Here's what we do: We pay Leon. Period. He's been our most consistent player for a couple years now. He is young. He is a playmaker. Trade TJ and a pick if we have to for Braylon Edwards. Add another young playmaker potential #1 WR Fill the hole left by TJ? this is where i might lose most of you. Shonne Greene will be a jewel but as a safety net, i without a doubt believe we can bring in one of these vets and they can be successful: Edge Deshaun Foster Warrick Dunn Ahman Green Rudi Johnson hmy:
If TJ isn't making much this year and the next doesn't that mean he can be traded without a big cap hit? Just curious, I have no intention of becoming a bar stool capologist. If Manstupid will take TJ as part of a deal for Braylon then this has to happen. TJ is just too average, though he has amazing durability. Its almost guaranteed he's ready to play every game. I doubt the Jets could have gotten through the 08 season with that crazy roster if TJ didn't stay healthy.
Yes, low salary relatively speaking for the AFC's top rusher last year, but he's not tradeable because the team he goes to will have to give him a new a contract. That's what he's complaining about. He wants to cash in on his big season because he knows it's nowhere but down from here.
When we traded for TJ he was given a 4 year $20M contract. In the first 2 years he has earned like $13M. This year he is due $900k. I'm not an economist by trade but that would seem to indicate he is due about $6M next year. My guess in this whole situation is that TJ can see the writing on the wall regarding his status for next year when he is due $6M. There is no way he will see that money so he is trying to get the Coles deal in which Tanny guarantees his final 2 years. There is precedence here so its a clever move by TJ. The Leon thing is ridiculous and obviously (to most people) orchestrated by his new agent. Leon has absolutely no leverage in this situation. Sure he means a lot to the team but even if we don't give him a new contract he will be a RFA after this season. If he wants to sit out this year so be it, the net effect will be a diminished value when he becomes a RFA. If he really is holding out for $6M/yr then let him hold out. I wouldn't give him any more than $4M/yr over 4 years, or give him a heavily incentive based contract that would allow him to earn the extra money.
Whatever happened to the normal process of giving people contracts that had a lot of backside money in them to stop players from having this kind of leverage? We can all scream about how Jones took the money and ran with it and is now bitching because he's in a lean year, however the Jets set this pitfall up for themselves. They negotiated the 4 year deal that paid Jones 65% of the money in the first two years and then left a gap in the third year. Tannenbaum didn't realize that Jones was going to have all the leverage this year with no incentive to report and no doubt that he was going to be a cut in 2010 when the salary escalated again?
Well there are a few options though I am no football guru. But we can't cut him because Mangini will just scoop him up when we could have possibly traded him. Since he has only 2 years left on his contract. Edge, Rudi, Deuce, and Dunn would make a decent replacement for those 1 to 2 years. By that time Leon and Greene should be ready to be the next Thunder and Lightning combo. We could even add another RB as a third back for insurance. But Leon and Greene should be good enough. But we would have to definitely Leon which I think he deserves the Money but like another poster said 4 mil for 4 years i would even go out on the limb and say 5 mil but not the 6 mil. He wants Sproles type money but I know people can make the arguement of who's better and all but they both do alot for the their respective team. So pay them the money. Leon should just get the money that TJ was suppose to get
I'm confused, do I put my opinion that is no different from several others here, or do I start my own thread saying the same thing?
We can't afford to pay Leon and bring in Braylon unless Braylon's salary demands come down significantly. He's been seeking something in the neighborhood of $10 million per season. We currently have about $12 million in cap space. How do you propose to sign Sanchez, Leon, and Braylon for that amount?
Everyone knows TJ is gone next season. It's why so many people have been willing to see him traded this offseason. It's just a matter of getting fair value in return, which never materialized. Leon does have leverage. True, we could retain him as an RFA next season. However, we've spent the past two offseasons bringing in big ticket free agents, including several who followed our new head coach this season. We need to send a message that we're committed to the players currently on the team, particularly those we've spent time developing. Leon provides a great opportunity to show that by never allowing him to hit even restricted free agency. We don't want to send the message that we're trying to underpay our young stars. I do agree, however, that the holdout issue was all agent. Leon may want and deserve a new contract, but I don't see him deciding to miss time with the team on his own.
In That second paragraph, Change Leon to Mangold and I completely agree with you. I'm all for Tying Mangold up and Tagging Leon when we have to. Your right about Jones never seeing that 6 mill for next season. Htere is a reason he has not been traded, because 31 Year old running backs have no trade value. He is about done in the NFL and can choose to make his 900k this year or not. He should not get any more from the jets this year.
His cap number is $2.5mil for the yr. If traded, we take a hit of $3mil, end up paying half a mil more while he's not on the team. He needs to stay. Once the contract is over, offer him a vets minimum just to piss him off.
Looks like Danny Woodhead is getting all the snaps right now. Camp fodder while the other stuff sorts itself out: Woodhead Getting Reps With Starters added on 05/14/2009 11:37 AM RB Danny Woodhead is reportedly getting the majority of the snaps with the first team during voluntary workouts at the New York Jets training facility. Woodhead, 24, went undrafted in 2008 but was signed by the Gang Green later as an undrafted free agent. The team then waived him before the start of the season. Both RB Thomas Jones and RB Leon Washington continue to boycott the workouts due to contract disputes. Although it seems like some progress has been made in Washington's case. RB Shonn Greene who was drafted by the Jets in the third round can't join the team due to an NFL rule that prohibit first-year players from reporting to their teams before May 16 or until their college holds final exams, whichever comes later. The same applies to QB Mark Sanchez who's absent as well.
No one would really sign on to a contract like that. Maybe a player who's got something to prove after disappointing season, but not Thomas Jones who turned 29 when he got traded and was coming off of a Super Bowl appearance. Backloading contracts are dangerous because it doesn't give players incentive to produce at a high level. Why should when he's not going to see his real payday by year 3, IF he's still even a part of this team? And who would pay all that money to a 31-year old RB anyway? The whole deal doesn't pay off for either party.
U got a really good answer by rmagedon6 I think. TJs contract is actually a master piece if u ask me. It takes care of a lot of things. yr 3 is a low paying yr and gives the team a lot of salary cap space. If TJ plays at an all star level, that would be the only way he see's the final yr of his contract worth around $6mil. How is that for motivation? If he doesn't play at an all star level, he wont get to see the final yr of his contract in NY and wont get a big contract as a FA either, once he's released. So we basically hold a lot of leverage in this case and have almost everything go our way. TJ may not even be a Jet next yr even after an outstanding season and rushes for 2,000 yds, 20 TDs. A 31 yr old coming off a 2000 yds season is not ideal to pay $6mil to. TJ knows his situation and is actually a smart move, probably to have the Jets guarantee him his contract. Skipping work outs is definately not going to motivate Tanny to guarantee him anything. TJ should have done this while not skipping any WOs. TJ is screwed IMO, unless he STFU and atleast try to play out the third yr of his contract.
Isn't there a cap allocation of like 3.5 million for rookies? Plus, we can cut some guys to clear up an additional million (Coleman and throw in Brad Smith for the proposed T-Jones-Braylon trade). Mike T is pretty awesome with the cap, he'd find a way to fit all of them under the cap It's all a pipe dream tho there's no way we can fleece Mangini twice....or can we?
I'm not sure of the exact numbers, but there is a good deal of dead money against the cap if traded this year. I want to say around 2.5 mill. Next year there would be a cap savings if we cut him. Don posted the numbers in anotehr thread on the same subject.
All the Jets had to do was to give him the same bonus but spread the year 2, 3 and 4 money more equally and they'd have avoided this problem. Jones would be sitting there with 3 million on the table this year, real money that he was going to lose if he held out and the Jets would have had a better option to keep him next year with a more reasonable salary figure. There was HUGE cap relief in sight when this deal was done and no reason to believe that 2009 was going to be a cap-crunched year. In that context giving Jones a low incentive to actually happily play for the Jets this year was kind of short-sighted. Everybody knows that there is funny money not likely ever to be paid in many high-priced contracts, that's a given and it allows players and agents to strut around with big numbers that are only partly real. Usually the numbers for star players are more equally distributed before the explosive year(s) at the end because you know they can cause problems if they hold out.
