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Alls Not Quiet on the Western Front, Contract Proposals for Vince Wilfok
By TOM
February 16th, 2010
There is finally some good news in Foxboro, and I needed some good news this week. After two kids puking on two different nights, I spent Sunday night puking myself, yeah! It appears BB is trying to sign Wilfork before the February 25th Franchise Tag deadline. I predicted they had about a 5% chance of signing Wilfork before the deadline.
I could not be happier to be wrong. Wilfork is an essential part to the recovery of this defense. I am glad BB sees his signing as the top off season priority. Thank goodness. I was worried we were walking into another Assante Samuel situation.
According to Mike Felger on 98.5, on his radio show last week, he stumbled through an alleged quote from his source in the Patriots organization of 27 million in the first three years, and according to Karen Guregian, 23 Million in gar-oon-tees. So Vince is looking at 23 million in guarantees and 27 million in the first three years. Is it what he wanted, no.
However, Vince, buddy, you really don’t have much choice here. They will tag you come February 25th, and with the lockout looming. You could be looking at 7 mil. Over the next two years. If you sign the deal, you’ll get a nice signing bonus and a nice salary this year. That’s money in the bank.
If you choose not the negotiate, the Pats have no choice but to tag you, you could be looking at 7 mil over the next two years, and then getting tagged again in 2012/2013, or worse, you gain too much weight for someone to offer you a long term deal like the Pats are offering you now.
The timing of your
These are not the option you should have had to face, but it is what it is. Here is the only advise I have left for you, other than sign a long term deal and get as much in the first year as possible, stop thinking about being an UFA. Because of the conflicting CBA agreement, you are not now nor ever will be, this year, an Unrestricted Free Agent. Your Agent knows it, BB know its, and me, a fat guy sitting in front of a computer, knows it.
Now in the negative, guarantees are vastly overrated. If the guarantees are in the first two seasons, then they are meaningless.
Teams can’t cut players in the first season because of the signing bonus, and even if you get hurt bad enough in the first season to be career threatening, they can’t cut you the second year as long as you are rehabbing your injury. Guarantees garner more meaning and value the deeper they are in the contract. Guarantees in the third, forth, and fifth years are worth their weight in Twinkies.
If they are offering Vince a five million dollar in signing bonus, and guaranteeing the first two years completely, then that is crap. To say they have offered him a fair deal is unfair to Wilfork.
My worry is that when BB starting leaking stuff, he has a reasons for it. I worry that the reason is that he doesn’t think Wilfork will sign their offer. A worry that is being justified by the Pats releasing the ridiculous propaganda about repaying the Cap. They are saying that teams that go over the Cap, even though their isn’t one, will have to repay every cent they went over the imaginary 2011 Cap. So, if there is a lockout, every cent a team goes over the imaginary 2011 Cap will be subtracted from their 2012 Cap.
Yeah right! That is ridiculous propaganda worthy of the anti-Recovery/Stimulus Act by the Obstructionist Party. There is no way the New York teams, Jerry Jones, Snyder (I’m blanking on his first name;-), and hopefully Kraft will allow that to happen. Listen closely Patsfans, this Super Bowl is open to auction for the highest bidder. Of course, the whispers of collusion are also creeping into the conversation, as more and more owners are saying they are going to adhere to the imaginary 2010 Cap.
Also more information is coming out on the owners plans
for the Uncapped 2010 season. Rumors are flowing that many of the smaller
city owners like the Jags, KC, and
This crap about not going over the imaginary 2010 Cap for fear of retribution of the new CBA is another sign of the financial apocalypse happening at Foxboro. It is completely untrue, unforeseeable, and unbelievable. There is no way the owners are going to screw themselves that badly. Sign Peppers! Sign Dansbury! And for all that is good about the New England Patriot's Franchise sign Vince Wilfork!
That is why I went over all the concerns I have for the financial concerns of the Krafts. We have BB, Tom Brady, and every opportunity to buy the other pieces we need to win a Super Bowl. There are NO RESTRICTIONS, other than the financial concerns of the team owner. They could sign the top three Unrestricted Free Agents without a single Cap concern: Vince Wilfork, Julius Peppers, and Karlos Dansbury. My list of the top is the opposite of the Sporting News, because my list is better;-)
There is a change to my contract proposal, the PFW in Progress boys, said on their 2/18 podcast that in an NFL contract a salary cannot be over 50% less than the year before. So if the Pats give Wilfork a 10 Million dollar salary in 2010, the 2011/2012 salary cannot be less then 5 Mil. Here are the changed proposals:
Okay sign Vince, give him a 9 million Signing Bonus bonus and 9 million in 2010 salary 2 Million guaranteed, and a Guaranteed salary of 4.5 mil in 2011/2012, and a Guaranteed salary of 4.5 mil in 2012/2013. Plus, two or three years after in salaries of 9 Mil a year, with 1.5 million guaranteed in 2014/15 and 2015/2016. This is a fair contract that satisfies the parameters of: 27 Million in the first 3 years (though that is a low figure), 23 million in guarantees and bonuses (though that is a low figure), it gives Vince 18 million in the first year (which gives him lockout protection), extremely low salaries in the following two years (lockout and CBA protection for the Krafts), averages 9 million a year (2 mil over the 7 mil Tag), and hopefully adds a couple of years at 9 million per year to protect both parties. This is an over simple example of a 3, 5, or 6 year contract that could work, because it offers Wilfork nearly three times the 7 mil in the first year for protection for his family incase of the lockout, which is a figure he has to consider. Plus, the Krafts get him on the cheap, and get lockout CBA protection in years two and three.
However, that example is using the Pats propaganda leaks as the model for the contract. Vince, seriously, you cannot expect to get more than this: 30 mil in guarantees, and 37 mil in the first three years. A contract with a 15 million bonus (with 5 mil a roster bonus so more counts on the 2010 Cap, and the rest is spread over the contract), and a 10 mil salary in 2010, and a non-guaranteed salary of 5 mil in 2011/2012, and a Guaranteed salary of 7 mil in 2012/2013, and a salary of 9 mil in 2013/2014 with 3 mil guaranteed. Plus, one or two years after with non-guaranteed salaries of 9 Mil a year.
The biggest problem is the initial bonus. What is best for the Pats and the Cap is a 15 million dollar Roster Bonus, so the whole Bonus is counted against the 2010 unCapped year. What is best for Vince is a 15 million dollar Signing Bonus, so it is prorated over the contract and helps protect the last two years of the contract. So if he is released in 2013/2014, it would leave 12 million (the original 9 mil from the prorated bonus, plus 3 mil in guaranteed salary in the new proposal) in Dead money on the Cap in a 5 year deal, and 13.5 million in a six year deal. It would also leave 3 mil in dead money in 2014/2015 in a five year deal, and 5 mil in dead money in a six year deal. And, no one thinks he would see the sixth year in a six year deal (okay 2.5 Mil in dead money).
In the first deal the Cap hit is much less after three years. In a five year deal it would a 3.6 million Cap hit to release him, and 4.5 million in a six year deal. That is not much protection for Vince.
I used and exaggeratedly high 2010 Cap figure for commonsense Cap reasons, and an exaggeratingly low 2011/2012 Cap figure for commonsense Cap reasons. Both these exaggerations should be used, but of course in this new business sports world commonsense is so rarely used.
These contracts protects both parties the same time. So working out a compromise to these two proposals is not really all that hard. The Krafts need to realize they are in a unique position to release all of the Salary Caps problems big long-term contracts come with in the the first year, and Wilfork has to realize that he is stuck between a rock and a Lockout. The only other outcome is a 7 mil Franchise Tag. This hurts both parties. Of course the good news is that when the Tag is slapped on Wilfork, the negotiation don't end. They can keep on negotiating up to the deadline, I believe in June (July 15th, I finally looked it up;-).
The only real question is can you get Julius Papers or/and Dansbury for similar contracts as Vince’s? Because the time for excuses is over, the Cap is gone, and the Super Bowl is waiting to be bought!
If you have any questions or comments feel free to email me:
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