Musings on being "robbed" of our second rounder and why we do not need to trade back (necessarily)
You think we could pull off getting Jake Long, Mike Wallace and Ed Reed? I see no way that could ever happen. I think at least two if not all 3 of those guys will be overpaid.
It is difficult to see, sure. But so was getting Grubbs, Bunkley, Lofton, and Hawthorne while re-signing Brees sand Colston.
Jake Long wants $10 million a year. We are talking averages, not actual salary. Bushrod, in my opinion, will be looking at $8.
I think Wallace's value will decrease some after a down season. The contract that Antonio Brown received is a good starting point. I do not see him getting anything more than what the Steelers offered at 5 year, $50 million. But $42.5 over 5 is what I would offer.
With Ed Reed, we are talking a Darren Sharper signing. He's 34 and a local product. So, you can give him a two or three-year deal worth either $7 or 11 million. Pay him only $1 million in the first season and give him a $5.1 million bonus. His cap figure is $2.7, which is significantly lower than what you will have to pay Harper. Second season, pay him $2 million in base and his figure is $3.7. In the final year, he's likely done anyway or you can release him. We would have been on tap for $8 million plus $1.7 prorated bonus and a cap figure of $9.7 million. Instead, we would have only the cap charge of $1.7 million to pay and would clear $8 million off the books.
In all these instances, it is about how you structure the deal. We managed to give Shawn Rodgers and Aubrayo Franklin 1 year deals at $4 million. A deal like that for Reed might even make some sense though I am a fan of adding a year or two to the deal just to thin out the cap charge a bit.
With Long and Wallace, a lot would depend, again, on the structure of the contract. The averages do not matter at all. It is how much base salary is being added to the prorated bonus each year. The upfront money will satisfy the player. The cap friendliness of the low base salaries plus the prorated bonus stretched out over 5 or 6 years makes most contracts doable.