I doubt it. For him not to come out he probably is doing pretty good financially anyway, and he still will be doing good next year even if he getting less than he could of this year.
Basically it's a tough situation for a rookie QB in Detroit. He's going to face a lot of scrutiny with all the money he's being paid. He will lose a lot of games. He will throw a lot of picks. Then the media is going to question the pick. Meanwhile, on the Lions side, it's tough not to start a guy who's being paid $78M.
That's because he's a not a QB. If Matt Ryan was taken number one last year, he definitely wouldn've gotten more than $31 million. It's crazy though that Stafford got more guaranteed money than Albert Haynesworth got from the Redskins after proving himself as a monster in the league. Say hello to a rookie wage scale starting in 2011!
Cassel never actually played in college so he doesn't really count. Plus, Sanchez has all the makings of Leinart 2.0 -- "great natural QB instincts, reads defense well, makes the right decisions, but his deep ball accuracy sucks". NFL teams never learn.
This is why the vets are getting pissed off. He's never played a down, and he's getting paid more than one of the best defensive players in the league.
Hi, I'm a weapon. Sorry, couldn't resist. I think the Lions should get one of the big two running backs with their second #1. A good running game could take some pressure off. The Lions are going to need a while to right the ship.
Why are the rookie contracts so huge? There is no regulation on them right? Why do the teams just keep increasing the money so fast? Carr signed for 15 million Mario for 26, it has almost doubled since then? WTF?
I know for a fact that Bill Belichick isn't keen on having high draft picks in the first round for this very reason. Paying a lot of money to an unproven player can mess with your team's financial situation for years. This is a big reason why the Patriots took the early second rounder for Cassell instead of going for a first rounder; it's almost analogous to a late first round pick, but doesn't have the financial implications of a pick in the 1st. This is another reason why I think being a crappy team and having the 1st pick can be more of a curse than a gift. If you make the wrong pick, you can handicap yourself pretty badly.
This will make them want to "surround him with weapons" drafting receivers with their 1st pick every year, repeating the Joey Harrington cycle all over again.
These teams should just hardball the first rounders. How they let the money go from 15 million in 2002 to 40 million in 2009 is just bad negotiating. You have their rights, they can either show up or wait a year and go in the thrid round next year.
It's a player's league and it's pretty outrageous. If you have the 1st pick, you have to be ready to shell out $35M (now $42M+) in guaranteed money, that is simply ridiculous. The fact that the Lions signed him to $41.7 ($10M more than the highest ever) guaranteed is just terrible negotiating/management.
The salary explosion in all sports is bad negotiating. It's like the former chairman of Continental Airlines said about his industry a few years ago: "We are all as smart as our dumbest competitor". If the NBA didn't have a rookie scale, it might be worse than the NFL.
If your team was 0-16 last year, how would you feel as a fan if your team wasn't willing to pay your #1 overall pick? That's the ultimate problem teams face. How would Texans fans have felt if they had picked Mario Williams and then just decided not to sign him after going 2-14 the previous year?
Just leak that he is asking for 40 million and I think you would have support. Football is not a sport where the 1st rounder even if awesome makes or breaks your team. Mario has been awesome and our defense, specifically our d-line still sucks.
