Skins close with Samuels

[JoeRedskin]

Also, because of the cap structure, the 15M "Bonus" to Samuels is simply paying him what's currently on his contract in salaries the next two years. By extending, we spread the 15M hit over 7 years (depending on a new CBA) instead of 2 years. So by giving Samuels a big SB but spreading it out, we actually lessen the amount of cap space he takes up. With Smoot, as he is an unrestricted free agent, anything he gets is new money against the '05 cap (Again, however, his SB would be spread out over the length of his contract).

[MTK]

If it came down to giving big money to Smoot or Samuels, I wouldn't even think twice about giving it to Samuels each and every time.

The defense finished 3rd overall last year, they're not the unit that's in need of improvement.

Losing a key cog to the offensive line would hurt us a hell of a lot more than losing a corner like Smoot. Last year we lost one of the top 3 corners in the league in Bailey, and we managed to survive just fine.

On the other hand just look at what happened when we lost one of our top lineman in Jansen last year. The offensive line was never quite the same as we shuffled the lineup week to week as pass protection suffered as did the run blocking.

Samuels is a top 10 left tackle, and with Gibbs' emphasis on running the football and protecting the QB, as the saying goes it all starts up front.

Samuels gets his share of criticism, and sometimes it is justified. He may never be mentioned in the same breath as Pace, Jones and Ogden, but he's right on the edge of that upper echelon and under Bugel he very well could regain his Pro Bowl form.

[hurrykaine]

Originally Posted by JoeRedskin

Also, because of the cap structure, the 15M "Bonus" to Samuels is simply paying him what's currently on his contract in salaries the next two years. By extending, we spread the 15M hit over 7 years (depending on a new CBA) instead of 2 years. So by giving Samuels a big SB but spreading it out, we actually lessen the amount of cap space he takes up. With Smoot, as he is an unrestricted free agent, anything he gets is new money against the '05 cap (Again, however, his SB would be spread out over the length of his contract).

Wait a min - you mean if we give Smoot a big signing bonus as part of a multi-year deal, we can't spread out the bonus over the length of the contract?

[That Guy]

here's how restructurings work... samuels has something like 15$mill of per year salary left, SO he NEEDS a 15$mil signing bonus in his new contract (you don't expect him to restructure and take a pay cut do you? all the money left on a contract as yearly salary generally ends up as a SB and the new contract not only pays out his remaining contract's money, it gives him more... if he didnt get the big pay day from the last years of his contract, he's going to expect them up front or else there's no reason to for him to sign)...

smoot is a different deal completely... he has no cap leverage over us this year and isn't being asked to restructure... he's asking for a completely new deal, so there' no expectation of how much he should get based on his current contract's yearly salary etc...

Its not really about smoot vs samuels, they're two different situations, and if samuels wasn't needed to lower his cap number and get rid of his insane yearly salary, i think his deal would be much different... restructurings tend to have higher signing bonuses though to make up for the loss of upcoming yearly money...

[sportscurmudgeon]

That Guy:

The reason Samuels number for next year is so high is because he has already resturcutred twice and "tyaken one for the team". Now, from his perspective, it is his turn and someone else needs to take one for the team so he can have his payday. He needs only sit there and make the squad next year to haul in some sizeabole coin. If you want him to give that up and take a base salary of only $500K and time up his rights for the next 6 years, you better be ready to lay some huge bread on the table.

In his circumstance with the leverage he has, here's what I would have told Danny Boy by this time:

You need to put a minimum of $15M up front if EVERYTHING else in the deal is what I want. If any other parts of the deal are "imperfect" the signing bonus is $18M or even $20M if the deal doesn't smell right to me - and it is in one lump sum not spread out over a couple of years so you can hose me over later on as you seem to be doing with LC as we speak. If all of that is unsuitable to you, I have a contract already and I certainly plan to folfill my end of the deal. I presume your checks won't bounce...