Jesus...Jason Smith OT

[tennesseeboy]

Watchin NFL network rams vs vikes

 

Jason Smith....supposed to be their LT of the future....SECOND OVERALL PICK

 

30 million GUARANTEED MONEY

 

BACKUP RIGHT TACKLE in his SECOND year

 

Holy @*$&$

Ryan Leaf

Jamarcus Russell

A host of others. Being a top five pick doesn't gaurantee success.

[Doc]

No question, though, that Eugene Monroe is a success. Sebastian Vollmer, a 2nd rounder last year, is an even bigger success, one of the best in the league in his first year, though he was a second-rounder, not a first-rounder.

Again Thurm, Monroe still has a lot to prove. He was benched mid-season last year and for some reason missed the pre-season game the other night. And Vollmer is starting at RT for the Pats instead of LT, where they could have dumped Light and his $4.5M salary.

 

If anything, 2008 was the year to draft a LT. But the Bills still had Peters (and Walker and Butler).

[Sisyphean Bills]

Not necessarily. A LT can be moved to RT or a tackle can be moved to guard(Leonard Davis is the best example) and you can still get a quality player. Maybe they aren't the marquee LT the team needed but a quality starter on the OL is still a plus. A CB can be moved to Safety. WR/RB/CB's can be dangerous return men. The major exception is QB. They can't do anything else for your team, excpet of course walk on water in Tebow's case. And as a QB they get paid more than their draft slot would normally dictate. Lat year Sanchez was pick #5 and was paid $10 million more than pick number 6 an OT, $3 million more than pick no. 3, a DE, and only $1.75 million less than pick no. 2 an OT.

I see your point.

 

I was taking the term "bust" more literally, I guess. If the guy can't play at all, paying him a huge chunk of your cap and screwing around with trying him at a variety of positions only achieves to stall a team from getting better and prolong the agony of defeat. See Mike Williams: if he was what they thought he was, he should be a top 16 LT, a team leader, and anchoring our OL as I type this (albeit on the downside of a solid career where he reached All-Pro accolades, etc.). Contrastingly, I won't say Whitner is a bust, but I also don't think he was the right pick to be the cornerstone to build the Jauron era Bills upon.

[Steely Dan]

It is beyond me why owners and players can't come to agreement on a rookie cap. It is absurd that guys get fat guarantee money having never played a down of NFL ball. I don't begrudge that someone on the roster should get the dollars just not an unproven rookie.

 

I'm 90% sure there will be a rookie cap in the new CBA

 

I hate it too, but the players' association likes it, because the top 5 picks wind up driving salaries higher because they set the market. Peyton Manning's new deal is going to have to be richer than Sam Bradford's.

 

I'm not so sure about that. The bar can be set higher and faster by using money saved to sign veterans. This is just an example, the money cited probably isn't exactly accurate, but Albert Haynesworth might have gotten $150,000,000.

 

I use Haynesworth as an example because he's the most recent $100,000,0000 player who's not a QB I can think of. His play since the contract has nothing to do with my example.

 

This is good for the game because it rewards good play and that's good for both the union and NFL. It also means the next guy to negotiate a contract has a $50,000,000 higher ceiling to negotiate from. JMO

 

The NFL wants it more than the union does so I think they'll be coy and use it as a negotiating tool but I fully expect one to come out of the bargaining. Also, IMO, you'll see guaranteed contracts coming out of this.