Dez Bryant signed by the Saints

[sschind]

I never hated Dez other than the uniform he wore. I feel bad for him.

Anyone care to research the injury rate among players not participating in a full training camp (or half the season for that matter) vs those who do?

I was going to say the same thing about Bell. Ever since they announced that any franchise tag the Steelers might slap on him next year would be the third consecutive one and give him the QB salary it took away any leverage they had. There is no need for Bell to sign now. The only thing he loses is some benefits from not having another accrued season but I don't think the little extra in the vet minimum pay scale for the extra year will come into play here.

 

[Half Empty]

Doesn't he have to accept the tag in order for it to count?

 

[Sunshine885500]

Dez Bryant tore his Achilles today and Out for the Year. Good Job Saints!

 

[Deleted member 6794]

Doesn't he have to accept the tag in order for it to count?

No, even if Bell doesn't report to the Steelers by Wednesday and therefore won't be allowed to play this season if he were to be tagged again by them in 2019, it would count as his third franchise tag, it would not revert to his second. Per the CBA, Pittsburgh in that case would be required to tender Bell non-exclusively at the average of the top five highest-paid players at the league's highest-paid position, meaning he would receive elite quarterback money.

As the Steelers definitely wouldn't do that Bell would become an unrestricted free agent in March.

 

[GBkrzygrl]

I never celebrate a player getting injured... but ... wow

I don't like Dez, but that's a tough break. It happens again and again. A player holds out or doesn't get picked up and is out of football for a while and when he comes back he gets hurt.

 

[Favre>Rodgers259]

At least he gets a ring for his trouble. Or can they cut him with an injury settlement? That would be quite the discussion, never played a down but the team goes all the way and he gets a ring.

Feels good for one of my threads to get resurrected, I never get any love here!

 

[rmontro]

No, even if Bell doesn't report to the Steelers by Wednesday and therefore won't be allowed to play this season if he were to be tagged again by them in 2019, it would count as his third franchise tag, it would not revert to his second. Per the CBA, Pittsburgh in that case would be required to tender Bell non-exclusively at the average of the top five highest-paid players at the league's highest-paid position, meaning he would receive elite quarterback money.

That sounds like a dumb rule.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

At least he gets a ring for his trouble. Or can they cut him with an injury settlement? That would be quite the discussion, never played a down but the team goes all the way and he gets a ring.

The Saints put Bryant on IR. They won't be allowed to reach a settlement with him as his injury will take more than several months to heal. I highly doubt New Orleans would consider giving him a ring if they end up winning the Super Bowl.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

That sounds like a dumb rule.

Don't shoot the messenger

BTW it seems that Bell won't report to the Steelers by Wednesday's deadline and therefore won't play this season.

 

[rmontro]

BTW it seems that Bell won't report to the Steelers by Wednesday's deadline and therefore won't play this season.

At this point he's probably afraid he won't look better than Conner, and thus damage his perceived value.
As if pulling this nonsense hasn't done the same. Someone will probably end up paying him top dollar, but others will think twice.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

At this point he's probably afraid he won't look better than Conner, and thus damage his perceived value.
As if pulling this nonsense hasn't done the same. Someone will probably end up paying him top dollar, but others will think twice.

I'm actually glad for Conner that Bell has decided to not play this season as he has performed at an elite level and seems like a genuine guy that has deserved the chance to play for his hometown team.

Not looking forward to the posters that will suggest the Packers should sign Bell next offseason.

 

[swhitset]

I'm actually glad for Conner that Bell has decided to not play this season as he has performed at an elite level and seems like a genuine guy that has deserved the chance to play for his hometown team.

Not looking forward to the posters that will suggest the Packers should sign Bell next offseason.

I gave you the winner for the last sentence.

 

[Favre>Rodgers259]

The Saints put Bryant on IR. They won't be allowed to reach a settlement with him as his injury will take more than several months to heal. I highly doubt New Orleans would consider giving him a ring if they end up winning the Super Bowl.

They could do it as a nice gesture. Or maybe Dez might argue that had he been on the field he might have made it easier to win it all. Won't the NFL list him as a Champion anyway because he was on the team? Either way, it would be an interesting narrative to follow.

I would still be interested in signing Dez next offseason, his price will be even more manageable. I like the risk/reward factor there, especially if we were to let Cobb go.

 

[sschind]

That sounds like a dumb rule.

I agree and I don't think it was always like that. IMO if he doesn't play it should be like the season never happened. On the other hand the only reason he didn't play is because they used the tag so giving them the option to tag him again at the same price is not really fair to him. I guess what I don't like is why does it all of a sudden jump to the highest price position. Keep it at 144% of the previous salary (or what the the 2nd tag salary would be in this case) but keep it at RB.

 

[Mondio]

He didn’t play, he didn’t get paid. I’d say both sides have “suffered” enough and there should be sufficient motivation to get both sides to move on. I agree with the way the CBA is structured in this case.

 

[Do7]

At this point he's probably afraid he won't look better than Conner, and thus damage his perceived value.
As if pulling this nonsense hasn't done the same. Someone will probably end up paying him top dollar, but others will think twice.

I know he wanted to sit out to make sure he was good for next year, but MAN. All that money he burned just for not showing up. I'd kill (not literally) to make that much money.

 

[swhitset]

He didn’t play, he didn’t get paid. I’d say both sides have “suffered” enough and there should be sufficient motivation to get both sides to move on. I agree with the way the CBA is structured in this case.

It might have been a bad decision, but I agree he did not get paid this year and he is now a year older... I’m fine with him being allowed to move on... I just don’t want it to be in Green Bay.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

I know he wanted to sit out to make sure he was good for next year, but MAN. All that money he burned just for not showing up. I'd kill (not literally) to make that much money.

Totally agree and kind of shaking my head at Bell's decision.

Hard to make up the $14.54 M he gave up over the life of his next contract. I mean I get him not wanting to get hurt playing under the franchise tag, but if you look at Gurley's new deal, it is really going to be hard for Bell to ever make that lost money up.

Gurley signed a 4 year, $57,500,000 contract with the Los Angeles Rams, including a $21,000,000 signing bonus, $45,000,000 guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $14,375,000

 

[Mondio]

He took a gamble and he hasn’t lost yet. Had he signed the Tender and played, and played well but blew out a knee in say week 12, he made 14 million and he won’t get much for next year. Not guaranteed anyway.

He saves his body and if he signs a 45 million dollar guarantee in his contract, he didn’t exactly lose. Sure the average might be the same but he could have lost out on a lot of money signing it and getting hurt this year.

He still might, who knows. I don’t agree with his decision, but it’s refreshimg to see a guy actually feel the hurt and still live by his decision. I can respect that

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

It might have been a bad decision, but I agree he did not get paid this year and he is now a year older... I’m fine with him being allowed to move on... I just don’t want it to be in Green Bay.

Agreed, unless he is willing to give the Packers a "home town discount" and "play for veteran minimum"

 

[Mondio]

Agreed, unless he is willing to give the Packers a "home town discount" and "play for veteran minimum"

Would you believe I had that exact response typed out yesterday. But with only one regular yellow smiley face. Apparently my fat thumb that hits every other button on this screen couldn’t hit the post button.

Anyway, by today when I went to respond it didn’t fit so I erased it before posting lol

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

He took a gamble and he hasn’t lost yet. Had he signed the Tender and played, and played well but blew out a knee in say week 12, he made 14 million and he won’t get much for next year. Not guaranteed anyway.

He saves his body and if he signs a 45 million dollar guarantee in his contract, he didn’t exactly lose. Sure the average might be the same but he could have lost out on a lot of money signing it and getting hurt this year.

He still might, who knows. I don’t agree with his decision, but it’s refreshimg to see a guy actually feel the hurt and still live by his decision. I can respect that

I get that part of "playing fearing injury", but its really a sad reflection of where the game has gotten to. Guys expecting, demanding and getting guaranteed money in the $20-75M range for services they have yet to provide. If he blows his knee out next year, some team is going to eat that $45M.

 

[Mondio]

It is, but I’m ok with that risk being spread between player and team. The team is “sacrificing” financial health. The player could be paying with so much more in real health. A team could make that just selling new Bell jerseys

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

It is, but I’m ok with that risk being spread between player and team. The team is “sacrificing” financial health. The player could be paying with so much more in real health. A team could make that just selling new Bell jerseys

I still have a hard time with the notion that if a guy gets injured so bad, that he can never play another NFL snap or the quality of his play is reduced, he still gets $20-75M. I'm fine with a team having to take care of their own with reasonable retirement and injury settlements and/or the player taking out insurance policies. The other aspect of that guaranteed money that I don't like is the impact that it has on a teams cap. A career ending injury to one single player like Aaron Rodgers would set the Packers back years.

 

[swhitset]

I still have a hard time with the notion that if a guy gets injured so bad, that he can never play another NFL snap or the quality of his play is reduced, he still gets $20-75M. I'm fine with a team having to take care of their own with reasonable retirement and injury settlements and/or the player taking out insurance policies. The other aspect of that guaranteed money that I don't like is the impact that it has on a teams cap. A career ending injury to one single player like Aaron Rodgers would set the Packers back years.

I agree about the cap side of it... you would think there would be some kind of cap relief for a career ending injury. There would obviously need to be some checks and balances involved to make certain a team couldn’t unilaterally make a decision to try and get out of a bad contract etc...