From a cap standpoint, the amount they'll want you really can't do it in those short terms.

If they'd take 3 year deals, it's going to be fully guaranteed.

The Pats only pay Brady and Gilmore real $$ (above $10M). The rest of their roster are cheap contract guys and middle class (around $4M) guys on their second contracts.

Way different than the stars and scrubs approach of most teams.

No way in hell should we get Clowney. He is still a work in progress and we don’t know for sure if he will work out. He’s never had double-digit sacks. I’m not paying huge money for players with questions.

Teams shouldn’t be spending huge money on pass rushers unless they are truly elite, and the deal should not be 5 or 6 years long.

Alex Okafor was a great get. He’s got half the sacks of Clowney, he’s a good run defender overall like him and he is built similarly. Give me Okafor at 1/3 of the price of the pass rushers getting paid. It’s smart to get pass rushers like Okafor, Houston and Bennett who are still talented with manageable cap hits. Then draft pass rushers early to get good young talent for cheap for 4-6 years.

I’m fine with paying a LB or DB big money. Hitchens and Honey Badger got paid elite money when they were signed and it’s still nowhere near as much as a premier pass rusher would get paid.

Why do you think that is?

Why would you want to pay elite money to players that don't make elite impact?

Clowney is a work in progress? How so?

"I'm not paying huge money to players with questions" doesn't really sit well with being ok paying Mathieu or even Watkins.

Why would Mathieu be a risk?

If we were drafting him I'd understand but since he's been in the league he's been pretty solid...

Clowney is 26 and has never shown a high ceiling as a pass rusher. That’s what you’re paying him to do.

It would be foolish to pay him big money without showing that. Might as well have paid Dee.

He's been essentially a 10 sack guy for 2 years playing DE in a 34.

If that doesn't really show a high ceiling as a pass rusher, well, i'm not sure what we're looking for.

You probably couldn't build a guy better suited to play the weak DE spot in Spags system than Clowney.

Over the last 3 years he's averaged about 20 QB hits per year.

Injuries?

dee ford only does one thing some what well. thats rush the passer, with houston and jones on the same line as him he only got 13 sacks. how do you say we should have paid him and not want to pay clowney

Sorry but Clowney has been a top dlineman and a complete player for at least two years now.

He is definitly worth something close to Demarcus Lawrence in terms of contract.

The problem I have with not trading for any good D-end but just drafting one is that in a year of SB or bust, we know the usual contribution of a 1st year Dline player and coupled with Speaks, Kpassagnon and Okafor at D-end, that's way too much of an unknown and likely not good enough.

It's either you put on the field a real strong Dline and you can go with some unknown in the secondary or vice-versa.

DE and OLB line up the same on a lot of plays, so he’s had his opportunities.

He’s also played with JJ Watt and Whitney Mercilus and still couldn’t break double-digit sacks?

That’s as a good of a situation for him to be in as any in the league and he still didn’t show high pass rush potential.

Sorry. Not paying $20+ million for that.

So you have to break 10 sacks to have high pass rush potential? Not putting together 3 straight years of 20 plus pressures per game or 9 and 9.5 sack seasons, but that elusive half sack would have put him there.

He's not a speed guy like Ford and he's bigger.

He's the absolute ideal guy to play 43 DE in this system. Next to Jones and in this sytem, he'd be a perennial 12 sack guy.

I don't see how anyone can not like Clowney but want to trade up for Ferrell. That's essentially what you hope Ferrell becomes.