Yeah, the obvious argument from RJ and his agent is that he's outperformed his contract and wants to renegotiate now even tho there is a year left on the current contract, which is not an uncommon ploy to use. Irish is countering that with 'you've only outperformed your contract one year of the three you've been here' while throwing in all the 'we don't renegotiate contracts that have time left on them' ploy from his perspective. I mean, if they are serious about wanting to resolve his situation sooner rather than later, to have him sit out and THEN renegotiate the contract is a big loss for the team, however, if he's in camp under the guise that Ireland will be more willing to talk renegotiation with him, then the onus shifts back to Irish to make the next move, particularly if we start hearing from RJs camp now that 'I'm back and they still aren't talking to me'. Again, this is called negotiating...we'll see. However, while RJ did have a good year, that's all he's done so far, one year. I can't blame Irish if he waits this out until later in the year or even next offseason before FA actually begins...
It'll get done mid way through the season, I guess. That'll be enough time for RJ to prove his play wasn't a fluke, and avoid RJ having leverage if they wait till after the season.
If it's not done in camp it won't be done. Once the season starts he'll play the market next year. Whole point in doing these contracts a year early is to get them while they may be cheaper. The second you start dealing with franchise tags and FA etc....then that's where the money talks start instead of where they could have ended up earlier.
Dont get me wrong...I am not criticizing teams for doing it. Its their right, and its their looking out for their interest. Just as a player holding out for a better contract is him looking out for his interest. Its economics...the invisible hand guiding the market to equilibrium.
It's a positive development that he's back for OTA's (even though he never left). I would doubt that he gets a contract extension before the regular season starts though.
I saw the holdout coming, but Ireland is not going to give him an extension until after dead cap space clears.
In other news, Jamar Taylor was absent from OTAs. It wasn't because of school rules, nor because of his contract situation. But rather because of a hernia surgery he just underwent, that we're only just finding out about. Lovely.
Barry Jackson reports that Taylor had the surgery today, and that he's going to miss all the OTA's and minicamp due to the expected 4-6 weeks recovery time.
Was looking at the numbers to try to get a sense of the $s in play... http://www.overthecap.com/top-player-salaries.php?Position=S http://www.pewterreport.com/Boards/...4.0.html?PHPSESSID=vp29al543g2ig3ef6s17cgint5 if Jones puts up a solid Pro Bowl/alternate type year, he's looking at 6-7mm per yr. The best comps are Kam Chancellor of Seattle who got 4yrs at $7mm per and William Moore who got 5yrs at $6mm. Goldson got $8mm but that's all-pro money. If he has another solid year like last, where he's a top 10-12 safety, he'd still likely command $5-6mm, IMO. If we extend, we'd likely want a discount for the increase to this years salary and the risk we shoulder that last year was a fluke. So, say we sign him for $4mm per and get a bit less guaranteed. That suggest an avg savings of $1.5mm and as much as $3mm per year. Seems like a good bet for some needed savings given we'll need to extend Tannehill and potentially resign Soliai and/or Grimes. Full disclosure: I'm by no means an expert on salary slotting, just looked at the rankings and recent deals on the top guys. I have no idea if we would/could lock him down for $4mm per.
