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The D’Brickashaw Ferguson pay-cut debate has begun. Is it Fair or unfair? Let’s take a closer look.
Is it fair?
Of course it is.
Honestly, when this contract was signed in 2010, it was highly unlikely that he was going to reach this part of the contract, without a re-negotiation.
Did Ferguson, his agent, or the Jets really think the team was going to carry a $14.1 million cap hit at the age of 32?
These kind of big numbers late in a contract usually are triggers to re-negotiate.
But it doesn’t look like the Jets are looking to re-negotiate. It looks more like a straight pay cut request.
They’d probably like to chop about $3-4 million off his salary.
Ferguson is settled in the area with a wife and kid. I ran into him in a Starbucks last year in the off-season on Route 10. He likes it around here. I doubt he wants to uproot.
So I think they can work this out.
And I don’t know whether to call it brilliant or a little cut-throat, but did you notice the timing?
It took a month into free agency for this to happen.
They didn’t do this at the beginning of free agency, when he could have shopped himself around to teams needing a left tackle.
At this point, free agency has dried up.
Guys like Russell Okung, Kelvin Beachum and Donald Penn have signed.
We are basically in the second-wave of free agency, where guys are taking pedestrian deals, often one-year contracts for the league minimum.
If Ferguson rejected the pay cut, and was released now, he’s not going to make much money.
When I heard in late March, Ferguson still hadn’t been approached about a pay cut, I was wondering what was going on.
It wasn’t a secret that this contract needed to be tweaked with the Jets’ cap problems.
I was wondering, “What is taking so long?”
Perhaps this was a really smart negotiating tactic by the Jets – do this in April when free agency is in no-man’s land. Where the heck is Brick going to go now? And if he does go somewhere else, he’s not going to make much money, and it wouldn’t be worth uprooting his family.
I keep hearing or reading that his play slipped significantly last year. I think that is bull. Did it slip a little? Probably, but not that much. Based on my film study, he’s still very serviceable, and had a good, not great season last year. He’s not elite, but he’s darn good.
And keep in mind, some of the problems on the left side were related to communication issues with yet another new left guard. He’s had more partners over there than Elizabeth Taylor. There were issues with switch-off blocks at times on stunts. Some of these were James Carpenter’s fault based on my film study.
And he’e been amazingly durable, not missing a start, and never having a surgery. I think he has a couple of good years left.
And he’s represented the team with class and dignity.
I think this will work out.
April 7, 2016
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