for him to say he is going to "walk" if asked to restucture, then to turn around and make a **** poor effort to cover his *** and say "maybe" I will restructure if its something I like.
No, he never said he'd walk if the Packers asked him to restructure. He said he'd walk if they asked him to take a pay cut. There's a difference.
I'm sure there's a "cap friendly" package he'd accept that replaces the one year remaining on his current deal, puts $8.5 mil cash in his pocket this year like he would have gotten otherwise, but averages meaningfully less than $8.5 mil over a multi-year period. The question is, "how much less?"
Marcedes Lewis is working under the following deal:
8/5/2011: Signed a five-year, $35 million contract. The deal contains $17 million guaranteed. Another $1.8 million is available in incentives. An annual $150,000 workout bonus is available in years two through five. 2013: $4.2 million, 2014: $6.7 million, 2015: $6.65 million, 2016: Free Agent
Would the Packers be willing to match that? I doubt it. Would anybody else offer that deal? Probably not. He remains a guy who is part performance, part tease. Would Finley be willing to accept that deal? You'd have to think he would if offered. Would he accept something less? Perhaps.
All Finley said, in essence, is that he'd accept a restructure from the Pack but he'll take no home discount.
The default outcome remains: Finley sticks and gets one more year to earn a multi-year deal.