05-27-2020, 05:57 PM
(05-27-2020, 01:25 PM)Wes Mantooth Wrote: I tried to read through this, and while I can appreciate the effort, all these numbers are starting to make my head hurt.
I'm just going to try to boil down my stance as simply as possible...
I don't think an extra 3.5 mil in guaranteed money is enough to make AJ Green want to give up his rights for another 2 seasons. Not unless the a number of the incentives you mentioned are essentially built in guarantees. Not all of them, but some. He's not going to give up controlling rights for 2 additional seasons at 10 mil base without some easy to reach incentives. It makes no sense.
We can go around and around on the numbers forever. To be honest, I'm not really sure it matters all that much. AJ Green is going to want serious concessions and guarantees to extend beyond a year. If you're for commiting to that now then more power to you. I just don't see where the savings and benefit are coming from in doing so.
Ok, I understand. Let me try to boil what I meant to say down to this, a phrasing that only later occurred to me: The Bengals want low risk (ie, low signing bonus), AJ wants a fair market contract. So how do we resolve that impasse? Is it just a matter of settling on the right number of guaranteed dollars? My suggestion was that guaranteed money shifts from signing bonus to roster bonuses. As I understand things, roster bonuses are like smaller, year by year signing bonuses that don't prorate. It's like if you took that big signing bonus that every player wants, and chopped it up into a smaller bonuses that trigger at the beginning of every league year, if the player is on the roster. Reduces our risk if we want out of the deal, and gets the player guaranteed money on a yearly basis - meaning he still has a chunk of his salary even if he gets cut in training camp (so my estimate of $1m was probably too low).
I do agree it makes no sense to quibble over numbers, because that's for the two sides to haggle over. We probably also see the level of acceptable risk differently. I just think "risk" has to include not just what happens if he's terrible, but what happens if he lights it up the year he's on the franchise tag. Then I really think it'll be nearly impossible to re-sign him. Can you imagine the consternation on this board if one of the best players in the history of the Bengals walks next year after making the pro bowl again? Everybody will scream that we should've locked him up when we had the chance!
