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headslapper
The NFL took a huge hit last year in ratings. I think (and hope) Thursday night football will eventually come to an end. The NFL is still king and making lots of money, but it is very possible that the cap would actually decrease due to a drop in revenue. If anything I would guess that is more likely then it automatically going up again.
With that said, a percentage of the cap or projected cap is in order and that seems to be lacking in the discussion. It would be bad business to accept that rising prices will always rise (cue 2008 housing crash).
This unpredictable cap reality is why I like the Rams general strategy of paying up front. I prefer super high guaranteed salaries in year one and two over a signing bonus.
As to the QB discussion. Well there are only 32 starting QBs, they play the entire game and touch the ball on every possession. There are not even 32 true starters in the league, it is a very difficult position to fill and it is the biggest single factor regarding championships as a result of a position. A DT does not play every down and sees rotation. There are more then 32 starting quality DTs and it is not a position that seems to be as large of a determining factor in regards to superbowl championships.
All that's just an argument for lowballing AD. And you make the mistake of slotting him in with DTs. He's not just "a DT." He's one of the 2-3 best defenders in the league and the best DT to play in the league since Sapp, and Sapp himself is on a very short list of elite DTs to ever play in the league. Elite DTs are more rare than top qbs, frankly. Or there's more of the latter than there is of the former, going back decades.
The market sets his value at around 22-25 M. Why? Because he's going to get more than the last "best defender" contract, which was 19 M 2 years ago, and he's going to get less than recent qbs who got 2nd contracts, which is around 28 M.
Nothing else enters into it. You want him or you dont and if you do, that's what you have to pay.
You could dither around with him with tags but that's just bad management. The team is watching you and asking, do you pay your best player or not? What does working as hard as AD earn you with the Rams?
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