Ryan Mallett named the Texans starting quarterback

He used the word decent.. I heard his press conference.

 

Actually, assuming he puts together a strong finish, the franchise tag might be the smartest option. Yes, you take a giant one-year hit - but if he proves to be fool's gold (ie Nick Foles), you're not stuck in a long-term, cap-killing deal because you opened the bank vault to overpay a guy for 7 good weeks. If, OTOH, he proves to be the guy, you have control over him to negotiate a deal next offseason before he hits the open market.

 

He would make around $16 million dollars guranteed next year with the franchise tag.

It would not be the best option... you can find long-term non cap-killing deals that result in less out of pocket expense than that total figure.

 

If he has a Nick Foles-like finish to the season (which is the only scenario in which you'd consider giving him a new deal), he's going to command a long-term, high dollar contract. And he'd have all the power in that negotiation. The franchise tag gives you another 16 games to evaluate him and make a better, longer-term decision for your organization.

Franchises get wrecked handing out huge deals to flash in the pans.

 

Then let him walk.

 

Assuming he shows franchise QB potential, why would you do that?

 

Uh no.

You don't let franchise Qb's walk. Ever.

 

It's better than the alternative. Matt Cassell et al

 

Mallet might be one to believe he would be good in any system. I'm not positive that line of thinking would be at the forefront when it comes to contract negotiations because it usually isn't with athletes when most tend to follow the money. And many teams are starting to adopt and or steal from Chip Kelly just like New England did anyway.

Unless Mallet is dumb enough to sign a Kaepernick type deal, that may be a good idea... Because if it's more to do with the system than the actual quarterback _ Savage is still on deck and he may be "ready" by that point.

 

(Edit) Sorry; misread your post. Disregard.

 

No they don't... not in the era of non-guaranteed deals, and not with GM's who know how to properly structure them.

Andy Dalton's huge mega-deal is basically just a one year guaranteed deal, and can be voided with minimal repercussions. However, if he plays well... and actually wins a playoff game here or there, you continue to pay him.

In your scenario, you're paying a non-proven QB $16 million just for the chance to evaluate him even more... when you could sign him to a multi-year deal, with a signing bonus far less than the above mentioned tag, and essentially cut him (with the bonus being the only guaranteed portion) if he doesn't fit the bill.

Lastly, I am banking more on Mallett wanting to be in a situation/environment where he's most likely to succeed.... if he wants to test free agency, that's fine... he's unlikely to duplicate the hypothetical success in a completely new system.

 

I'd be really worried about handing Mallett a huge bag of cash unless he was looking truly amazing for the rest of the season, even then, I'd be nervous about it unless it was a year to year deal like they have with Kap in San Francisco.

 

That's fine... let him. He can join the litany of failed FA QB's that didn't duplicate their success elsewhere, end up being cut, and go back to being a backup within 2 years.

Or, he can stick with the system he grew up in... the system he had his first real sustained success in.

Not sure why you feel New England "stole" from Chip Kelly... they've been running hurry up/mis-matching stuff for years. If anything, Kelly is running a modified version of Sam Wyche's (and then Marv Levy's) no-huddle offense that at one point Levy petitioned Rozzele to make illegal (and then subsequently adopted it for his own team).

 

I was just repeating OB's standard line (it's his "battlefighting"), reinforcing your point that yes, "decent" is more than what you usually get out of him.

 

I thought the word "decent" meant "terrible" or is that just when it's used about a college player?

 

You're, more or less, advocating the same thing. The Bengals are paying Dalton $18MM this year; next year, he'll earn $7MM. If he's not their QB, they can walk away and the deal is essentially 2 years, $25MM and their cap is spared.

In my scenario, they pay Mallett roughly $18.5MM for one year and, if he proves worthy of being a franchise QB (he'd have, in theory, 23 starts in your system under his belt), you can then exclusively negotiate a longer-term deal with him (that could *still* be a hedge, ala Dalton).

 

It would probably be a deal like Kap

 

Dalton's proved more than Mallett.

Mallett's guaranteed money rate, even if he's successful for the rest of the season, will be less than the franchise tag, along with less than what Dalton is making.

You're just giving away money in your scenario... my scenario has him signing however many year deal that can be easily voided after 1-2 years, with minimal cap repercussions, but you still get the "evaluation" period that you're looking for, and you avoid all back-breaking long-term guaranteed money deals at all costs.

 

Just saying that line of thinking isn't usually at the forefront for athletes when it comes to contract negotiations. I don't know how he would do in another system so I'm not debating your opinion on that but he may feel differently.

I said adopted and or steal... And Belichick was spending time with Chip when he was at Oregon. Chip is very influential in the NFL.

 

Roughly the same amount as your scenario.

I would guess he'll command (and get) $12MM-$14MM for next year; that's Cutler/Bradford/Kaepernick/Smith range, which seems reasonable (granting that there's zero reason in this environment). So yes, you'd save year one dollars - roughly $4-6MM - but what's Mallett's incentivie to sign that deal? If you have an out mechanism after one year, he'd be smarter to just settle for the franchise tag. So you're going to have to give him *something* in year two, and, using Dalton's deal - I would wager it'll be, roughly, $4-6MM guarnateed.

Again, we're more or less advocating the same thing (ie creating a situation in which you're going to have to pay him handsomely to evaluate him next year while avoiding a longer-term commitment) - I'm just done with any further financial obligations sooner (if he's a bust).