They are protecting themselves in case a team comes up and tries to offer him a Jared Cook type deal and I hate to tell you folks...Clay IS in that top 7 or 8 of TE's so he's going to get paid. It's actually genius to use the transition tag as teams are loathe to write a contract for another team to match. This could take players off the table and then they come back with a $5.5 to $6.5 year average. No way does a $7 million transition tag mean Clay is getting $7 million a year (although I'd have no problem with that on a 4 year deal).
in a heart beat. That means another team is severely wasting their money. I'm all for using the tag and then negotiating a long term contract that is around the 4-5m range per year. maybe with some escalation/incentives. But for 7m and if another team wants to offer more, good luck to them on overspending. It'll be about time another team did it that isn't miami (Miami had the highest paid WR's in the whole NFL last year...that worked well for us right?)
Your first sentence, I think that's the idea. They're willing to pay a little extra to prevent him from becoming a FA while they negotiate a longer term deal.
So another team wastes money and we lose one of our young, talented players. That's what you want? Charles Clay was a late round project and we developed him into a pretty damn good tight end. Those are the players you hold on to in order to build a winning team. Unless the money he wants is outrageous (which it isn't), we should be doing everything we can to keep him in Miami.
sims moves up and gator or another FA comes in as #1/2: jordan cameron, virgil green, rob housler, lance kendricks, niles paul, or draft. all of them are equal if not better catching TE's and most of them are better blocking too. maybe not niles paul for blocking.
you overpay then you'll have holes elsewhere... 7m is outrageous. Like I said, I'm all for using this to negotiate a longer term deal that is reasonable, but 1 year 7m is not reasonable.
I love Cameron as a receiver, still remember what he did to us two years ago, but his concussions make me skittish.
Good post. Keep the guys who you've groomed and build the team nucleus around them, supplement those guys with FA when necessary but the best and highest paid players should be homegrown.
Or, we could just list him on the depth chart as a WR and call him a bargain, and then draft a real TE like Jesse James in the 4th round.
still don't get why we wouldn't pay Gresham, IF he is presumably available at a 'cheaper' salary. he is the same age, bigger, better end zone threat, I believe faster, and is no worse a blocker than Clay. Outside of 'knowing the system' ... I don't see the higher $$$ value of Clay to Gresham. Clay hasn't stayed on the field the last 2 seasons ... why would be bank on that to change? especially for that $$$ ...
To add some perspective: http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/1...greg-olsen-3-year-extension-worth-225-million
Don't trust Omar first mistake. But, yeah I could see the Bills throwing $8mil+/year. He is not worth that, so I'd move on. Don't be surprised if he tries to stay in Miami for less. Don't think the kid is dumb and realizes a good thing with Tannehill in Lazor much better than Manuel/Cassell mess in Buff.
Even for 3.5 mil a year? Okay maybe...but I'm fine with "overpaying" when the number is that low. It's a gamble obviously, Green doesn't have many catches in his career but he's a pretty good blocker, better than Clay, also faster and more athletic and every bit as versatile, report said no less than 13 teams contacted his agent about him.
