Aaron Jones Being Released

[Fritz]

And in todays world (I hate to sound like Tex) the media is constantly getting caught for flat out fabricating things. So who knows if ANYONE from EITHER side actually leaked this. It could have been a guy with an opinion, or it could have been "leaked" by a waterboy who wanted to feel relevant.

Probably leaked by someone older. Because the older you get, the more you leak.

[Patler]

As for contract negotiation leaks, the vast majority come from the players side of the table.

I would have a hard time imagining any reason Jones might have thought it would be to his advantage to get this information out in the media.

Simple. To make fans feel sorry for him.

[Frozen Tundra]

Simple. To make fans feel sorry for him.

Jones doesn't strike me as being stupid enough to think that would make people feel sorry for him, or desperate enough to really care that much. I give him a lot more credit than that.

[Bretsky]

I think AJO loves the fans of GB and his image is important to him. That is why the leak gets released about how he was JordyNelson''d.

[bobblehead]

Jones doesn't strike me as being stupid enough to think that would make people feel sorry for him, or desperate enough to really care that much. I give him a lot more credit than that.

Perceptions from afar are funny things. I met Derek Jeter once...what an asshole. I met Terell Owens once. What a decent respectful young man. Told his friend to stop swearing in front of the ladies (casino workers). Jones strikes me as a good guy, but I have no idea if he would leak that or not. And he might just not be as classy and decent as we all perceive him to be from afar.

[run pMc]

I think things were leaked from both sides to control the narrative. I suspect it was Jones' agent, not Jones himself. GB also stated they wanted him to take a pay cut in half, but they didn't mention that a big chunk was in incentives.
Ultimately, it's just negotiating that got public. It's just seeing how the sausage is made.

I do wonder what changed from Gute saying he "absolutely" wanted Jones back to him being released... unless it was unspoken and assumed that Gute "absolutely" wanted Jones back at a specific price point.

And the timing on the Jacobs signing doesn't really impact things from what I've heard. They asked Jones to take the pay cut first, and when he said no they moved on to sign Jacobs.
If you ask a player to take a cut and they say no, you either cut them or risk every player thinking it's a bluff and calling you on it.

[ThunderDan]

I think things were leaked from both sides to control the narrative. I suspect it was Jones' agent, not Jones himself. GB also stated they wanted him to take a pay cut in half, but they didn't mention that a big chunk was in incentives.
Ultimately, it's just negotiating that got public. It's just seeing how the sausage is made.

I do wonder what changed from Gute saying he "absolutely" wanted Jones back to him being released... unless it was unspoken and assumed that Gute "absolutely" wanted Jones back at a specific price point.

And the timing on the Jacobs signing doesn't really impact things from what I've heard. They asked Jones to take the pay cut first, and when he said no they moved on to sign Jacobs.
If you ask a player to take a cut and they say no, you either cut them or risk every player thinking it's a bluff and calling you on it.

Having an ex-NFL player as a client, I agree with all of this.

Our client signed a nice 2nd contract. Had a down year and the club came back asking for a paycut or be cut. Funny his agent wasn't anywhere to be found when the team wanted him to take a paycut but was there every step of the way for the 2nd contract signing.

Our client bet on himself, got cut and signed a 1 year deal with another team. He played well and got a good 3rd contract that lasted until he retired.

[ThunderDan]

Sunday afternoons at the office are so much fun during tax time. At least I can read PackerRats for a couple minute escape here and there.

[Frozen Tundra]

Perceptions from afar are funny things. I met Derek Jeter once...what an asshole. I met Terell Owens once. What a decent respectful young man. Told his friend to stop swearing in front of the ladies (casino workers). Jones strikes me as a good guy, but I have no idea if he would leak that or not. And he might just not be as classy and decent as we all perceive him to be from afar.

Whether he's an intelligent man or not, my point was I don't think he's a stupid enough man to believe that this would somehow make people angry at the team. Why would it? If Gutekunst had good reason to believe that Jones wasn't healthy enough to pay him $11,000,000, why would that piss fans off? Only an idiot would think the fans are going to rise up like, "Oh, poor Aaron, how dare Gutekunst not want to take care of him." That'd just be stupid; of course the fans would support not spending that kind of money on an injured player.

[Frozen Tundra]

I do wonder what changed from Gute saying he "absolutely" wanted Jones back to him being released... unless it was unspoken and assumed that Gute "absolutely" wanted Jones back at a specific price point.

Who says anything changed? Language like "I absolutely want Jones back this year", or "I absolutely expect Jones back this year", is totally meaningless. It's ambiguous, completely noncomittal "GM speak" for "he may be back, he may not, too early to make any promises". I think it's just implied that it would entirely depend on how negotiations went, because everyone knew that he would be asked to restructure.

Gutekunst may be a lot of things, but he's no fool. He knows how to speak the language. He knew damned well that in a couple of weeks he was going to ask Jones to take a huge pay cut, and he's not dumb enough to think Jones was just going to take it without (at best) some serious pushback. And he's smart enough to know there was a good chance Jones would refuse it altogether. Saying things like "we really want Aaron back, we love him, Aaron's the heart and soul of our team, we definitely expect him back" makes the fans happy because they think the team is committed to keeping him, and then when the negotiations go bad and he gets released, Gutekunst looks like hey, at least he really tried. Not his fault. It just didn't work out.

[Bretsky]

Curious; which is a bigger punch in the Sack ?

Gutebag asking Jordy to come back at 2 Million / Year ? Which in retrospect, choosing to sign Jimmy for 10MIL/Year instead of giving Jordy, who wanted to stay in GB, a reduced wage of around 5-6..... who had 60 catches for a shit team that year, was a bad call

OR

Gutebag asking Jones to come back at 4 Million ?


The second call might turn out to be the right now. The first was not.

[Jaire]

Probably leaked by someone older. Because the older you get, the more you leak.

Underrated comment

[Patler]

Having an ex-NFL player as a client, I agree with all of this.

Our client signed a nice 2nd contract. Had a down year and the club came back asking for a paycut or be cut. Funny his agent wasn't anywhere to be found when the team wanted him to take a paycut but was there every step of the way for the 2nd contract signing.

Our client bet on himself, got cut and signed a 1 year deal with another team. He played well and got a good 3rd contract that lasted until he retired.

There are also pro athletes who take a complete hands-off approach, leaving everything up to agents and advisors for negotiations. They don't even want to know the give-and-take that goes on, just having final approval on the best deal his people think they can get.

Leaks, lies and exaggerations often come from the agents, not the players directly; or from the players "inner circle" or as we have often seen, family members who may or may not know the facts.

[Patler]

Curious; which is a bigger punch in the Sack ?

Gutebag asking Jordy to come back at 2 Million / Year ? Which in retrospect, choosing to sign Jimmy for 10MIL/Year instead of giving Jordy, who wanted to stay in GB, a reduced wage of around 5-6..... who had 60 catches for a shit team that year, was a bad call

OR

Gutebag asking Jones to come back at 4 Million ?


The second call might turn out to be the right now. The first was not.

Nelson played the one season and was done with football. Cutting Nelson was not a mistake.

Graham played 5 more years (4 of significance), caught 160 passes, scored 20 TD. GB just paid him too much, as did the Bears for his two seasons there.

[sharpe1027]

I agree that letting Nelson go was okay, and Graham was overpaid.