This signing was a bit surprising to me but I have two takeaways.
1) It says nothing about how they view Everett by the way it’s structured. Since it’s basically a two year contract, they can get out of it at the same time Everett’s contract is ending.
2) It definitely tells us what their strategy is in keeping the team together. Namely, they are addressing the contracts in the order that they are ending. Which means that Kupp, Johnson, and Everett likely won’t be addressed for 2 years. Managing the cap is a bit like juggling. And the Kupp/Johnson/Everett balls are at the height of their trajectory. They haven’t even begun to come down yet.
Which means that next up are Littleton, Peters, Fowler, and Blythe. My guess is Littleton, possibly Peters. I think they’re taking a wait and see approach on Fowler for sure and possibly Peters. I’d be surprised if they think highly enough of Blythe to extend him early.
So out of the next 4, my money is on Littleton being the next in line. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Peters extended but they’d have to be convinced now that they want to retain him as part of the core and I suspect that they need to see a little bit of performance from him this season before deciding that.
