Barnett Contract Extension Update

[HarveyWallbangers]

Harvey,

What do you think of hte UFA market, the RFA market and the "I want mine early market" Do you think that Barnett got the same $$ that he would have on the UFA market? If you believe that then you should want our GM fired because there is absolutely no reason for a team ot give a player an early contract without a discount.

Barnett is a steal in relation to Clements and the OL guys who got 50 mil plus this off season. I agree that it is closer to the Henderson deal as far as fairness but in relation to the market as of late it's very hard to call Barnetts deal "market value" when the market is set so much higher as of late.

I think it's fair. Henderson got $5M/year on his extension, and he wasn't due to be a UFA until after this year. I guess I don't get too hung up on the numbers. Some of them are very fuzzy. Because of the money available, Green Bay can frontload contracts. Barnett probably got more real money than some others have gotten, but it's also a contract that would allow Green Bay to cut him with minimal salary cap impact--if it didn't work out.

[Bretsky]

Eric Steinbech got 50 mil
Leonard Davis got 50 mil


I don't think Barnett's deal was fair market. I think it's very much a discount and overtime as things inflate it will look even better.

IMO we should be looking at Linebacker deals to compare Barnett with. Thomas, Weatherspoon from last yr.....etc.

I thought the deal was fair. But if Barnett continues to perform it will be a bargain when looking at the salaries next year, which was when Barnett would have been unrestricted.

[Partial]

Eric Steinbech got 50 mil
Leonard Davis got 50 mil


I don't think Barnett's deal was fair market. I think it's very much a discount and overtime as things inflate it will look even better.

IMO we should be looking at Linebacker deals to compare Barnett with. Thomas, Weatherspoon from last yr.....etc.

I thought the deal was fair. But if Barnett continues to perform it will be a bargain when looking at the salaries next year, which was when Barnett would have been unrestricted.

Correct you are. He'll be a big time bargin two years into it.

[RashanGary]

I don't hink it's fair to compare Barnettt to this years LBs' who are over 30 because those guys get dinged for age. Barnett is similar to Witherspoon in age but he is getting his deal a year latter and I think he's a little better yet he's getting the same amount.

I think this is going to look like a huge bargain teh next time a good LB Barnetts age hits teh market.

Jenkins looks like a Bargain
Kamp looks like a huge Bargain
Barnett looks like a huge Bargain

we're keeping all of these players and we're still going to have a shit load of space next year. This is exactly what I was hoping for in the GM change. If we draft a little better you guys will see how loaded a team can get with talent if they have a good GM even without Favre.

[Zool]

You have to look at guaranteed money in these contracts, not the overall $ figure. You really think Nate Clements is going to collect all $80mil?

[woodbuck27]

I didn't read through this entire thread so this may already have been revealed:

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=589678

Barnett's contract extended
Linebacker latest in-house player rewarded by team

By TOM SILVERSTEIN
tsilverstein@journalsentinel.com
Posted: April 10, 2007

Green Bay - Nick Barnett might be a little bit biased - he had just become the Green Bay Packers' highest-paid player on defense - but he sees nothing wrong with the philosophy general manager Ted Thompson has adopted for his team.

Building through the draft and using the team's money to lock up those who are already in house sits well with him.

"A lot of times you see a lot of GMs, not that I'm knocking all of them, but you see they go out there and waste a lot of money on players that don't pan out, that they don't even know," Barnett said during an afternoon news conference to announce his signing.

"You go out there and you don't even know this player and you spend all that money on them and they come in and they don't add up.

"They (the Packers) have been focused on us, the players that are in the locker room, the people with big hearts and good personalities and (who) work hard."

Barnett became a beneficiary of that ideology Tuesday when he put his name on a six-year contract extension worth $35 million, including around $12 million to be paid this year.

The Packers and Barnett have been negotiating off and on since the season ended in an attempt to reach a long-term agreement and the tide turned last week when the numbers started reaching Barnett's expectations.

The Packers have signed only one free agent this off-season - backup cornerback Frank Walker - but they have locked up Barnett, cornerback Al Harris and defensive end Cullen Jenkins to long-term deals in just the last 3½ months.

In all, they have spent roughly $35 million in bonus money to secure Barnett, Jenkins, Harris, center Scott Wells and defensive end Aaron Kampman to long-term deals over the past year.

In contrast, they have spent only $15 million in bonus money over the same period on free agents Charles Woodson, Ryan Pickett, Marquand Manuel and Walker.

"I think that's normal," Thompson said of investing mostly in his own.

"A lot of teams try to do that. From a timing standpoint, this was just a good time. It was good for the player and good for the club."

The Packers identified Barnett, 26, as one of their core players and set out to complete a deal a year before the four-year veteran was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent. Though Barnett has not made it to the Pro Bowl, he has led the team in tackles three times and assumed the role of one of the leaders.

"We think he's special," Thompson said. "He's very valuable to our defense. You have to have a guy to play that position now."

Barnett's $5.8 million average puts him in company with such veterans as:

Denver's Al Wilson ($6 million average),

Atlanta's Keith Brooking ($5.7 million),

Miami's Zach Thomas ($5.78 million)

and Carolina's Dan Morgan ($5.6 million).

His bonus money is better than any of the rest and falls just short of the elite group, which includes:

New England's Adalius Thomas ($20 million in bonuses),

Baltimore's Ray Lewis ($19 million)

and Chicago's Brian Urlacher ($14 million).

Had Barnett collected his '07 salary of $1.95 million and gone to free agency next year, there's no telling what he would have received given what Thomas and Miami's Joey Porter ($13 million in bonuses) received as free agents this year.

But Barnett didn't want to risk getting hurt and wanted to continue playing in Green Bay.

"There are numbers and then there's real numbers," agent Chuck Price said, alluding to the inflated free-agent salaries this off-season. "When you looked at what the real numbers were going to be and what they could be, there was absolutely no real decision do we wait or not.

"Once the numbers got to the point where, 'This is Green Bay, I can be set for life,' it was pretty clear that this was the place to finish up."

Barnett, whose deal runs through 2012, said he had embraced a leadership role and never thought about holding out or skipping off-season workouts to show the Packers he was serious about wanting a new contract.

He said the troubles he had with his local nightclub, FiveSix Ultra Lounge, did not dissuade him from making the league's smallest city his home for the next six years.

His hope is that the defense stays together for years to come and that he's its leader.

"I definitely feel like this is my defense," he said.

Because much of Barnett's 2007 money won't be delivered in a signing bonus, the Packers were able to eat up a considerable amount of their $21 million salary-cap surplus. They are now thought to be about $14 million below the cap.

And as a result of sewing up so many starters, they face an off-season in 2008 where defensive tackle Corey Williams is the only player of any significance who will be an unrestricted free agent.

The others are players who aren't even guaranteed of making the team this year.

[pittstang5]

Still $14 mil below the cap.

Plenty of money to still sign Williams, sign the rookie class and make a trade for a big name (Turner or Moss) - IF Thompson wants to.

[LL2]

Jenkins looks like a Bargain
Kamp looks like a huge Bargain
Barnett looks like a huge Bargain

This is TT's style folks, and people will think of him as the next Ron Wolf.

[esoxx]

Unless they don't win a SB. Then the comparison will not be made.

[retailguy]

Jenkins looks like a Bargain
Kamp looks like a huge Bargain
Barnett looks like a huge Bargain

This is TT's style folks, and people will think of him as the next Ron Wolf.

Unless they don't win a SB. Then the comparison will not be made.

Then they'll compare him to Mike Sherman. And if you're me, you believe that THIS is the most likely outcome....

[Bretsky]

Unless they don't win a SB. Then the comparison will not be made.

he doesn't deserve the comparison until he does.

[the_idle_threat]

Who cares if he does a dance? Look around the NFL and you'll see a large percentage do. It's been that way for about 20 years now. It bothered me at first when players started doing it, but I've gotten over it. If it fires up the team, then so be it. It's not like it's taking a lot of energy away from him. I actually have come to enjoy some of the dances--like Steve Smith's love boat and most of Chad Johnson's stuff. The stuff I don't like is that unsportsmanlike stuff (e.g. Terrell Owens stomping on the Dallas star or sticking the ball out at an opposing player as your prancing across the endzone).

???

What is a "large percentage?" Aside from a handful of receivers and our own ballerina Barnett, who else does a cheesy pre-planned dance after practically every big play he makes? At any given time, there are a few guys in the league who do it, and a vast majority who don't.

And I agree with Zool ... part of my problem is that the dance is incredibly lame. I actually liked Big Gil's gravedigger. That seemed to make a statement about---or on behalf of---the defense, as opposed to Barnett running around like a headless chicken while people go and .

[cpk1994]

Who cares if he does a dance? Look around the NFL and you'll see a large percentage do. It's been that way for about 20 years now. It bothered me at first when players started doing it, but I've gotten over it. If it fires up the team, then so be it. It's not like it's taking a lot of energy away from him. I actually have come to enjoy some of the dances--like Steve Smith's love boat and most of Chad Johnson's stuff. The stuff I don't like is that unsportsmanlike stuff (e.g. Terrell Owens stomping on the Dallas star or sticking the ball out at an opposing player as your prancing across the endzone).

I think the biggest problems people have with Nick's celebrations is that he does them when the Pack are trailing by 35pts. Have you ever seen those others do thier stuff when down big in the 4th?

[Fritz]

Who cares if he does a dance? Look around the NFL and you'll see a large percentage do. It's been that way for about 20 years now. It bothered me at first when players started doing it, but I've gotten over it. If it fires up the team, then so be it. It's not like it's taking a lot of energy away from him. I actually have come to enjoy some of the dances--like Steve Smith's love boat and most of Chad Johnson's stuff. The stuff I don't like is that unsportsmanlike stuff (e.g. Terrell Owens stomping on the Dallas star or sticking the ball out at an opposing player as your prancing across the endzone).

???

What is a "large percentage?" Aside from a handful of receivers and our own ballerina Barnett, who else does a cheesy pre-planned dance after practically every big play he makes? At any given time, there are a few guys in the league who do it, and a vast majority who don't.

And I agree with Zool ... part of my problem is that the dance is incredibly lame. I actually liked Big Gil's gravedigger. That seemed to make a statement about---or on behalf of---the defense, as opposed to Barnett running around like a headless chicken while people go and .

So if he had better moves you'd like him better? Maybe he needs to take some lessons from Emmitt Smith.

[the_idle_threat]

Who cares if he does a dance? Look around the NFL and you'll see a large percentage do. It's been that way for about 20 years now. It bothered me at first when players started doing it, but I've gotten over it. If it fires up the team, then so be it. It's not like it's taking a lot of energy away from him. I actually have come to enjoy some of the dances--like Steve Smith's love boat and most of Chad Johnson's stuff. The stuff I don't like is that unsportsmanlike stuff (e.g. Terrell Owens stomping on the Dallas star or sticking the ball out at an opposing player as your prancing across the endzone).

???

What is a "large percentage?" Aside from a handful of receivers and our own ballerina Barnett, who else does a cheesy pre-planned dance after practically every big play he makes? At any given time, there are a few guys in the league who do it, and a vast majority who don't.

And I agree with Zool ... part of my problem is that the dance is incredibly lame. I actually liked Big Gil's gravedigger. That seemed to make a statement about---or on behalf of---the defense, as opposed to Barnett running around like a headless chicken while people go and .

So if he had better moves you'd like him better? Maybe he needs to take some lessons from Emmitt Smith.

I don't really dislike Barnett, all things considered, but his celebration routine is extremely irritating. That's all. I think he's an above-average linebacker and a decent guy from what I know, and I'm glad we locked him up. I just don't believe his celebration routine is nearly as cool as he thinks it is. It never fails to annoy me.

Surely it's subjective. I thought the Gilbert's gravedigger was well done. However, Barnett running around the field waving his pretend sword = lame. Favre carrying Driver on his shoulders = cool. De'Mond Parker's "wave my feet cuz they're on fire" thing = contrived and lame. (Anybody else remember that one?) I can't pinpoint exactly why one fails and another doesn't. Just my opinion, I guess.