Morgan Extends!!!

Sounds like you think the Panther's front office must really suck at Cap management. Rucker is in '07, Peppers in '08, Jenkins in '09....these contracts are spread out and each player will get dealt with in due course with some kept and some sent packing. Actually, after the '09 season we will have Steve Smith, Jake Delhomme and Jenkins all becoming free agents, but that is 5 full playing seasons away. Its very likely that in seasons like '07 and '08 the contracts of these guys will be huge bargains based on new contracts being signed by players of their ability and position.

To say we are outright screwed in the near future is imho a huge overreaction. Whether or not Morgan proves to be worth the contract is something we will all get to watch. I believe he will be, but that's just my opinion. Three years from now, I suspect it will be business as usual and the Panthers will be in as solid a financial position as most any other team in the NFL.

 

The NFL's been labor-solvent since the mid-80s. That's the best streak going in pro sports. They leave the uncapped year to ensure the CBA.




Morgan's contract:

with the bonus being this year, as I read it, this is actually a somewhat frontloaded contract. $4 mil in roster bonus kills us next year, but we still won't be as bad as we will theoretically be in years after that. A $2 mil roster bonus won't kill us enough to not keep him, unless he really goes down hill, in 2007. After that, the bonuses are minor when the salaries go up, and the signing bonus will be all that counts firmly against the cap (i.e., the rest can be reworked).

I wouldn't have done it that way, but it does end up leaving a minor portion of prorated cap on the books in 2008-2010.

 

I think they spend too much on stuff like this, sure. I think that, at some point, there are only so many of this type contract you can have. Right now, I count 20% of the team as having a big contract like that.

Same could as easily be said about the Titans. It won't be that bad, but no, it won't be easy, either. There'll be some tough decisions.


Actually, after the '09 season we will have Steve Smith, Jake Delhomme and Jenkins all becoming free agents, but that is 5 full playing seasons away. Its very likely that in seasons like '07 and '08 the contracts of these guys will be huge bargains based on new contracts being signed by players of their ability and position.

 

to me that is 4.6 mil a year, 28/6= 4.666667 a year avg.

2005 - 2010 is 6 years with a cap hit of $1,540,000 (for 2005) I belive that is less that he would have counted so that is some $$ to rework spoons contract

 

Since they said the $28 mil is the "new money", does that add to what he was already supposed to get this year?

 

I agree

 

didnt they front load the hell outta Lucas's deal as well?

Peppers is gonna have to be given a huge deal real soon, as early as this offseason, definitely next.

 

Trashman1962:

Actually it wasn't. Bringing in veteran free agents at reasonable prices has actually been part of Hurney's publicized plan. Moreover, while Hurney was diplomatic, he was also criticizing the contracts given to homegrown players like Muhammad and Minter when he first took over, instead suggesting that it's ok to let players come and go rather than consistently overpay. The idea was to only pay large money for true difference-makers, and fill the other roles with reasonably priced veterans and young players. Just look back at the contracts given out by Hurney in his first two years and how he talked about them. Look at the kind of things we did with Stephen Davis and Jake Delhomme. We thought Delhomme had a chance to be good, but that's not the main reason we got him. We got him because established quarterbacks were going at prices far beyond their value, and Hurney rightly believed that you could be successful by signing a promising but unproven player to a reasonably priced contract. During the '04 season when we gave out some extensions, and certainly in the off-seasons since then, we've totally abandoned that plan Hurney talked about previously.

The fact is that Morgan only made the Pro Bowl because it was a terrible year for NFC MLBs. And '04 was the first time Morgan even ranked as above average in tackles per game, and even last season he just barely squeaked into the top ten. Given his injury history and the fact that his performance has never even been close to the hype, I have a very hard time believing he would have gotten anywhere near this money in free agency. Even if he did, we would have been better off letting him walk and finding a less talented inexpensive player, since throwing all this money at him will mean that we can't spend it at other positions. And that's really the key component that people tend to forget. Sure, it's always bad to overpay for something, but in a limited money environment like the salary cap, every dollar you invest in a position is one dollar that you can't spend at any other position.



HAVEPSL:

Even when healthy, Morgan is not a top five linebacker. He's not even a top five middle linebacker. And the fact that almost half of the contract is in bonus money means that we can't get out from under the money later on. For instance, assuming we keep him around next season, that means $10 million in bonus money spread out over the length of the contract. But if he keeps getting hurt or we want to cut him for some other reason, every bit of that bonus money is already committed to the cap and will accelerate at whatever time we choose to part ways with him.

This is unquestionably a horrible, horrible contract. Theoretically I'd even be ok with giving him $4 million a year if at least $3 million of that was in base money, because he'd have to earn it by actually being on the field, since we could cut him and minimize our commitment at any point. Giving him $5 million plus is insane enough, but giving almost half of it in guaranteed bonus money is just crazy. Giving that much bonus money to a player who has been constantly injured, had only one above average season even when healthy, and isn't particularly useful on third downs is so stupid that I think I'm a little in shock.



ColinG:
It's an interesting thought, but I'm pretty darn sure that the owners would lock out rather than play an uncapped year. The players obviously would love to get out from under the cap, but the teams wouldn't even consider it. The only meaningful thing the lack of a CBA extension means at this point is a limitation on how many years bonus money can be spread over (5, if I'm not mistaken).



Trashman1962:

Actually that's very, very unlikely to be true. Most of those contracts get larger the further they go along, meaning that if they're overpaid now, they're still going to be overpaid in future seasons unless contracts inflate enormously (very unlikely, given the cap). Really the only way the situation changes is if the players continue to improve, such that Delhomme plays like Tom Brady, Smitty plays like Torry Holt, and Morgan plays like Ray Lewis.

 

Normally, I'll as often disagree about the ideal of jettisoning our guys for cheaper alternatives. I don't in this case.
And I hate to bag on Morgan.

But in this case, we're paying a guy a ton of money to have a bland game that doesn't in any way give us anything that anyone else doesn't already give. He's not the exceptional blitzer we lack, or the exceptional coverage linebacker, or the rock solid run defender.

As it is, the guy will only play two downs, and with the speed we'll otherwise have on the field, I wouldn't have been averse to having a run-based MLB in here that can hold his gap, knife through blocks and not play contain the whole time.

 

Just for the sake of comparison, Edgerton Hartwell was considered one of the top free agents on the market this off-season (even though he's not very well known amongst fans), because he's an outstanding MLB when it comes to stuffing the run (had 142 tackles in '02 when Lewis was out, then 93 and 96 while playing alongside him). He's been in the league just as long as Morgan, is bigger, and hasn't had any injury problems. He only got $26 million ($8 million of that in bonus) from the Falcons over six years as an unrestricted free agent. That's less overall money, less bonus, and one more year for a superior MLB.