Quote:
Originally Posted by Schneed10
That's most likely the case. It's possible he's using it as one more step to help him get out the door. But more likely he's doing this so that the tag value of $24M gets baked into actuality. When your starting point in a negotiation is $24M guaranteed over one year, it gives you more leverage than when you don't have $24M guaranteed over one year.
After signing the tag he'll be one step closer to a 3rd tag worth $34M, which puts insane amounts of leverage in his court.
I think he and his agent are conducting what is probably the perfect contract negotiation.
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Sounds like the best ever situation to be in if you're an agent trying to get your client max dollars. Cousins is going to be rolling in the money one way or another. I keep trying to figure out what's going on with the negotiations, and the only thing I do know is that we will know, beyond a shadow of doubt by July 15th. Other than that, it's kind of fun to sit and speculate what's going to happen.
I'm thinking the team does want to sign him long term - that's probably their first option. But seeing as how Cousins' agent probably wants the team to sweat and wants to make sure that Cousins gets $24M guaranteed this year, he's going to force the tag before he entertains any offers. Now the kicker, IMO, will be which tag he gets. I think the non-exclusive would mean the team has some doubt that they would be willing to offer Cousins enough of what he wants, and they're getting ready to at least make sure they don't leave the table empty-handed. The exclusive probably means it's all a formality - they plan on giving Cousins the max of what he wants this year and it's all about just working out the rest of the deal for the next few years.
Best case scenario is that they already have a great deal worked out to where there would be no reason to wait until March 1st to tag and extend negotiations. That's what I hope happens, but probably the least likely at this point.