Daron Payne

Can we have him? That guy is a stud with 8.5 sacks and 51 total tackles. We need somebody on our defense like that.

Can we have him? That guy is a stud with 8.5 sacks and 51 total tackles. We need somebody on our defense like that.

You may not.

You may not.

We will trade you Christian Watson for him lol.

We will trade you Christian Watson for him lol.

Even though our offense mostly stinks, our WRs are our 2nd strongest position group. Don't necessarily need Watson. But Watson has more team control. I'd actually do that trade if we couldn't come to a long term contract with Payne. Watson for 3 more years > Payne for 1 more year, assuming we had to franchise tag him. That would actually be a fairly fair trade, assuming we couldn't extend Payne and you guys could.

Ideally we keep the Bama Bro's together with a long term contract with Payne.

I am a bit back and forth on retaining Payne. The logic that you pay him more than JA and then need to pay MS and CY doesn't fit for me. JA seems to be routinely double teamed and even sometimes triple teamed so you would expect those playing next to him to have better results statistically, so I am a little cautious about attributing so much of DPs stats purely to his talent level. Paying all 4 DL when there are so many other holes to fill, not to mention up coming contracts for KC and others, doesn't seem like a good use of resources. I still can't get on board with the idea of trading Sweat or Young so the logical move would be to franchise Payne as a precursor to trading him. All of the talk about getting a deal done might just be setting the table about wanting to keep him to elevate his value in a trade. They were talking about trading him through last offseason up to the trade deadline but didn't receive the offers that made it worth it. Any return from a trade could be used to get another young DT in the draft, even if it is a 3rd compensatory pick. I think the arrival of Ridgeway may have influenced the path they take, I just cant see the value in paying him $18-20m apy .

Are we paying him or applying a franchise of over 18 million next year?

I’d have a hard time franchising him at that number even though I love mf’er. I think you got to try to sign him

I agree with you. 18 million is steep for an interior. I'd also like to know how often a franchise tag applied leads to a player resigning with the team afterwards. I couldn't find data on that. I know players tend hate it so it strikes me as a death sentence for a players tenure with a team.

My guess is Ron will give Payne a solid offer, if he rejects that then we will know where Payne's intentions are.

If it comes down to it they have to franchise tag him. Worst case you tag him for 2 years and let him walk after that. At that point we've got 7 years out of him, likely his best and most productive years.

I am a bit back and forth on retaining Payne. The logic that you pay him more than JA and then need to pay MS and CY doesn't fit for me. JA seems to be routinely double teamed and even sometimes triple teamed so you would expect those playing next to him to have better results statistically, so I am a little cautious about attributing so much of DPs stats purely to his talent level. Paying all 4 DL when there are so many other holes to fill, not to mention up coming contracts for KC and others, doesn't seem like a good use of resources. I still can't get on board with the idea of trading Sweat or Young so the logical move would be to franchise Payne as a precursor to trading him. All of the talk about getting a deal done might just be setting the table about wanting to keep him to elevate his value in a trade. They were talking about trading him through last offseason up to the trade deadline but didn't receive the offers that made it worth it. Any return from a trade could be used to get another young DT in the draft, even if it is a 3rd compensatory pick. I think the arrival of Ridgeway may have influenced the path they take, I just cant see the value in paying him $18-20m apy .


We have Mathis next year. I don’t think we need to draft a DT even if we trade Payne. Certainly not with a lower round pick.

I am a bit back and forth on retaining Payne. The logic that you pay him more than JA and then need to pay MS and CY doesn't fit for me. JA seems to be routinely double teamed and even sometimes triple teamed so you would expect those playing next to him to have better results statistically, so I am a little cautious about attributing so much of DPs stats purely to his talent level. Paying all 4 DL when there are so many other holes to fill, not to mention up coming contracts for KC and others, doesn't seem like a good use of resources. I still can't get on board with the idea of trading Sweat or Young so the logical move would be to franchise Payne as a precursor to trading him. All of the talk about getting a deal done might just be setting the table about wanting to keep him to elevate his value in a trade. They were talking about trading him through last offseason up to the trade deadline but didn't receive the offers that made it worth it. Any return from a trade could be used to get another young DT in the draft, even if it is a 3rd compensatory pick. I think the arrival of Ridgeway may have influenced the path they take, I just cant see the value in paying him $18-20m apy .

It's a good problem to have. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. With the cap going up all the time, I think you can keep Payne. It's fun watching him and Allen work together. Get Mathis back healthy and with Ridgeway, that is probably the best 4-man rotation at DL in the league.

If CY comes back ready to roll, this DL would be the best in football