this situation that makes me think the league would be better off having clauses to increase the pay of a player who is highly outperforming his contract as well as to decrease the pay of a player severely underperforming his contract. It'll never happen, but I can understand Smith's envy of Grant's contract. I just think it's on him to control those feelings until it's his turn to reap the benefits of his performance.

No kidding... did someone say something?

[QUOTE=saintsmissile;129248]Kinda hard (no pun intended) keeping my mind on football with that avatar! Damn son! I agree though, it is true that most of the money reported doesn't get paid. However, the guaranteed money does and Grant got 20 mill. Still a lot for a non pro bowl player imho.[/QUOTE

I can remove it if you are having trouble concentrating.
On 2nd thought, no

But here you go

Sorry guys,but we just can't have links to pictures like that on here. Not that i'm a prudebut you know......

NSFW

Oh, so that's what NSFW means...I think I just got fired.

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.

trade
 

will smtih for lance briggs yes or no?

Definately no. Who's going to sack the passer for us? We don't have a suitable replacement for Smith nor do we need Briggs right now. We have we solid guys starting and though they aren't Lance Briggs, they're more than capable of getting the job done. Trading Smith will only leave a BIG void on our defense.

true dat
 

yeah you r right i am just looking so forward to this season i want news every day
i definetly think smith deserves a big fat raise and should give him a new frontloaded contract if we have anymore cap room

Lance Briggs is headed in the other direction, in terms of career, than Will Smith.
Sounds like the BILL KUHARICH school of GM's