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Is he wrong?
A writer named Alex Kay of Bleacher Report ranked the 10 worst contract in the NFL right now, and put C.J. Mosley’s at 7th.
Before I continue, I want to make it clear that none of what follows should be considered an attack on the player. He’s a solid player.
And quite obviously, he didn’t give himself a five-year deal for $85 million, so what was he supposed to do, turn down the money?
But with that being said, it’s a really bad deal, so Kay writing that it’s a “bad contract” and that Mosley is “an average talent at this late stage of his career” shouldn’t be viewed as a cheap shot.
When you watch Mosley play, and you look around the league, you can see players at his position, making a lot less, making a similar contribution.
Let’s say, Colts linebacker Zaire Franklin. He signed a 3-year deal for $10 million last year. He had 167 tackles and three picks last year. Mosley had 158 tackles and one pick last season.
Franklin will make around $3 million this season and Mosley around $17 million.
Mosley gets high marks for leadership, and that is important.
However, you can get players to do what he does, make a lot of tackles (which inside linebackers are supposed to do) and make some plays in coverage, for a lot less money.
Former Minnesota Vikings linebacker Eric Kendricks signed a 2-year deal for $13.3 million with the Los Angeles Chargers this off-season with $6.8 million guaranteed. So it’s basically a one-year deal for $6.8 million. Some would argue Kendrick is better than Mosley.
The coverage of this story is kind of weak.
Aside from Kay, who locally has come and said, “Mosley needs to take a pay cut. His contract is profligate.”
Are reporters afraid of offending the player, who is a good guy and hard worker?
What needs to happen here is so obvious to anybody with common sense – this contract needs to be redone, including a pay reduction.
The salary isn’t commensurate with the talent at this point.
Joe Douglas can’t fall for the outside hype regarding the player, and deal with the reality of the situation.
And as we have said before, the true leverage Douglas has here is the fact that Mosley might not want to leave at this point with Aaron Rodgers now on the team.
But honestly, what would be wrong with Mosley making $10 million this year and not $17 million?
Once again, none of this should be considered a personal attack on Mosley.
It’s just dealing with reality.
In cap sport, you need to be smart with every dollar you spend, and obviously, you need to spread all the money to different positions.
And as the Jets try to figure how to spread out the money in the enormous Rodgers deal, they need to find funds from reducing the deals of other players.
Clearly, Mosley deal should be one of those deals that is altered.
June 19, 2023
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