Tag: fifth year option

Should the Saints pick up fifth-year options for Marshon Lattimore, Ryan Ramczyk?

The New Orleans Saints must decide whether to pick up fifth-year options on All-Pro RT Ryan Ramczyk and Pro Bowl CB Marshon Lattimore.

[jwplayer sXRjQXFa-ThvAeFxT]

The players selected by the New Orleans Saints in the 2017 NFL Draft have formed a core for the rest of the team to build around. That draft class included key fixtures such as cornerback Marshon Lattimore, right tackle Ryan Ramczyk, free safety Marcus Williams, and running back Alvin Kamara, as well as contributors like linebacker Alex Anzalone and edge rusher Trey Hendrickson.

But now it’s time to make contract decisions for each of them. With the 2019 season in rear-view, they’re all eligible for long-term contract extensions, even with one year left on their rookie contracts. As former first-round picks, the Saints can exercise fifth-year options for Lattimore and Ramczyk, which would keep them under contract through 2021. But would doing that be worth it?

In a word: yes.

Because neither Lattimore nor Ramczyk were top-10 draft picks, their fifth-year options are worth quite a bit less than if they had been selected higher. The values for fifth-year options are determined both by draft slot (1 through 10 versus 11 to 32) and the position they play. Top-10 options are the average of the 10 highest-paid players at that position, while those picked outside of the top 10 are paid the average of the third through 25th highest salaries.

Last offseason, the Saints declined Eli Apple’s fifth-year option for 2020 — because he was the tenth overall pick back in 2016, he would have been owed more than $13.6 million in the upcoming season. Instead, he’ll likely test free agency or re-sign with the Saints at a significantly cheaper rate.

These numbers will rise slightly as new deals are signed with other players between now and 2021, but here’s what the estimated fifth-year options would look like for Lattimore and Ramczyk, per annual salary data from Over The Cap:

  • Lattimore’s estimated fifth year option: $11,648,790
  • Ramczyk’s estimated fifth year option: $12,860,543

To be clear: exercising these options for 2021 will not impact either player’s cap hits in the upcoming season, when Lattimore will count for north of $4.8 million against the salary cap while Ramczyk is due more than $2.8 million.

Those 2021 salaries will be fully guaranteed for injury, but it’s easily worth the price considering both players are All-Pro talents. Either of them could reset the market at their respective positions once it’s time to pay their long-term contract extensions (right now, Xavien Howard paces the cornerbacks with $15.05 million per year; Lane Johnson leads all offensive linemen at $18 million per year).

While keeping both Lattimore and Ramczyk under relatively-low salary cap hits is important, the real benefit of picking up these options is creating more time for old contracts to get off the books. The Saints are going to have at least $21.3 million in dead money counting against the salary cap whenever Drew Brees retires, so if they can buy more time on these mega-deals for Lattimore and Ramczyk, they should. It’s one of the easier decisions they’ll have to make this offseason, compared to more serious issues like whether Williams and Kamara should be re-signed long-term.

Lattimore deservedly caught some flak for his poor performance against Adam Thielen in the playoffs; Thielen went off with 7 catches for 129 yards with Lattimore primarily covering him. But fans (and the Saints) shouldn’t be prisoners of the moment and think that justifies trading or, ridiculously, cutting him. No player in the NFL has recorded more passes defensed from 2017 to 2019 than Lattimore (44 in 43 games), and he’s played fewer games than each of the runners-up (Tre’Davious White, with 43 in 47 games and Marlon Humphrey, who had 40 in 46 games). He’s one of the most consistent playmakers the Saints have.

So, to summarize: Ramczyk and Lattimore are two of the most-valuable players in New Orleans, and they deserve to be paid as such. And the Saints can help ensure that happens by picking up their fifth-year options to maximize their salary cap resources in the years ahead. The Saints will have until early May to decide whether to exercise these team options for the 2021 season, but from where things stand in January, it’s an easy call to make.

[vertical-gallery id=26836]

Amid injuries, Germain Ifedi has anchored Seahawks offensive line

Seattle Seahawks right tackle Germain Ifedi has been a steady presence on the offensive line, and his performance improved in 2019.

The Seattle Seahawks offensive line, perhaps more than any other position, has been beleaguered by injuries this season.

In fact, only one player, right tackle Germain Ifedi, managed to appear in all 16 regular season games.

Ifedi is by no means an elite, or even above-average right tackle, but coach Pete Carroll saw improvement and consistency from his performance during the 2019 season.

“I think he’s been solid throughout the year,” Carroll said on Friday. “He has been very consistent. He’s been a solid performer. He’s been one of the real anchors. He’s been able to stay out there the whole time which has been good. He continues to grow as a pro and he’s doing a nice job.”

Ifedi finished the regular season with a 56.2 grade from Pro Football Focus, which falls under the ‘replaceable’ category, but he did make improvements in his pass protection, a big area of growth for the fourth year pro.

Additionally, while his 13 penalties were fifth in the NFL, it was also an improvement for Ifedi – and not too bad considering he played the second most snaps among NFL offensive linemen this season.

Seattle declined Ifedi’s fifth-year option this offseason, meaning he will hit the open market in March. Carroll has previously expressed interest in bringing him back, and his performance this year likely didn’t do anything to dissuade him.

The Seahawks appear to be transitioning Jamarco Jones to guard, likely replacing Mike Iupati next year, and they love keeping George Fant in that extra lineman role, so they have very little depth at tackle – making a reunion with Ifedi all the more plausible.

For now, he’ll have his hands full with a vaunted Green Bay pass rush on Sunday when the Seahawks look to win their ninth road game of the season against the Packers.

Kickoff is at 3:40 p.m. PT.

[lawrence-related id=54668]

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.