Re: NFL Designates Graham... TE
 

now two 1s for jimmy might be had but two #1 are cap friendly it will be interesting to see what happens but i think he is a tagged saint for 2014.

Re: NFL Designates Graham... TE
 

I would rather keep Jimmy at 7m that roll the dice on a 1st round pick this year and a first round pick next year.

Re: NFL Designates Graham... TE
 

At 7 million I'd rather keep him too. 7 million is perfect. 8 to 9 is OK, 12 million is absurd.

Re: NFL Designates Graham... TE
 

Is go 9 for a miss match in 13 games like he is.

A miss match of his caliber in this league is very hard to find. How many receiving miss matches of his caliber are there? 3 maybe 4 in a good day.

Re: NFL Designates Graham... TE
 

I have no doubt whatsoever Graham (Sexton) and Loomis get a deal put together, probably around the $9.25 million range. That is very workable given the escalating cap.

Re: NFL Designates Graham... TE
 

With the numbers we are talking, that is not as easy as you think. JG is going to want upfront guaranteed and that will git the cap hard,

Re: NFL Designates Graham... TE
 

I don't think its to far fetch that a team that is in position to win and win now makes a run at him. 4-5 teams perhaps.

The only flaw is that those teams aren't typically the type that trades for a vet with a high price on there heads they tend to let them go and draft well.

I like what Jimmy is doing though he deserves the money. I like what the Saints are doing... 'hey here he is who has the balls to pull the trigger'. It would make an exciting off season if someone did. But it would be a later round draft pick is the problem.

Re: NFL Designates Graham... TE
 

Guaranteed monies, as you know, can be prorated across the entire term of the contract. Average salary can still be in the $9.25M range with a signing bonus paid upfront and the short term cap hit could still be far less than that. A $20M signing bonus on a five year contract would only apply $4M in the current year in addition to the base salary. Non-guaranteed amounts, which factor into the average, can be back-loaded into the final two years.

Don't forget, the projected cap for 2014 was only about $125M. The actual 2014 cap is around $133M, going up to $140 in 2015 and $150 or more in 2016. That leaves a great deal of room for Loomis to have at it.

Re: NFL Designates Graham... TE
 

It's not going to hit the cap that hard. That's the entire reason why everyone wants to get into long term deals. The player gets their guaranteed money up front. The team gets to spread out the cap hit over the life of the contract.

Say JG gets an $18 million signing bonus on a $60 million contract over 6 years. The cap hit of the signing bonus is only $3 million a year. But JG gets his $18 million on signing day. Salary in years one, two, and three may be $2, $2, $2 million for example. So the cap hit is $5 million per year for the first three years. Then it escalates so that the salary the last year is $15 million.

But guess what? It's only a 3 year contract. After three years (or four) the team can either work with JG to restructure, or cut him and take the hit on the rest of the signing bonus (which is $9 or $6 million at that point). Depending on the release date, it could be spread over two years of dead money.

So everyone wins. It's the "richest" TE contract in history. It "averages" $10 million a year. It's actually a 3 year $24 million contract, with $20 million guaranteed. And the cap hit over the first three years is $5 million instead of $7 million, $8.4 million, and then the crazy QB number if the tag were to go into the third year ($17 million or something like that).

But no one is going to bother to blink this early in the process. The Saints have the leverage of round one (the tag) and round two (tagged as a TE). Round three is the arbitration on the grievance that should be filed by this time tomorrow. And then the waiting game until sometime in July.

And BTW any team in the NFL that's truly willing to give up two FRDP and a huge contract for a TE is foolish. Franchise players get tagged every year. How many of them actually get signed away? There's a reason for that.

All the tag does is keep both sides in the ring for another 4 months trying to work out a contract. Everyone has their job to do. The Saints need to get the best value out of the situation. JG's agent's job is to extract the most money for his client. But just like Brees a couple of years ago, the Saints want the player and the player wants to play for the Saints. So in the end, they will work it out.

I honestly think that the fantasy football here is that some team is going to be stupid or desperate enough to pull the trigger on JG under these conditions.

It's going to be a long offseason. So may as well hunker down.

SFIAH

Re: NFL Designates Graham... TE
 

Very aware of all of that.

60m/5 years (20m signing bonus)

Yearly distribution of Bonus towards cap:

1. 4m
2. 4m
3. 4m
4. 4m
5. 4m

Now you have 40m to distribute over 5 years *in a way he will agree*

Ave 8m/year in salary

1. 4m + 6m
2. 4m + 6m
3. 4m + 6m
4. 4m + 9m
5. 4m + 13m

That is still a 10m in cap hit this year, 2 more than we have right now with out draft picks, resign free agents, practice squad, and 2m to start the season. There has to be a 2m cushion to start, we have been proven to lose at least 1 starter per season before opening week. 2013 we lost at least 3....

Just draft picks alone is 3m ish
Practice squad 400k
Start cushion 3m
Total delta after Graham's contract = 10m
Now what free agents are you resigning?

I didn't say impossible, I said not as easy as it looks.