Just call me Al: Wrecking the NFL, one deal at a time...
 

Thu Feb 19, 2009 8:19 pm EST

Execs taken aback by Asomugha, Lechler deals
By Jason Cole

INDIANAPOLIS – Reaction was swift and ugly Thursday to the deals the Oakland Raiders gave CB Nnamdi Asomugha and punter Shane Lechler over the past two days.

"How many different ways can you say, 'What were they thinking?' " a team executive who declined to be identified said after being told the terms of Asomugha's three-year, $45 million contract.

"Insanity, stupidity, whatever you want to attach to it. Yeah, the kid is the best cornerback in the league. They paid for quality. I'll give them that. But that deal wrecks the league. Absolutely wrecks it. … I'm sure Al doesn't care, but it's deals like that that change the league for the worse."

Asomugha is guaranteed $28.5 million over the first two years of the deal and the Raiders will have to decide by the fifth day of the league year in 2011 whether to pick up the third season of the deal. If they do, the final year is guaranteed. If not, Asomugha can't be franchised (nor can the Raiders franchise him even if he plays out all three years on the contract), making him an unrestricted free agent at either age 29 or 30. Combined with the $9.7 million Asomugha made last season as a franchise player for Oakland, he stands to make approximately $55 million in a four-year stretch.

"And still hit free agency at the right time for one more big contract, assuming he's healthy," a second team executive said, shaking his head.

The fear among the executives is that the Asomugha deal will have a ripple effect on the rest of the league. Specifically, Tennessee DT Albert Haynesworth is likely to get a contract that exceeds previous deals for defensive linemen such as Jared Allen and Dwight Freeney.

"You can argue that Haynesworth is a defensive tackle or that he's a bad guy," said a third team executive. "But if a cornerback gets what the Raiders just paid, a defensive tackle like Haynesworth is going to get a serious pay day as well."

Similarly, Lechler's deal more than doubled the previous high average for a punter. His four-year, $16 million deal includes $9 million guaranteed, according to sources close to the negotiations. The $4 million average per season exceeds the previous high of $1.8 million.

Wow. That's a lot of scratch for very little itch.

Awesomewahoo for sure.

FAX

Its all part of his elaborate plan to throw off the numbers for franchise tags...

He's a genius! ROFL

man that franchise deserves to be shot

Tommy Kelly sees nothing wrong with it. /Terrdell Sands

It has really gone out control with the amount of money these players are getting paid. With the economy the way it is and thousands of people losing jobs every day and taking pay cuts. Yet it still doesnt effect them. Just think about it 28.5 million in two years. Is anybody really worth that much for there service? Especially a sports star. Maybe someone that came up with a way for unlimited energy or the person who finds a cure for cancer. I could probably justify that.

If the players don't get it the owners who are worth billions just pad their pockets more...

The NFL has become a melting pot for over paid underachieveing bitchy young millionairs. PERIOD
Every year we hear all about the next great thing, (last year we even bought into it with JR) only to find out "said team" has just paid reeruned amounts of cash to a kid who is UN PROVEN in the pro league.
WHY?
Agents have these brain washed tits actually believeing thier own hype, fuled by owners who go out and spend the coin.

I love Nnamdi on our team.
He is one of the finest, BUT no one is worth the kind of cash these guy's are getting these days.
I say GREAT! The man just did something very few have ben able to do to AL for years, "Come out on teh beter side of a contract.
They pay him, or lose him period!
And he still has the chance to go out and grab that "last hurahh contract" before his playing days are over.

Just one more reason AL should have a contract taken out on him!

As for this part
.."They paid for quality. I'll give them that. But that deal wrecks the league."

Sorry, ain't buying it! This league has been ****ed for years due to greed, and always will be.

I read a few years back in SI a blind question asked of 100 NFL players
"If 500k being league min, and 1 mill being highest possible salary would you still play?"
Jery Rice said YES! (being the only one who gave their name) as did 6 others.

Thats pretty sad when you figure 93 "Professional's" said NO, I wont work for ONLY 1 million a year.

IMO:
Give rookies a standerd salary of half a mill for getting drafted, a mill for making the starting line, FOR THE FIRST YEAR with an option of either negoation a contract after the first year, or allowing another team to offer them one.
You can't help but wonder what guy's who've been in the league for 5 plus years already are thinking when someone like JR get's 60mill fresh out of school.

Sure these punks wouldn't like it a bit. Many would refuse to sign.
FUG EM!
Have open tryouts, hell they made a movie about a Guy from Philly who made the team from an open tryout, grabed a pass for an INT/TD and I bet he sure as hell didn't get nearly 5 mill for 3 years, let alone 28 for 2

How much did Montana sign for?
How about Terry Bradshaw?
Reggie White?
And the list goes on.
Yes I know todays game has more revenue, but let's get reasonable for a min shall we?
Unproven talent is only worth so much

Yes, this is big money, but NFL salaries don't come close to what MLB players get, which is BS because NFL players put their life on the line every week AND their contracts aren't guaranteed like MLB's are.

If you want to bitch about salaries for athletes, you better start with baseball.

:clap: and basketball!

It's exactly thought processes like this one that has created the mess were in.
And I see you've bought into this idiotic theory as well.

Every damn person on the planet put's "their life on the line" every damn day getting behind the wheel of their car and driving to work, taking a plane, riding a bus. It's called LIFE.
If someone nails me in a head on tomorrow and cripples me, am I guaranteed 25 mill because I do coustom plaster work that only very few people are able to do? Not a chance.

If your crippled tomorrow in a work place accident, I can almost guarantee you will NEVER come close to getting what these guy's make per year.


Just remember.
THESE GUY'S WANTED THIS LIFE, which means they accecpt the risks involved.

Al Davis is the NFL's greatest troll.

No shit they wanted this life - did I say they didn't, or are you putting words in my mouth?

The point of my post, which was abundantly clear, was that NFL players are not overpaid when you compare them to their peers in MLB (and NBA...thanks Bweb).

NFL players are at risk for more injuries than their counterparts AND their contracts are not guaranteed. They have the short end of the stick when compared to other pro athletes in this country.

But thanks for getting on your soapbox.

No prob :thumb:

I wonder where the breaking point is where the TV revenue, ticket/merchandise sales and corporate sponsorships will no longer support the escalating salaries. There has to be one.