Keim Time Year 2 Upgrading The Offense

[Reddog]

This is the second time in fairly recent posts that I have seen this idea expressed when discussing player contracts.

The agent works for the player, not the other way around. Certainly the agent will strongly counsel the player against agreeing to a pay cut, because the agent's main focus is maximizing earnings, for both the player and himself. But that decision is up to the player not the agent. To say the agent won't let them makes no sense.

I'll get down now. . .

Fitz is a smart guy with a smart agent. He is not the kind of guy that hires Master P. Bottom line is the Cards desperately wanted to keep him and did a deal that he continues to earn. No way a smart agent lets him take a pay cut two years into an eight year deal when the guy is playing in the ProBowl. If it was in Larry's best interest then sure a good agent will consider all options. But Larry has all the leverage right now unless we outright cut him and even then we are strapped with a boatload of dead money.

 

[kerouac9]

Restructure a contract that will better insure the player, and his agent, will see money in the future. Thinking the Cardinals will honor the entire length of the contract (when it is designed specifically to do the opposite) is silly. You can't CUT an extremely unlikely scenario.

Nope. A player wants to restructure the contract so that he sees as much as possible right now, because money is more valuable now than down the road, and there's a certain uncertainty to money down the road.

Even converting $8M of his 2014 salary into a roster bonus drives his future cap numbers into craziness.

Something's going to have to happen in 2015 with regard to Fitz's actual salary. There's nothing selfless about taking an eight-figure check right now instead of parcelled out over 17 weeks starting nine months ago.

 

[Paso Fino]

O Line for sure

Watching the Broncos one things stands out. Peyton gets great great pass protection from his offensive line. I think emphasis on the O line is critical.

 

[Arizona's Finest]

Watching the Broncos one things stands out. Peyton gets great great pass protection from his offensive line. I think emphasis on the O line is critical.

Actually the Broncos would be exhibit A for why the QB is much more important to the perception of effective protection. Their line is mediocre at best and lost their premiere guy early in Clady. Peyton is just so good with moving protections, feeling in the pocket, and getting rid of the ball quick he makes that group up front look better then they are.

Did the same thing in Indy. Brady's made guys in NE millions upfront year after year. It's not a coincidence and one reason the Oline looked so much better the Warner years and even this year opposed to last year with arguably much worse talent. Palmer holds the ball too long, but is savvy as a vet and made them look better then they are especially when you look at PFFs one on one matchups and analysis of our line this year.

Resigning Winston, adding Albert, and getting Cooper back SHOULD give us one of the better lines in Az history.

 

[Duckjake]

Actually the Broncos would be exhibit A for why the QB is much more important to the perception of effective protection. Their line is mediocre at best and lost their premiere guy early in Clady. Peyton is just so good with moving protections, feeling in the pocket, and getting rid of the ball quick he makes that group up front look better then they are.

Did the same thing in Indy. Brady's made guys in NE millions upfront year after year. It's not a coincidence and one reason the Oline looked so much better the Warner years and even this year opposed to last year with arguably much worse talent. Palmer holds the ball too long, but is savvy as a vet and made them look better then they are especially when you look at PFFs one on one matchups and analysis of our line this year.

Resigning Winston, adding Albert, and getting Cooper back SHOULD give us one of the better lines in Az history.

A good example: 2003 the Cards had 3 first round selections and a 2nd on their offensive line and you never hear them talked about as a good offensive line in large part because of the QB situation. Of course the rest of the team was terrible and so was the record.

 

[Cardiac]

I totally agree. I think Somers is WAY off here. I expect TE to be a big time target in offseason. Pitta, Pettigre, or a first 3 round pick IMO.

Move Housler down to #2, and keep Ballard OR Dray but not both. 2 TEs are on the field ALL the time in BA's offense.

Fully agree with all of this and especially bolded part.

On the topic of Fitz and his CAP number:

Cutting or trading Fitz will save 8 mil on the CAP this year with 10 mil in dead money. While saving 8 mil sounds like a lot it creates a huge hole at WR which will take both draft and FA capital to fix and ergo a good amount of the CAP space you "freed" up by cutting him.

Has Floyd shown enough that we believe he can be a true #1 WR? Andre Roberts will not be a Card next year (his choice) so we will need to get a quality WR in FA which won't be cheap.

 

[GuernseyCard]

This "pay cut" talk is assuming Larry is paid like an hourly/salary employee. The way Fitz's contract is structured he will only see:

1. Prorated portion of his Signing Bonus - 100%
2. Any Guaranteed Salary written into the contract - 100% (I could find no information confirming or denying any/percentage of his Base Salary being guaranteed)
3. Workout Bonus. 0% if he is released.
4. Base Salary for each game played. 0% if he is released.

His contract structure almost insures Larry will not be a Cardinal (or any other team) under the current contract, for the 2015 season. Heck, you could make the argument that it would make more sense to take the "Dead Money" hit, now.

Even though it is impossible to CUT what is guaranteed, it is very likely the rest of the contract won't be worth the paper it is written on, in the near future. It doesn't matter if Fitzgerald wants to play his entire career with Arizona, it doesn't matter if he wants to help the team and the Salary Cap... what does matter is Fitz's (and his agent's) practical intelligence.

Restructure a contract that will better insure the player, and his agent, will see money in the future. Thinking the Cardinals will honor the entire length of the contract (when it is designed specifically to do the opposite) is silly. You can't CUT an extremely unlikely scenario.

Thank you.

And this why some of using have been saying that going into 2015 is when the new deal is cut.

 

[GuernseyCard]

Fully agree with all of this and especially bolded part.

On the topic of Fitz and his CAP number:

Cutting or trading Fitz will save 8 mil on the CAP this year with 10 mil in dead money. While saving 8 mil sounds like a lot it creates a huge hole at WR which will take both draft and FA capital to fix and ergo a good amount of the CAP space you "freed" up by cutting him.

Has Floyd shown enough that we believe he can be a true #1 WR? Andre Roberts will not be a Card next year (his choice) so we will need to get a quality WR in FA which won't be cheap.

And you can free up that CAP space by cutting him a cheque lowering his 2014 salary, prorated over the length of the existing deal.

 

[Cardiac]

And you can free up that CAP space by cutting him a cheque lowering his 2014 salary, prorated over the length of the existing deal.

The issue with this is that it kicks the can down the road. The last 3 years of his deal the CAP hit is 15 mil but with no dead money if he is cut. So I agree that they should restructure his salary into bonus to lower his CAP number this year.

 

[GuernseyCard]

The issue with this is that it kicks the can down the road. The last 3 years of his deal the CAP hit is 15 mil but with no dead money if he is cut. So I agree that they should restructure his salary into bonus to lower his CAP number this year.

On your first point: Yes, it does for at least one season, but, after just a few years on his existing deal, I don't see what other viable option there is if Fitz's deal is deemed essential to creating CAP space in 2014.

 

[Cardiac]

On your first point: Yes, it does for at least one season, but, after just a few years on his existing deal, I don't see what other viable option there is if Fitz's deal is deemed essential to creating CAP space in 2014.

We agree.

 

[GatorAZ]

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3m to fill 10 spots? Eeek!