Tag: contract

There’s someone else to blame for Cowboys coaching woes

Jerry Jones is disappointed in Jason Garrett’s coaching ability, but he knew what he had in the Cowboys coach.

Anyone who has watched the Cowboys kind of knew what was going to happen when Dallas was driving for a game-tying score with under seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter against the Patriots in Foxborough. We’ve seen it before. The Cowboys offense gets desperate, they stall and are left with a long fourth-down conversion or in this case the option to take a field goal. The failed fourth-down conversion happened in the Cowboys game against the Vikings. Dallas got conservative while Dak Prescott was absolutely cooking the Minnesota defense. The Cowboys ran the ball twice and failed to convert.

In the New England game, the Cowboys ran two desperation passes on second and third down and settled for a field goal. It makes sense when you’re down seven in a torrential downpour and heavy winds against the best defense in the league to kick the field goal to remain a score down. When you need a touchdown, always kick the field goal to still need a touchdown. Not surprisingly, Jerry Jones wasn’t exactly happy with the coaching in the game or the results.

The internet was not kind to the man at the helm of the Cowboys. Jason Garrett got absolutely roasted.

That’s fine. Many a coach has been outsmarted by Bill Belichick. The problem isn’t that Garrett was beaten by one of the best to ever coach. The problem is that he was even in this position in the first place.

See, Garrett’s coaching has been questionable for a while now. You don’t get a meme made up about you unless you’re very good or very bad. We’ll have you guess which one Garrett is.

Sure, he’s been able to coach some Cowboys teams to the playoffs, but no one would ever say Dallas had a coaching edge. He started off his career as perfectly mediocre with an 8-8 record in his first three full-time years. Since then the Cowboys have been up and down. Now they are 6-5 with one of the most talented teams in the NFL. Going into Week 12, Dallas was fourth in DVOA behind only New England, Baltimore, and Kansas City. They were ahead of San Francisco. They should be better than their record.

They aren’t because of Garrett, but maybe Garrett shouldn’t be in this situation. You can’t complain about the meal when you bought the groceries to make it. Jerry Jones knew exactly what he was getting himself into this year. He’s had a soft spot for Garrett ever since he took over as head coach and started out with that constant .500 record. Some folks say Jones liked keeping Garrett around because the head coach was never going to be a bigger star than the owner. Garrett is quiet and reserved. Jones can say and do whatever he wants and there won’t be any issues. That makes some sense. Maybe Jones has a soft spot for Garrett since he was around during the last time the Cowboys were truly Super Bowl contenders. We can guess all day as to why the Garrett-Jones relationship has worked out for so long.

It shouldn’t matter. Dallas knew it had something to build on this year, and they also knew that their window could be short with the impending contracts of Dak Prescott and Amari Cooper. This was the year. They have one of the best offenses in the NFL. They have a talented defense, yet coaching comes back to bite them at an inopportune time more often than not.

It would have been hard to move on from Garrett after Dallas won the NFC East in 2018 — over a disappointing Eagles team — and even won a playoff game. It still would have been the right move. Sometimes teams need to move on from their coach to reach the next level. We know Garrett’s ceiling. Jerry Jones knows Garrett’s ceiling as well, yet he brought him back to coach anyway. If Jones had a ton of faith that Garrett was the answer, he would have extended Garrett’s contract in the offseason. He didn’t. Garrett is a lame-duck coach.

So Jones shouldn’t be surprised when the Cowboys get outcoached week in and week out. He knew what he was getting. If only there was someone who could have made the decision to move on from Garrett in the offseason. Someone like the owner.

Future of Saints QB situation graded as too complicated to covet

The New Orleans Saints might have the NFL’s best quarterback situation in 2019, but free agency looms for Drew Brees and Teddy Bridgewater.

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The New Orleans Saints quarterbacks depth chart is one that should be the envy of the NFL. Drew Brees is a Hall of Fame-bound passer, sitting comfortably on top. Teddy Bridgewater proved his worth as a backup who can win games in this league. And Taysom Hill is a dynamic reserve who can fill in at almost any position, up to and including quarterback.

But according to our friends over at Touchdown Wire, that short-term strength comes with a price. All three of those quarterbacks are going to be free agents after this season, and the Saints have a tough decision to make on whether to keep Brees or Bridgewater. It’s possible they’re able to re-sign both of them, but Bridgewater will have earned far more opportunities — and much bigger contract demands — than what he was offered in the last signing cycle. And that potential instability ranks New Orleans’ outlook at the position low among the league; at No. 24, to be exact:

If this ranking pertained only to this season, the Saints might be No. 1. They have a future Hall of Famer in Drew Brees and, when he missed five games with a thumb injury, backup Teddy Bridgewater went 5-0. The Saints should have a deep playoff run this year. But, after that, things get cloudy in a hurry. Brees will turn 41 in January. He’s still going strong. It’s difficult to imagine the Saints choosing to keep Bridgewater as the starter over Brees because coach Sean Payton and Brees have such a close working relationship. It’s also difficult to imagine Bridgewater choosing to stay in New Orleans as a backup when he could likely get a starting job in free agency. Third-stringer Taysom Hill never will rise to the starting role. He’s a multipurpose threat and is used mostly on gimmick plays. Unless the Saints find a magical way to keep Bridgewater, it will be time to start looking for an eventual replacement for Brees. “Don’t be surprised if the Saints find a way to keep Bridgewater,” a panelist said. “(General manager Mickey) Loomis and Payton can be very charming. The smart move is to keep Teddy, even if he’s your backup for another year or two until Brees retires. They’ll be willing to throw good cash at him.”

To put a more optimistic spin on it: the Saints have at least two NFL quarterbacks in the building they can put faith in, and they’ll probably have their pick of them in the spring. Bridgewater will be able to command a starting quarterback’s salary in the range of $20 million or better per year, which is close to the decreased salary Brees agreed to accept the last time his contract ran out.

The Saints can afford to keep one of them, but they’ll be hard-pressed to recruit Bridgewater if Brees is determined to continue playing. At least Hill can return on a low-cost restricted free agent tender, at least for one more year.

Fortunately, the Saints have plenty of time to figure this situation out. Hopefully they’ll be able to do so with everyone crowded around the Lombardi Trophy after winning Super Bowl LIV.

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What could a Jamal Adams extension look like?

Jamal Adams will want to be the highest-paid safety in NFL history, and the Jets can’t afford to wait to sign him if they want to keep him.

If Christopher Johnson really wants Jamal Adams to be a Jet for life, he’s going to have to pony up a lot of cash to keep Adams in New York.

Though the Jets control Adams through the 2021 season if they pick up his fifth-year option, they’d be apt to offer him an extension sooner rather than later, both as a show of good faith after a chaotic year and because of the potential price tag he could command in two years.

Adams is currently the 18th highest-paid safety with the $22.2 million rookie deal he signed in 2017 after the Jets took him sixth overall, but he will soon earn a much bigger salary. The Jets have three options with Adams: They can sign him to a contract extension at any point after this season, pick up his fifth-year option by May 3, 2020, or do nothing and let him play out the final year of his contract and let him hit free agency at the end of the 2020 season.

The Jets should take the first option if they truly believe Adams is the face of their franchise and the future of their defense. 

What would it take to sign Adams to a long-term deal? Well, you’d have to look at the two record-setting contracts signed by safeties Landon Collins and Kevin Byard last offseason. Collins signed a six-year, $84 million contract with the Redskins in March that included $44.5 million in guaranteed money. With an average annual salary of $14 million, he became the highest-paid safety in the NFL until Byard signed a five-year, $70.5 million extension with the Titans in July that included $31 million guaranteed and will pay him an average of $14.1 million annually.

Byard’s yearly salary is the starting point for Adams’ contract extension. In all likelihood, Adams would want somewhere close a $15 million annual salary, which isn’t completely unthinkable given Adams’ play of late.

The Jets also can’t afford to wait longer than this offseason to extend Adams because of the other safeties in line for massive deals.

If the Jets exercised Adams’ fifth-year option today, it would cost around $11.81 for the 2021 season. Since Adams was a top-10 pick, his option is calculated by taking the average of the top 10 safety salaries. That $11.81 million number could increase if another safety signs a deal that vaults him into the top 10.

That’s below anything Adams would ask for in a contract extension this winter, but by pushing the Jets’ deadline to sign Adams long-term by another season it could potentially raise the floor well for Adams if other safeties sign bigger deals.

The three names Joe Douglas will have to watch if he plays the waiting game are the Vikings’ Harrison Smith, the Bears’ Eddie Jackson and the Chargers’ Derwin James. Smith is up for an extension after the 2021 season when he’ll turn 32, so the odds of him setting the market price are low. James is already one of the best safeties in the league but also isn’t eligible for a new deal until after the 2021 season unless the Chargers exercise his fifth-year option where he’ll have to wait until after 2022. 

The price could go up for Adams if the Jets wait for Jackson’s impending deal.

Jackson is two years older than Adams and much more of a ballhawk, but he’s also one of the best safeties in the league and could easily sign a bigger deal than Byard and Collins as early as this offseason. If the Bears choose to extend Jackson before the Jets extend Adams, it could massively affect Adams’ asking price down the road.

The Jets shouldn’t wait for any of these dominos to fall. Getting Adams locked up before the market resets will be crucial to Joe Douglas’ ability to remake the roster and keep Adams at the same time. He’ll have at minimum $46.4 million to spend in 2020, and that’s before he inevitably cuts other contracts for overpaid players like Trumaine Johnson.

Yes, spending upward of $15 million per year on a safety is a massive risk for the Jets given the holes in various other positions on the roster. But for someone like Adams, it’s worth it given his performance this year. The Jets won’t just be paying for an incredible defensive back, but they’ll be paying for a top-flight pass rusher as well.

Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams has been able to unlock Adams’ versatility both in coverage and as a pass rusher. He’s blitzed Adams at multiple positions on the field – edge, safety, cornerback – which helped Adams notch five sacks the past two weeks (six on the season) and put him on pace to break the NFL record for most sacks by a defensive back (eight).

According to Next Gen Stats, Adams blitzed an average of 5.2 times per game over the first eight games of the season. Adams lined up as an edge rusher 14 times against the Redskins, rushed 13 times and finished with a 26.4 pass-rush win percentage, per Pro Football Focus. On the season, he ranks first among defensive backs in blitzes (55) and quarterback pressures (12). Though he only has one interception on the season, Adams has broken up six passes and allowed a completion percentage of 53.8 percent and a passer rating of 78.7 when targeted.

Retaining Adams will come at a hefty price, but it will be worth it to preserve the closest thing the Jets have to a superstar. Generational defensive talents don’t come around often and the Jets would be wise to lock theirs up for the foreseeable future.

Nick Easton gets the start at left guard for the Saints

The New Orleans Saints started veteran left guard Nick Easton in relief of injured starter Andrus Peat against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

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The New Orleans Saints are without starting left guard Andrus Peat for about six weeks following surgery on his broken arm, so they turned to veteran Nick Easton to fill in for him. It’s a surprising decision only in the sense that Easton hasn’t taken a single snap on offense since the Saints signed him to a four-year, $22.5 million contract earlier this year. Before Sunday’s game with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Easton was a healthy scratch in six of the Saints’ first nine games.

Instead, New Orleans has preferred to activate backups Will Clapp and Patrick Omameh. That’s probably due to Clapp’s upside in overloaded offensive line sets, putting him out on the edge next to left tackle Terron Armstead or right tackle Ryan Ramczyk. Omameh can play both guard and tackle, making him a go-to reserve. That lack of versatility (Easton has only played center and left guard in the NFL) may help explain the decision to keep an expensive free agent on the bench after younger players like Peat and rookie center Erik McCoy won starting jobs ahead of him.

So now Easton is in the lineup, and he’s done a good job of avoiding mistakes early in the game against Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers have a decent pass rush that’s improved with the addition of Jason Pierre-Paul, so he’ll have his work cut out for him as the afternoon continues.

It’s a big opportunity for Easton outside of the immediate playing-time he’s getting in relief of Peat. Peat is a free agent in the spring and likely going to earn a contract near the top of the market; if Easton plays well, he has to be the favorite to take Peat’s spot at left guard in the long-term. His contract features just $4 million in guarantees, making it a much more affordable deal for New Orleans than the totals may suggest. How he performs over the next six weeks could end up being even more important than it appears at first glance. He’s playing for his future.

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Andrus Peat expected to miss six weeks with a broken arm

The New Orleans Saints lost starting left guard Andrus Peat to a broken arm against the Atlanta Falcons, and he’s expected to miss six weeks

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Bad news hit the New Orleans Saints on Wednesday, with ESPN’s Adam Schefter reporting that left guard Andrus Peat suffered a broken arm in Sunday’s loss to the Atlanta Falcons. Peat went through surgery Wednesday and the team expects him to be sidelined for six weeks, per Schefter’s report. That would put him on the shelf until their Dec. 22 game with the Tennessee Titans.

It’s a big loss for the Saints. Despite his inconsistent level of play, Peat was their best option to start at left guard as well as the immediate backup for left tackle Terron Armstead. He’ll likely be replaced by his own backup, second-year pro Will Clapp, though free-agent signee Nick Easton should also be a candidate to get playing time. Easton has been a healthy scratch in six of nine games after signing a four-year, $20 million contract with New Orleans earlier this year.

It couldn’t come at a worse time for Peat, who is scheduled to test free agency in the spring. The 25-year-old is playing out the fifth-year option of his rookie contract, guaranteeing him $9.625 million in 2019. The sad state of offensive line play around the league means he’ll have plenty of bidders looking to pay him to start at either left tackle or left guard, and probably put him out of New Orleans’ price range even with this injury.

And injury concerns are something that has dogged Peat throughout his career: he’s never played a 16-game season, despite coming close in both 2016 and 2017 with 15 games played in each outing, though his 2017 season ended with a broken leg. He missed three games in 2018 due to a sprained ankle, concussion, and broken hand, but made the Pro Bowl as an alternate. A growing list of injuries, poor positional fits (the Saints tried him out at both tackle and guard on each side of the line before settling at left guard), and a probably-high price tag mean his days in New Orleans may be numbered.

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