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Rams43
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dzrams
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dzrams
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VANRAM
right now....i would agree to a 3 year and opt out and make the contract smaller.. just want him signed...
A 3 year with an opt out gains the Rams nothing. Absolutely nothing.
In fact, it hurts their cap situation in the process.
It’s not gonna happen.
The way the CBA is written, teams have 3 franchise tags available whenever the contract ends. The CBA also expressly provides that teams and players cannot contract away the tags. Thus, I'm pretty sure that even if there was an opt out, the Rams would have franchise tags to use after the contract ends which presumably would be when he exercises the opt out option.
So the Rams would gain potentially having him for 6 years instead of 3 years.
Very interesting take, dz.
If true, though, wouldn’t it be reasonable to assume that AD’s agent would also be aware of it?
And how would such a scenario affect the agreed upon amount in AD’s first 3 years? Maybe inflate it even further, I’m afraid.
And, if so, why not just do the triple tag starting in ‘19 while maintaining maximum leverage and be done with haggling while the chips fall where they may?
I'm sure his agent is aware of it but there's nothing he can do b/c neither party has authority to ignore the CBA. And if they sign a 5 or 6 year deal, now you're looking at the Rams controlling him for up to 9 years. So a shorter contract would still help AD despite the tag options being there. (I don't know if AD is seeking a short contract, just discussing if he is...)
As far as structure, it doesn't have to inflate anything further or hurt the salary cap. It would only make sense if AD agrees to a lower guaranteed amount. For example:
Scenario 1: $138M / 6 years, $80M guaranteed, $23M annually
Scenario 2: $69M / 3 years, $40M guaranteed, $23M annually
If both scenarios were amortized evenly over the years, there would literally be no difference on the salary cap. It would be a $23M hit per year in both scenarios. There is a lot of flexibility to structure it differently depending on the parties' goals.
There is no question that doing the triple tags is the best way to go financially for the Rams. So why are they even talking extension? I can think of three reasons:
One is b/c the tags are paying Donald so much less than his market value that he possibly would refuse to play under the tag.
Two, they recognize he is so underpaid and they just want to do right by the player.
Three, they want him on the team for more than the next 3 years and they know that if they play the tag game, it's all but guaranteed that he's gone after that.
So, I keep coming back to the original question. Why wouldn’t AD just sign for his $22 million per for 5-6 years with the appropriate guarantees of $80-90 million and be done with it?
Is he willing to put up with the aggravation and take the injury risk this year for a mere extra million per year? If I’m his father I would advise him to take the money and guaranteed and run.
One answer could be that an offer for $22M isn't on the table. Right?
I just ran the numbers for 3 years of franchise tags.
'19 - $14M
'20 - $17.5M (2019 salary * 1.25)
'21 - $25.2 (2020 salary * 1.44)
Total is $56.7M over 3 years which breaks down to $18.9M per year.
Interestingly enough, that $18.9M is very close to my guess of the offer currently on the table of $19M. The Rams position could be that we can control you for the next 3 years at this amount but you'd have more guaranteed money than if we tagged you for 3 years.
It's one more data point for why I don't think the Rams are offering anything close to $22M per year with $80-$90M guaranteed. I've mentioned before, I suspect the difference between what AD is asking and the Rams are currently offering is possibly in the $6M range.
I seriously doubt any haggling is over a mere extra million or two per year.