T.O. Suspended

[LegoDoom 0]

How many did they win w/o him or any "real" #1 WR?

One. Last year.

[mack 44]

Exactly. It's a little bittersweet and while I don't say one player makes or breaks a team, you have to have someone there that can take over a game. It nearly put me in a coma for most of it, but I don't remember any other Eagle on O showing besides him.

[LegoDoom 0]

mack, TO didn't play in the playoffs last year, just the superbowl. We won the NFCCG last year without a true #1 WR.

[mack 44]

What I'm saying is they've only got one though. I'm a Braves fan, I know all about getting there but not getting a thing out of it. I'm just saying they need someone else to show up and be able to carry a game, even if he was out last year.

[LegoDoom 0]

The problem is that McNabb is one of the people that doesn't show up in big games... and he's signed through 2012. We actually need to get better on both lines. And although I only saw the first half last night, it didn't seem like the WRs were the problem.

[mack 44]

RB isn't looking good either and Westbrook is killing me in my fantasy league. I think signing long-term with the Eagles is just a jinx now.

Theo-

Long-term contracts are fairly rare in the NFL, but more often than not you'll be cut before you get to the big $$$ part of the deal.

[LegoDoom 0]

I don't know how rare they are. QBs always get longer contracts like that and since they're supposed to be leaders of the team, they almost always redo them because they're so outrageous. McNabb will redo his deal before seeing those high base salaries in the last 3 years of the contract. Top flight WRs get 7 and 8 year deals. RBs get much shorter deals since thier careers are considerably shorter than other skill positions.

I think RB is fine with Westy and the rookie Moats (who is almost the same exact player as Westy). They Oline sucks right now. They can't seem to open up holes despite the fact that the line is huge. Westy only looking to run outside isn't helping though.

[mack 44]

Sad thing is, Westbrook's my 2nd leading receiver on the team behind Harrison and I'm somehow leading the league.

Out of the long-term deals though, how many are actually played out? I think Elway's the last one I saw that happen to and even then he was just playing for the league minimum I think.

[LegoDoom 0]

Almost nobody sees the end of the deals because NFL contracts aren't guaranteed. So it makes sense financially for a player to redo their deal or for a team to cut him since they can get either better production or better value by signing another player.

[mack 44]

That's my argument that long-term deals are rare in the sense that they acutally expire. I see someone sign some 7-year deal and I consider it only a 3-4 year deal tops.

That being said, that's why I'd back Ricky Williams not having to pay back his bonus. Screw the owners for once.

[LegoDoom 0]

Well, it's a catch 22. Since the contracts aren't guaranteed, players want more guaranteed money up front from bonuses. Because of the cap hit involved when cutting a player (the cap hit is the prorated portion of the signing bonus over the rest of the contract length), contracts have to be longer so that the cap hit isn't ginormous. As a result, players get more up front money, but their contracts are longer with the base salaries getting bigger towards the end of the contract. Eventually towards the end, the base salaries are so big that it's not feasible for owners to pay that much and since the base salaries don't result in a cap hit, the player gets cut and never sees the bigger base money.

I actually think the TO contract works out well for both parties (even though TO definitely doesn't think so). The bonuses are broken up over two separate years, so if the team wants to cut him after the 2nd year they can and the player can go get another contract and bonus from another contract. TO will make $12.5M between last year and this year. Randy Moss only made $11M after his first two seasons under his current contract.

[prenny207 1]

well all i can say is, as a coach (not football, but doesnt matter) i would have benched his ass so many times for his antics on and off the field. this crap guys are pulling as "celebrations" is not teaching kids anything good. i don't care how good a player is... its not all about them!

[Chadd 916]

The hard part is that he plays hard when he's actually on the field. If he wasn't such an asshat he would be making top dollar by now.

[LegoDoom 0]

Chadd... he definitely takes plays off and drops very catchable balls. That's easy to overlook because of the things he does when he actually catches the ball. I agree though, he might have even gotten a bonus from the stingy Eagles if he would've kept his mouth shut and not hired Douchebag Rosenhaus.

[LegoDoom 0]

Well, Andy Reid said he won't be coming back to the team this season. They've suspended him for 4 games and then are deactivating him after that.

I think we could see this coming as he put his house on the market two weeks ago. Good luck with the hall of fame.... jackass.

[mack 44]

I'm hoping they wait till the off-season to release him and not letting him get the chance to play the rest of this season.

[LegoDoom 0]

They'll release him February.... right before he's due his bonus money.

[AtlantaThrashers01 0]

They gotta pay him....hes suspended for 4 game wich he doesnt get paid like 800K out of his 3.5 this year, And the eagles also said he wont be returning with them this year.

[mik3 1]

They'll release him February.... right before he's due his bonus money.

His signing bonus will still count against the cap. That's why they're pretty much going to have to trade him at .50 on the dollar.

[mack 44]

I don't even know if they could trade him at that. I was kind of hoping he'd be cut, then him slipping in the waivers to the Broncos. They've had unreal success with problem children/prima donnas this year...

[mik3 1]

Green Bay, Minnesota, Atlanta, and the Jets will probably try to pick him up.

[LegoDoom 0]

They'll release him February.... right before he's due his bonus money.

His signing bonus will still count against the cap. That's why they're pretty much going to have to trade him at .50 on the dollar.

His signing bonus was broken up into two payments. $7.5 his first year here and then an additional $7.5 next year (if he's on the roster). So that $16M signing bonus that was announced is only going to wind up being $7.5M. There's no way they're trading him. And who trade for a guy they have to pay $8.2M next year who's unhappy with his contract? Not to mention that they could wait until next year to get him under a fresh contract and not give up anything in exchange.

They'll cut him before March and take the $6.2M cap hit instead of paying him more money.

[LegoDoom 0]

Guys... they've already said they're deactivating him. He won't be cut.

[mik3 1]

His base salary is actually really low on this contract if he were to get released. His base this year is something like 600,000.

[mik3 1]

It's only 4 weeks without pay, and he's going into arbitration within 7 days to get paid while suspended anyway.