Typical response. No one is counting anyone’s money, I’m all for open market value in a true competitive market. But comparing your career to theirs is not exactly apples to apples. They are paid by fans indirectly. Fans want consistency and high level of play, one player occupying so much of a fixed amount is not good for sport. That’s not even mentioning that athletes, actors and politicians are paid far too much for what they actually contribute to society. But that’s another discussion. Stop making excuses for these greedy players.
I think you’re a nice guy, and I don’t mean to be disrespectful at all. You’re not directly saying it but it seems you’re suggesting that there’s greed on one side and not on the other, and that’s just ridiculous. Everyone is maximizing their position here…owners included. Do you know how few active NFL MVP QBs there are? Not a whole helluva lot. I’d be maximizing the eff out of that if it was me. There are 32 owners…there are far fewer active NFL MVP QBs. As a fan, I’d really like to have the best players, and I don’t care one bit how much someone else has to spend to get that. I care a lot more about the players and their journey from what they’ve come from than I do about the McNairs.
I’m not trying to clear the owners either. I think it’s all too much. But…….this new trend of average to good QBs being paid higher than established contracts isn’t good for the game.
If fans shouldn’t care about how much their getting paid then tell the media and teams to stop telling us how much they make
I'm not sure there's owner greed here. There's a salary cap in the NFL, so for good teams at least (which Jackson would want), they are going to be spending the same amount of money regardless - it's just a matter of whether they are splitting it between more players or not. If Baltimore pays Lamar Jackson more, they are just cutting other players or trying to sign those guys to discounts. For owners, it's more of a zero-sum game than in MLB, for example. The main question is not how much to spend - but how to best spend a total amount of money in a league where you can't pay everyone.
Outside of maybe Tom Brady, every player is all about the money. And rightfully so - it's a job and they are destroying their bodies and have short careers.
Also worth noting from Baltimore's perspective, they won Superbowls with Trent Dilfer and then Joe Flacco on a rookie deal. Once they signed Flacco to a big contract, they started going downhill. They also got Lamar Jackson at the bottom of the 1st round. Their best chances at a title might be letting him go, collecting two first round picks, and getting a new QB plus some extra talent and a lot of cap space.
How does the 1st round pick compensation work for non-exclusive franchise tags? Is it any 1st round pick? Could a team go trade for #32 and give up that one? Or does it have to be your own (and what happens if you already traded yours)?
Maybe I missed it, but I don’t see you mentioning Daniel Jones, who is a decidedly average QB and not worth anything close to what he received.
Okay I wasn’t sure if you did. fair enough. His name just came to mind when thinking about average QBs getting paid. Lamar Jackson is a far superior player regardless of whatever you want to take away from this season alone. I’m not saying I’m giving him the Deshaun deal.
Yeah this is my question. Am I to believe that a team that has traded theirs could still get in on this if they had 2 firsts total? If so that would be a crock of ****.
Has to be your own first round picks. For example, Miami is not eligible to sign Lamar because they don’t own a first round pick this year. If they want him, they would have to wait until after the draft. Ravens would then acquire their ‘24 and ‘25 first round picks if they decide not to match the Dolphins contract offer to Lamar. This is how Lance Z explained it this morning. Another example would be the Broncos. Even though they have “A” first round pick, they don’t have their own so they too would have to wait until after the draft.
He had ONE great year. 38TDs. 5 Ints. in 2019. Since then…26TDs, 9 Ints…16 TDs-9 INTs…17 TDs-7INTs. A completion % never above 64.4 (66.1 in MVP year). His rushing stats have declined since the MVP year. Those stats will continue to decline. No, he is not worth trading for if you have to give up the picks AND pay him $200 million guaranteed.
Seems like the league may have figured him out and his current team who knows him better than anyone doesn’t think he’s worth the asking price. And he would cost multiple first round picks. Not seeing the appeal.
If you don't like ever higher prices, just stop going, watching or supporting in other ways like throwing out the politicians that give them tax breaks and sweetheart stadium deals. I haven't missed it at all. But I do like playing the draft games.
Teams can only trade their own first round picks. The Texans could trade the 2nd pick - but not the 12th (which they acquired from Cleveland). So a deal with Houston would send #2 '23 + their own first round pick in '24. The Ravens could, if so inclined, negotiate trade compensation - it would first require LJ to sign the tag. But once he's a Raven again - technically speaking - the 2 first round picks baseline goes away and they're merely trading him like they would any other player. So those "non-owned" first round picks come back into the picture. Again, in theory, if LJ signs the tag, the Texans could then offer 2 & 12 or build an offer around 12 (while retaining 2), etc. Baltimore may be inclined to do that if the team that signs Jackson doesn't have their own first round pick in '23.
Unfortunately, in the NFL, you have to care because of the salary cap. It's an intriguing idea (signing Lamar) - but guaranteeing huge sums of money *and* trading away extremely valuable picks - when your roster is not a Lamar Jackson away from competing - is a recipe for long-term disaster. I would absolutely hate being a Broncos fan right now. Wouldn't be terribly thrilled if I were a Brown fan, either. And I think both of those teams have better situations - pre trades - than the Texans.
