Packers will have tough cap decisions to make

[HarveyWallbangers]

Gates last contract was in 2010, and it was for over $7.3M/year with $20M in guaranteed money. That was three years ago and that contract is much better than Finley's 2y/$14M contract with little guaranteed money. Even if he were to hit his incentives, Finley would not make $8M this year.

[gbgary]

spot on

Yup. Structure his contract to make it as friendly as possible. we have no replacement for him. it's not like the jennings situation.

[Joemailman]

Jimmy Graham is in the final year of his contract. If the Saints extend him before free agency, we should find out what the ceiling is for a Tight End.

[SnakeLH2006]

picket is in the last year of his contact, and it's a big number year. either he is allowed to walk next year or he gets resigned and the first couple years of his new deal are much more cap friendly

his number for this season is 6.7 million

tramons cap number next season is 9.5 million. there is absolutely no reason to keep him at that price. he's gone

hawk is gonna count 6.2 million next season. you either like him or hate him. he is a leader on the defense, but you can find upgrades for cheaper

kuhn is our highest paid running back with a cap number of 2.5 million this season. this is the last year he is under contract. he can go

jarrett bush is our 3rd highest paid CB, and after we get rid of tramon he will be our 2nd highest paid cb with a cap number of 1.8 million. he will count just over 2 million next year. he can go

raji has a cap number this year of about 6.6 million. we either resign him or let him walk. if we resign him, his cap number should go down

same for finley, in the last year of his contract. he's counting 8.8 million this year against the cap. a new contract would bring lower cap numbers in the first couple of years. letting him go gives us a lot of cap room

so by my count thers about 40 million dollars in cap space to be gained right there. you would need to find a new starting ILB, TE, and another couple of fat guys for the d-line. but overall, it's do-able

This.

+2

[Fritz]

Gates last contract was in 2010, and it was for over $7.3M/year with $20M in guaranteed money. That was three years ago and that contract is much better than Finley's 2y/$14M contract with little guaranteed money. Even if he were to hit his incentives, Finley would not make $8M this year.

To me, one of the factors in the decision to re-sign Finley is what the organization believes will be his response to a big, longer-term deal.

Did he bulk up, shut up, and man up because he's in a contract year, or because he's grown up?

If the team determines that it's the former, then he'll be gone. If they believe it's the latter, my bet is that they re-sign him. MM really likes the dude and what he brings.

But of course, there's no way to know, for sure. And it might be a bit of both - he is maturing, but he's also playing for a big contract.

Guys like Rodgers and Matthews get monster contracts, and work even harder (if that's possible) and play lights-out. Guys like Cletidus Hunt get a big contract, and it's time to hit the la-z-boy with a bag of weed and some video games.

[pbmax]

Gates last contract was in 2010, and it was for over $7.3M/year with $20M in guaranteed money. That was three years ago and that contract is much better than Finley's 2y/$14M contract with little guaranteed money. Even if he were to hit his incentives, Finley would not make $8M this year.

Pretty sure he would, unless we aren't counting the $3 million dollar bonus he got in April (other $800,000 in bonus are workout and in-game bonuses)

YEAR . . . . . . . . . BASE . . . S. BONUS . . . MISC. . . . . . CAP HIT . . . . . DEAD
2012 . . . . . . . 950,000 . . 500,000 . . .3,800,000 . . .5,250,000 . . . 1,000,000
2013 . . . . . . .4,450,000 . . 500,000 . . .3,800,000 . . 8,750,000 . . . 3,800,000

Total cash he will collect for season 2013-14 is $8,250,000. Now, the average is $7 mil you are correct, but Finley was already asking for more than $7.3 average two years ago. Even as a full bodied TE, I am not sure that demand is coming down with two good years.

Like Jennings and Jones, he might not get it. But I think he will be asking for it.

[mraynrand]

. Guys like Cletidus Hunt get a big contract, and it's time to hit the la-z-boy with a bag of weed and some video games.

Ol' Cleedeeus say "it good to be remembered!"

[HarveyWallbangers]

Pretty sure he would, unless we aren't counting the $3 million dollar bonus he got in April (other $800,000 in bonus are workout and in-game bonuses)

YEAR . . . . . . . . . BASE . . . S. BONUS . . . MISC. . . . . . CAP HIT . . . . . DEAD
2012 . . . . . . . 950,000 . . 500,000 . . .3,800,000 . . .5,250,000 . . . 1,000,000
2013 . . . . . . .4,450,000 . . 500,000 . . .3,800,000 . . 8,750,000 . . . 3,800,000

Total cash he will collect for season 2013-14 is $8,250,000. Now, the average is $7 mil you are correct, but Finley was already asking for more than $7.3 average two years ago. Even as a full bodied TE, I am not sure that demand is coming down with two good years.

Like Jennings and Jones, he might not get it. But I think he will be asking for it.

I missed his roster bonus, so youare correct on the details. I was off a bit on Gates' contract also, but the point is that saying Gates hasn't made close to Finley money is not correct. A player would take the $20M guaranteed money over $1M guanteed money of Finley's contract. You have to go beyond the numbers when analyzing these contracts.

http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nfl/4717/jermichael-finley

2/22/2012: Signed a two-year, $14 million contract. The deal included a $1 million signing bonus. Another $1 million is available through incentives. Finley is eligible for $300,000 offseason workout bonuses in each year. 2013: $4.45 million (+ $3 million roster bonus due 3/27 + $500,000 in per-game roster bonuses), 2014: Free Agent

http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nfl/611/antonio-gates

7/28/2010: Signed a six-year, $39.8 million contract. The deal contains $20.4 million guaranteed, including a $4.575 million signing bonus, $3.47 million first-year "option" bonus, and Gates' first two years' base salaries. His 2012 salary and $2.4 million of his 2013 salary are guaranteed for injury (not skill). 2013: $4.5 million, 2014: $5 million, 2015: $5.9 million, 2016: Free Agent

[red]

Gates last contract was in 2010, and it was for over $7.3M/year with $20M in guaranteed money. That was three years ago and that contract is much better than Finley's 2y/$14M contract with little guaranteed money. Even if he were to hit his incentives, Finley would not make $8M this year.

finley

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/green-bay-packers/jermichael-finley/

gates

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/san-diego-chargers/antonio-gates/

and gates could quite possibly be cut after this season, meaning he will never get his "big money" years

finley is working under a sweeter deal then gates imo

[red]

I missed his roster bonus, so youare correct on the details. I was off a bit on Gates' contract also, but the point is that saying Gates hasn't made close to Finley money is not correct. A player would take the $20M guaranteed money over $1M guanteed money of Finley's contract. You have to go beyond the numbers when analyzing these contracts.

http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nfl/4717/jermichael-finley

http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nfl/611/antonio-gates

you're mincing words here harv. you're comparing finley's signing bonus to gates total guaranteed money

gates signing bonus was 4.75 million on a 6 year deal. all the roster bonuses, signing and misc things added to 20.4 million over 6 years. about 3.3 guaranteed per year

finley's total guaranteed money over two years is somewhere around 8.6 million or about 4.3 guaranteed per year

we keep paying fin based on potential, well now his pay is all the way up to top 4 at his position, and he sure as shit hasn't played like one of the top TE's in the nfl until this season

[Smeefers]

I think it's funny that we're going to get a "home town discount" on Jolly. If we let him go to free agency, he's going to sign with who ever pays him the most. The home town discount might be, "Hey Ted, Minnesota is going to pay me 3 mil a year guaranteed. Match?" His agent is going to get every red cent he can for Jolly and who could blame him? Dude's career is almost over, he has to score as big as he can, now.

If you think Finley is out the door, I think you're crazy. Every stinking word out of MM's mouth, when in reference to Finley, has been praise. He doesn't hem and haw about whether he wants him back or not. He has repeatedly said "I've made it clear, I want Finley on the team." The dude is staying and he's going to get paid as little as Ted can get out of him, but he's still going to get paid.

JJ isn't worth a lot of money. He's tried the market before and hasn't gotten a bite. I doubt he'll try it again. He's a good player, but he's a product of the system. I don't know anyone who thinks he could go to the browns and be a major reason that team turns around. If you're not a game changer, you're not going to get paid booko bucks.

Raji won't get 10 mil from anyone in the league, if he does, they can have him. We've had several defense heavy drafts, I'm not worried if we loose him. I will admit though, just about anyone else we put in there will be a step down.

Twill is gone or getting restructured.

Shields has played well but by no means would I call him a shut down corner. There's no shields Island. Maybe in 4 years, but not this year and not last year. But... because of that 'maybe', he gets a serious bump in cash.

[pbmax]

Well Gates number will be a comparable for the Packers certainly, but if he doesn't see it all and is near the end of his career, probably not much of a model from Finley's point of view.

Are there any other TEs paid near that number?

If not, then Graham and Finley will set the market.

[red]

Well Gates number will be a comparable for the Packers certainly, but if he doesn't see it all and is near the end of his career, probably not much of a model from Finley's point of view.

Are there any other TEs paid near that number?

If not, then Graham and Finley will set the market.

maybe zack miller

he's working on a 5 year 34 million dollar deal, he's in the middle year which just so happens to be the balloon year

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/seattle-seahawks/zach-miller/

VD is on a 6 year 43 million dollar deal with a 10 million dollar signing bonus. i think fin would be lucky to get this deal, but it could very well happen

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/san-francisco-49ers/vernon-davis/

heath miller, 6 year, 35 million

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/pittsburgh-steelers/heath-miller/

owen daniels 4 year, 21 million

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/houston-texans/owen-daniels/

jason witten might be the other big time TE contract. 7 year 50.5 million. 12.5 million signing bonus

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/dallas-cowboys/jason-witten/

gronk just got a nice new extension, but its very backloaded

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/new-england-patriots/rob-gronkowski/

[Bretsky]

We should keep Finley, Jordy, and Randall Cobb IMO

[SnakeLH2006]

Finley can suck some dick and humility. It's pure potential. He's inconsistent as fuck cuz he's a toolbag as a human. Yeah, his skills as a football player are great, but semantics aside with his personal BS as am absolute douchebag (I met him...he's the most underwhelming idiot I EVER met...and met a few), he's not consistent. He drops too many balls, talks too much shit every time he barely gets a first down for 12 yards (or acts like he just won the SB with his antics), his blocking should be amazing considering his mass ratio being ripped given wideouts 50 lbs. lighter block better or at least give effort, yet no one on his team (players) likes him...as he's never gonna be a team player (all about himself).

It's like teaching a monkey to drive a car. It's funny, and might work for a bit and tease you, but not feasible longterm: