Content available exclusively for subscribers
Will the deal quarterback Sam Bradford agreed to in Philadelphia, be a benchmark for Ryan Fitzpatrick with the Jets? Some think it should. Here is what I think.
Let’s cut right to the chase. The Bradford money is too much to spend on Fitpatrick.
It’s too pricey.
Bradford signed a two-year deal.
TSo the length is right on target for Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick turns 34 in the middle of next season, so a two-year deal is what you are looking at.
As for the money, the Bradford deal is too much to give Fitzpatrick. Honestly, it’s too much to spend on Bradford, who was pretty darn average last year, and has blown out his left ACL in both 2013 and 2014.
It’s a two-year deal for $36 million deal. Bradford will receive $22 million guaranteed at signing. He will get an $11 million signing bonus and $7 million base salary in 2016, with $4 million guaranteed in 2017. There are also $4 million in injury incentives.
That is too much money for a guy with two ACL tears, a blown out shoulder from college, and a mediocre career.
But that shows you how bad the QB landscape is in the NFL. Teams are overpaying for mediocrity.
So what should the Jets pay Fitzpatrick, who is coming off a career year, but never had another season close to that?
The answer is simple – a little bit more than the contract Nick Foles got in St. Louis last year.
Nick Foles signed a two-year, $24,540,000 contract with the Rams, including a $3,000,000 signing bonus with $13,792,000 guaranteed.
The landing spot for Fitzpatrick is a two-year deal for $28 million with $16-17 million guaranteed. That is the ballpark. That is in the area of the Carson Palmer contract in Arizona, another QB in his mid-30’s.
The Jets need to play hardball.
Not softball like they played with Darrelle Revis. The largesse of that contract will make the Fitpatrick and Mo Wilkerson negotiations even tougher, because there isn’t as much disposable capital available for them to use.
As I wrote in the latest issue of Jets Confidential which was mailed Monday, the Jets can’t duplicate how they handled contracts in 2015. It was over-the-top.
The Jets had a lot of new people working together in March of 2015, who didn’t have a lot of experience with each other. The chief contract negotiator was a person that Mike Maccagnan retained from the previous staff. They were still getting to know each other when they spent $150 million on secondary players.
A year later, Maccagnan and the front office, including the negotiator(s) are much more on the same page.
Aside from not having as much cap space as last year, they will learn from the profligate spending of 2015, and try to get better, smarter, tighter deals this year.
So giving Fitzpatrick what Bradford isn’t going to happen.
The three picks in Buffalo will help keep the price down.
I’m sorry, it may sound a little cutthroat, but has to be used.
Especially with his history.
All is fair in love, war and negotiations.
March 1, 2016
Premium will return by 9:30 pm on Wednesday.