Front Office - Why isn't Cooley extended?

This whole discussion vexes me greatly. I won't even entertain the thought of Cooley leaving.

to me, its strictly up to Cooley, and where he wants to play. the money is probably going to be close to the same everywhere. right around 5 years, 25 million. maybe around a 8-10 million dollar bonus. hopefully he wants to stay
Daniel Graham got 5 years, $30 million, $15 million guaranteed with the Broncos this offseason and Cooley is way better than him. Cooley is 3 years younger, and has gotten way more catches, yards, and touchdowns in three seasons than Graham has gotten in five years. Cooley's contract is going to be ridiculous if he hits the open market.

Grahams stats after 5 seasons:
120 catches, 1393 yards, 17 tds

Cooleys stats after 3 seasons:
165 catches, 1822 yards, 19 tds

I would be willing to bet that Cooley will not be playing for the Redskins next year. Don't ask me why I just have a weird feeling that his extension is not going to get done, which would be one of the worst things to happen to this franchise in recent memory.

I'd like to see him signed early this season that way it's done with. No need to drag this out all year. I know if both Cooley and Taylor left the team right now, I wouldn't have much interest in watching all the games. They are too hot playmakers that deserve some money.

Wherever he goes, when it's all said and done Chris Cooley will be the highest paid TE in the league.

Dockery's situation was ridiculous. I'm not sure what the Bills were smoking exactly, but they gave superstar money to a decent player. Cooley will at least deserve whatever big money he gets, and I think in this case the Skins realize it's going to take a significant deal to keep him here.

With Dockery I think the Skins had a reasonable number in mind given the type of player he is, and the Bills just blew things out of the water. I really can't fault the Skins for letting him go, and at the same time I don't blame Dockery for taking the money.

Dockery's situation was ridiculous. I'm not sure what the Bills were smoking exactly, but they gave superstar money to a decent player. Cooley will at least deserve whatever big money he gets, and I think in this case the Skins realize it's going to take a significant deal to keep him here.

With Dockery I think the Skins had a reasonable number in mind given the type of player he is, and the Bills just blew things out of the water. I really can't fault the Skins for letting him go, and at the same time I don't blame Dockery for taking the money.

I think the Redskins could have secured Dockery before he ever got to the open market for an affordable price if they didn't low-ball him.

Part of these guys job includes forecasting the market and making prudent decisions about players based on their forecasts.

We shouldn't even be talking about the ridiculous contract Dockery got.

From JLC:

The Skins And Dock Were On Different Planets

The chasm between the Redskins and Derrick always existed, but I didn't realize just how great the difference was between their offers and Buffalo's until tonight. Howard and I spoke to some team sources and what they told us was pretty remarkable.

I'm not going to post the numbers here, but they'll be on the web later tonight I imagine as we update our stories and definitely in most editions of the paper tonight (although one edition has already gone to print by now if you can believe that).

The Bills deal was exponentially greater than anything the Redskins were dangling. Even had Dock got the kind of deal I thought he might as of Thursday afternoon - $12 mil guaranteed, $5 million ish per season - it wouldn't have been close.
That would be like taken AA's contract we gave him and compared it to what his or other teams offered him. What was our offer and was it a fair deal and did the Bills just way over pay him? Thats the real question. You cannot use this to make a point unless you know what our offer was to say it was a low ball offer. I'm sure if we use the contract we gave AA one could say his other offers where low ball when they could have been a fair deal and what he was really worth.

If cooley hits the market we lose him... PERIOD. Hes is too importnat to JC development for us to lose him. We need to pay him like the top 5 TE he is maybe like the #3 he is going to be.... this is one of those time im afraid we arent going to break the bank like we need to.... keep your fingers crossed!

If Gibbs and The Danny screw this up, and allow Cooley to hit free agency, that will confirm for me once and for all that this franchise is akin to a ship without a rudder. When we pay a premium to draft Cooley by trading up, he exceeds expectations and establishes himself as one of the very best TEs in the league, it is a no-brainer to extend his deal BEFORE the end of the season. Once the season is over, Cooley will have all negotiating leverage, and will probably demand $10M more than he could be had for right now.