Antonio Brown gets paid

[Stomp]

Bells tag number will get much smaller if AD gets cut or renegotiates a more reasonable cap number. Could bring it down to around 8 million.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

You're crazy.

There are 32 teams in the league that would have loved to hand that contract to Brown.

Unquestioned best player at his position over the last 4 years. That is the type of player you hope you get to spend your cap space on.

Do the math at the end of this offseason and try to find a 2 or 3 player combination signed in free agency for this money that you would rather have on your team than just Brown. If you find one, post it and in 4 years we will laugh at it after it plays out. Free agency is fools gold. A lot of money for mostly average players and busts. And it's not like the steelers have an over abundance of talented players abut to come up in free agency that they won't be able to sign now than they otherwise could have.

If you are worried about paying too much money to your offensive skills position, you should be talking solely about Bell....not Brown. Of the two Brown is the obvious must sign.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Bell was tagged today, so I believe he gets $17 million

The franchise tag value for RB's is currently around $12mil. If AP gets cut or restructured then that number could decrease to $8-10mil.

 

[redseat]

I think Gronk and Brady are doing alright, and now Bennett wants the big contract, so they are very good at managing the cap but some players have to be paid if you really expect to win in the NFL.....
AB is a game changer, so as long as he doesn't get hurt or just go on the I already got paid vacation, he was a no brainer....

Patriots don't seem to think players need to get paid (Brady and Gronk are the exception) and they still win. But yes, eventually it will catch up to them and they need to pay players. But they are usually pretty good when it comes to letting players go right before they decline.

 

[cdumler7]

I will never understand this. When was the last time a team won a SB with highly paid WR? Seriously.

The Steelers draft great WR's all the time. I wish the Pats could draft that well in this area. The Steelers should of traded him. I know fans wouldn't like it but that kind of money could be spent on more important things you need. No?

Well before this upcoming season D. Thomas was a top-3 paid WR in the NFL and the Broncos won with him.

 

[soxfan1468927]

Well before this upcoming season D. Thomas was a top-3 paid WR in the NFL and the Broncos won with him.

Plus the Falcons got pretty dang close with Julio Jones and I believe he was the 3rd highest paid WR in 2016. And I believe Thomas was 4th highest behind Calvin Johnson, AJ Green, and Julio Jones in 2015. 2013 Seahawks, Percy Harvin was 6th highest too.

 

[Bmurph]

The franchise tag value for RB's is currently around $12mil. If AP gets cut or restructured then that number could decrease to $8-10mil.

I must of heard that other number about a different position. Thanks

 

[cdumler7]

Plus the Falcons got pretty dang close with Julio Jones and I believe he was the 3rd highest paid WR in 2016. And I believe Thomas was 4th highest behind Calvin Johnson, AJ Green, and Julio Jones in 2015. 2013 Seahawks, Percy Harvin was 6th highest too.

Really in the NFL it is a matter of can you keep your cap balanced? You are going to have a few high priced guys. The question is can those lower paid guys still be huge contributors on the team? The Broncos were fortunate to still have a lot of guys on their rookie contracts during that Super Bowl run that helped with having Manning and DT on big contracts.

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

Denver did it 2 years ago with Thomas and Sanders but with 0Tds thrown, we know it was the Defense that won it. Pats don't use their 1st round picks on offensive weapons , just lineman or guards. Last one was pre-Brady with Edwards RB in 1998

Yep... that's what good teams do. Lineman, QBs (Pats lucked with Brady) and that really should be it. It all starts in the trenches... Look at Seattle, with an actual offensive line they probably would've gone to the Super Bowl.

Dak/Elliott are living proof. The ESPN mock re-draft with Dak #1 overall was absolutely hilarious. Dak appears to be a decent QB, but the 500 seconds he gets along with the blatant holes you could drive a mack truck through for his rookie runningback is the reason he gets any looks. Put him on LA and he'd be a 55 QB rating with a 0.75% TD/INT ratio.

 

[cowboys5xsbs]

Yep... that's what good teams do. Lineman, QBs (Pats lucked with Brady) and that really should be it. It all starts in the trenches... Look at Seattle, with an actual offensive line they probably would've gone to the Super Bowl.

Dak/Elliott are living proof. The ESPN mock re-draft with Dak #1 overall was absolutely hilarious. Dak appears to be a decent QB, but the 500 seconds he gets along with the blatant holes you could drive a mack truck through for his rookie runningback is the reason he gets any looks. Put him on LA and he'd be a 55 QB rating with a 0.75% TD/INT ratio.

I agree 100% I just wish Dallas had the same philosophy on defense

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

I agree 100% I just wish Dallas had the same philosophy on defense

Dallas is in an interesting position but I think they'll be around 9-7/10-6 next year and then potentially surge once they shed all those ridiculous contracts. That's not an official prediction since the draft and free agency hasn't even happened yet, but just kind of an early gauge.

Regardless, I think those massive contracts are going to come full circle. Romo, Bryant, Lee, and Witten are due a combined $66M WTF. Romo isn't even the starting QB but even if they get rid of him his dead cap is still tremendous (only save $5M). Bryant/Lee have some injury issues and Witten will be 35. If they keep all these guys you can kiss Claiborne (who was huge for Dallas) goodbye. Even if they cut Witten (overdue for an injury) and save $8M they will be scraping the bottom of the barrel to sign Claiborne and rookies. They are going to need something HUGE out of their dark horse in Jaylon Smith to keep a decent defense.

Also, we'll see how Dak/Elliott do in their sophomore years, but they are going to have to work hard because it's not going to be as simple as their rookie year when nobody had any game footage. Dallas is also going from a bottom 5 strength of schedule to top 10.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

this is bad , so much money in three guys

It's a lot of money no doubt. But when you look at the details of the contract, it's not that toxic. Guarantee is only $19 mil. His '17 cap hit is the same as it was so they have the money for Timmons. Clearly they are in win now mode even with the young DEF.

I would rather have seen them go after a proven edge rusher like Nick Perry, but they always pay their own 1st.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

I will never understand this. When was the last time a team won a SB with highly paid WR? Seriously.

The Steelers draft great WR's all the time. I wish the Pats could draft that well in this area. The Steelers should of traded him. I know fans wouldn't like it but that kind of money could be spent on more important things you need. No?

Not Julio's fault they don't have a ring. A pass happy OC is the only reason he doesn't.

That said, on the surface this looks like a lot of money and it is, but PIT seems to know how to do these contracts...AB is only guaranteed $19mil...his cap hit this season is unchanged so they have the money to re-sign Timmons if they so choose. Ben is likely to go 2 more yrs, 3 max...at that point an expensive WR like this probably won't make sense, but they can release AB with minimal cap damage.