Dalton signs

[CrashDavisSports]

Before this contract we still had him locked up for this season, so why spend $17 million to lock him up for one more?

Because if he does succeed, which they are anticipating he does, then the contract is in place and it is team friendly. You have to think about this from a business standpoint Doug. This ensures the future of the organization at the most important position for years to come, IF HE SUCCEEDS EARLY in this contract. If not, then we are letting him go with little cap hit.

The only real hit we had to take in this contract was guaranteeing a second year basically on top of this remaining one. We had to give something to get a contract like that, and it happened to be 1 extra year.

Saying, we will give you two full seasons to get this thing right, or we are going in a different direction. The fact Dalton knows he has struggled in the playoffs and is willing to sign basically an incentive laden contract that basically revolves completely around playoff goals with an early out for the team, Dalton was sacrificing the most.

 

[cincygrad]

Before this contract we still had him locked up for this season, so why spend $17 million to lock him up for one more?

Well, you need to spend the money on something right? They invested big in Andy this year hoping he would be a bargain in three years. I don't agree with the organization about his potential..... Clearly they think he will improve. Or more likely they're simply thrilled to finish with a winning record and don't have any other ambitions.

 

[bphillips4gg]

They just signed dude to a VERY team-friendly contract. They'll pay him more this year and next, after that they basically have 4 option years to decide if he's worth the money he'd get. From what I've read, they don't have to decide after next season if they're going to pick up all 4 of them, but they can nix the deal at any time thereafter and none of it is guaranteed.

And if the top priority in your mind is that they extend Green and Burfect, this is great news for you because you pretty much just guaranteed that you can do that. If they sat on their hands this year and didn't extend Daulton or Green, they reach or win the Super Bowl and Daulton plays well throughout the entire post season, say goodbye to one of those players because Daulton's price tag just went up.

I don't get why people possibly have a problem with this deal. They left themselves enough money to sign the other key guys they need to sign, and if Daulton does "earn it", you're getting him on the cheap. If he "earns it" this year, then gets hurt next year, you can cut him and you didn't have to pay him $50 million guaranteed over 6 years. It was a great deal for the team and a good deal for Daulton.

 

[flamingrey]

Well, you need to spend the money on something right? They invested big in Andy this year hoping he would be a bargain in three years. I don't agree with the organization about his potential..... Clearly they think he will improve. Or more likely they're simply thrilled to finish with a winning record and don't have any other ambitions.

Therein lies the problem. When you have a "bargain" for a QB, that means your team probably isn't good enough to win a playoff, let alone win the SB. If we were sitting in the NFC or any period of the time the AFC wasn't as crappy as it has been, we'd be talking about that not being good enough to even make the playoffs. Yet, now we're looking at 3 years down the road? They had a year left on his deal to allow him to actually prove himself. Make himself worthy of a half a decade long extension. But no, Mikey is satisfied with the status quo.

QB's aren't supposed to be "bargains". If you aren't paying damn near $20 million a year for your QB, after 3-4 years of the same mediocrity (at best), it's time to start planning for the future...with someone else.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

Therein lies the problem. When you have a "bargain" for a QB, that means your team probably isn't good enough to win a playoff, let alone win the SB. If we were sitting in the NFC or any period of the time the AFC wasn't as crappy as it has been, we'd be talking about that not being good enough to even make the playoffs. Yet, now we're looking at 3 years down the road? They had a year left on his deal to allow him to actually prove himself. Make himself worthy of a half a decade long extension. But no, Mikey is satisfied with the status quo.

QB's aren't supposed to be "bargains". If you aren't paying damn near $20 million a year for your QB, after 3-4 years of the same mediocrity (at best), it's time to start planning for the future...with someone else.

They are paying him damn near 20 million a year if he earns his contract, which in this case means winning playoff games. So not sure the bargin you are talking about.

Only bargin here is if he stinks and still can't win that ellusive playoff game, we can cut his ass at any point following year two of this deal, and we take next to no cap hit. If Dalton EARNS this contract, he is making the most ever per season of any player in franchise history at ~$19 million per year.

 

[flamingrey]

They are paying him damn near 20 million a year if he earns his contract, which in this case means winning playoff games. So not sure the bargin you are talking about.

Only bargin here is if he stinks and still can't win that ellusive playoff game, we can cut his ass at any point following year two of this deal, and we take next to no cap hit. If Dalton EARNS this contract, he is making the most ever per season of any player in franchise history at ~$19 million per year.

Exactly. With one year left, why not give him another chance to SHOW he's worth that contract. Instead of giving it to him a year in advance. The team has limited itself.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

Exactly. With one year left, why not give him another chance to SHOW he's worth that contract. Instead of giving it to him a year in advance. The team has limited itself.

Because if he goes off, I would rather be paying 19 million a year with the escalators forcing him to win playoff games, than giving him 25 million a year with 40 to 50 million guaranteed for putting ink to paper.

 

[bphillips4gg]

Exactly. With one year left, why not give him another chance to SHOW he's worth that contract. Instead of giving it to him a year in advance. The team has limited itself.

Because if he comes out this year and "shows" he's worth it, he's going to gain a lot of leverage. Andy Dalton is going to get paid. Why would you wait for his value to rise? If he doesn't improve, you can cut him with no harm done. If he performs well, those 4 extra years are not only going to be just as expensive, but the amount of guaranteed salary would likely increase and the cap hit for the subsequent years would as well.

It's also not beyond the realm of possibility that after 2 years the Bengals decide that they don't want to retain him at that rate, even if they want him back, and the two renegotiate a more fitting amount. The team holds all the cards with this deal. It's exactly what contracts should be. Perform or you're not making any money.

 

[bphillips4gg]

Because if he goes off, I would rather be paying 19 million a year with the escalators forcing him to win playoff games, than giving him 25 million a year with 40 to 50 million guaranteed for putting ink to paper.

I really don't understand why this is such a difficult concept for people to understand. There's literally zero risk that this deal hurts the team, yet people can't seem to comprehend how invaluable it is for the team that they have no guaranteed money tied up in this guy past next season.

 

[dare2be]

I really don't understand why this is such a difficult concept for people to understand.

The only concept that is difficult to understand is "if he goes off."

 

[CrashDavisSports]

The only concept that is difficult to understand is "if he goes off."

LMAO.

I started thinking of several scenerios with that comment. Thank you for the laugh.

 

[bengaldoug]

Well, you need to spend the money on something right? They invested big in Andy this year hoping he would be a bargain in three years. I don't agree with the organization about his potential..... Clearly they think he will improve. Or more likely they're simply thrilled to finish with a winning record and don't have any other ambitions.

We are on the same page.....if he doesn't improve greatly this year, then we should start from scratch.

 

[cincygrad]

We are on the same page.....if he doesn't improve greatly this year, then we should start from scratch.

Yes, but given the roster and the state of the AFC, Dalton might suck and we still might win 10 games..... I'm afraid we're in that zone we're we are too good to start over and not good enough to win it all.

 

[bengaldoug]

Yes, but given the roster and the state of the AFC, Dalton might suck and we still might win 10 games..... I'm afraid we're in that zone we're we are too good to start over and not good enough to win it all.

Hell, maybe Campbell or even McCarron(after a year watching and learning) could win 10 games with this roster.

 

[flamingrey]

Because if he goes off, I would rather be paying 19 million a year with the escalators forcing him to win playoff games, than giving him 25 million a year with 40 to 50 million guaranteed for putting ink to paper.

Nonsense. Joe Flacco's contract after winning the SB averaged out to $20 million per season. And that SB win was following multiple AFCCG appearances. Dalton is sitting at $19 million with a SB win.

 

[flamingrey]

Because if he comes out this year and "shows" he's worth it, he's going to gain a lot of leverage. Andy Dalton is going to get paid. Why would you wait for his value to rise? If he doesn't improve, you can cut him with no harm done. If he performs well, those 4 extra years are not only going to be just as expensive, but the amount of guaranteed salary would likely increase and the cap hit for the subsequent years would as well.

It's also not beyond the realm of possibility that after 2 years the Bengals decide that they don't want to retain him at that rate, even if they want him back, and the two renegotiate a more fitting amount. The team holds all the cards with this deal. It's exactly what contracts should be. Perform or you're not making any money.

Grad, let me take this one...

 

[flamingrey]

Yes, but given the roster and the state of the AFC, Dalton might suck and we still might win 10 games..... I'm afraid we're in that zone we're we are too good to start over and not good enough to win it all.

And the cycle will continue for a several years at a minimum, probably longer. Neither of Manning or Brady are getting any younger. And with the exception of Luck, who are the great for another 10 years or up and coming QB's in the AFC? There aren't any. They're all in the NFC.

That, plus overall, we're one of the youngest teams in the NFL. And the core of the offense will be here for a long time.

Really, they should have gambled on a QB much higher than they did in this draft, but it still wouldn't be too late next year.

 

[cincygrad]

Grad, let me take this one...

Well played.

 

[bengaldoug]

Exactly. With one year left, why not give him another chance to SHOW he's worth that contract. Instead of giving it to him a year in advance. The team has limited itself.

This.............................

 

[cincygrad]

Exactly. With one year left, why not give him another chance to SHOW he's worth that contract. Instead of giving it to him a year in advance. The team has limited itself.

I agree with you, but it's just not what the Bengals do. With most of the players that they really wanted to keep, they have struck deals before the player reaches a contract year. They did this with Palmer, Chad, Whitworth, Leon, Gino, Dunlap..... Probably more. They'd rather pay a guy early (and probably less money) than have to compete on the open market. And to be fair, it's probably a good strategy given that they're not really capable of re-signing their own when the player is unrestricted.

As far as the team limiting itself..... That damage was already done. They let MJ and Collins walk to save money for extensions. They had to give the money to someone. They have more options with AJ and Burfict, so they cut the deal with Dalton.

I would have preferred that they keep MJ and Collins and let Dalton play out his deal.