NFL - NEWS & NOTES

Looks like you're the only dissenter, and your argument is, "This extraordinarily high number that his current contract doesn't approach relative to the market is just too much!". Meanwhile, apparently unaccepting of the idea that abandoning a kicker for the free agent market might be a horrible, horrible idea based on... well, just about every other team's experience.

I don't know, man - the ground you're standing on looks awfully shaky, from here. But, hey... we won't belabor it. That I can absolutely agree with.

 

While we're discussing kickers . . .

Soccer style kickers became all the rage in the 1960's and have literally taken over the position. The "old school" straight on kickers like Dempsey, Groza and Blanda played well into their 40's without losing a lot of accuracy. Any chance that we will ever see a straight on kicker again?

 

I am getting confused on your calculations... The Franchise tag isn't set at..who is the highest player and then add to that... He is already the highest player. If they sign him to the exact same contract, he would still be the highest paid player. Who is stating he is in line to get a 18% raise over the highest paid player(himself)?

Why not take reality into the equation here?

4 years ago, he was coming off a GREAT NFL season, 33 of 35 FGs, 51 of 51 PATs. In fact to that point he had only missed ONE PAT in his 9 year career. So he was given a contract conducive to his play....No one has caught up to him on that contract structure. Why give him a raise at all after missing 6 PATs in the last 3 years?

I am genuinely curious where you are getting 3 years $17M from? The last go around it was 4 years $17M and no other kicker has signed a contract to match it.

If you are going with the league value, you give him a 3 year $12.75M contract and tell him to take it or leave it.

Tell me your thoughts on this:
Take the Patriots $4.25M per year, which is still the highest paid K in the NFL and stay with the team that is perennially in the AFC Championship game

or

Take another contract, that I guarantee won't be higher than $5M per year and play for a team that most likely will be playing to make the playoffs (hopefully)

So,
A) sign a contract that most likely keeps you with Tom Brady until retirement
B) go out on your own at age 35 and take your chances, uproot your family, etc....

I think you might be blowing this out of proportion because he is a free agent.

 

No, nobody is learning to kick like that anymore. I remember when I was a kid there were only straight on kickers, then by the middle 80’s the straight on kickers disappeared.

 

The last one I can remember in the NFL...

Mark Moseley, putting the game winner through against the Jets in double OT divisional playoff game, 1987.

I don't know if we'll see this again or not...

 

Show me a straight line kicker that can kick it out of the end zone and I will show you a guy that will get an opportunity.

Fact is, that method reduces the velocity of a kick and you simply can't get it far enough for today's game.

 

I agree it's highly doubtful..Straight on kickers are no more....In fact, if I remember correctly, we pulled Moseley out of retirement at the end of 86 season to replace the injured (soccer style PK) Matt Bahr...

 

It is set at 120% of the player's prior year's salary if it's higher than the franchise tag amount would be, which would be the case with Gostkowski (his cap number was 5M this year). And then 144% the next year. So 5 x 1.2 = 6, 6 x 1.44 = 8.64, 6 + 8.64 = 14.64M. So that's your baseline for guaranteed money in a new contract for Gostkowski. Then add on a little more to the term and the total to make it more cap friendly, account for the fact that his last deal was 4/17 and the cap's gone up, and there you go. It's a ballpark estimate, but not an unreasonable one if he is indeed deserving to continue to set the market as you said he's likely to.

 

Wouldn't surprise me if kickoffs were removed from the game making the ability to kick it out of the end zone a mute point, eh?

As far as distance goes, Dempsey set the record at 63 yards in 1970 and it stood until 2013.

 

Good point...I always wondered if that special shoe he wore on his kicking foot, helped him somehow?


Look at that thing:

 

You're being ridiculous.

In what world does Gostkowski's negotiating power start with two years' worth of consecutive franchise tags? $7.82 mil/year? That would be double what almost any kicker in the league is being paid.

You're nuts, man.

 

He is signing a new contract, not signing a franchise tag

Those rules don't apply to new contracts

 

how the hell did Tony Franklin kick with no shoe on? my foot would be mangled if i tried that.

 

I didn't say they applied, I said they set the baseline for negotiating the guaranteed money in new contracts. (If a player is good enough to warrant being tagged, of course.)

 

Seriously. I don't even like walking through my own house without shoes on.

 

His current contract: $10.1M guaranteed (signing bonus + 2015, 2016 salaries). This was the most guaranteed ever paid to a kicker.
So, $14.64 mil guaranteed would represent a significant jump relative not just to the market, but to his own previously record-breaking contract.

Stop acting like it's some fair, "baseline" assumption.

 

The only reason a kicker is ever tagged is because the baseline of the numbers is so low. It isn't like other positions where the top 5 players are all over the place being separated by $7M from #1 to #5... The top 6 kickers are separated by $300,000. That's 19% of the league separated by $300K

This is like the argument that Le'Veon Bell had that he should be paid $17M per year...when the next closest position player to you only makes $14.3M (we're talking Todd Gurley, not a lessor RB).

 

Getting back to Matt Bryant, he missed three games due to a hamstring injury this year, and even when he returned the Falcons still had to burn a roster spot carrying a backup because his hamstring was still an ongoing issue. He also had injury issues in preseason in 2017 and missed six weeks of the 2015 season with a quad injury.

So injuries have been an issue in three of the last four years, and he turns 44 in May. You can count on him to make the kick. You just can't be sure of keeping him on the field.

Atlanta decided to take the $3.5M cap savings and get that extra roster spot back.

 

Former NFL referee Red Cashion dies at 87...

One of the NFL’s most famous officials, Red Cashion, died Sunday, Kenny Wiley of the Bryan-College Station Eagle reports. Cashion was 87.

Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman tweeted a few years ago that Cashion and Jerry Markbreit were the two best referees during Aikman’s playing days.

Cashion became known for his first down call, enthusiastically drawing out his announcement.

Cashion has been a nominee as a contributor for the Pro Football Hall of Fame for all five years of the category.

He began officiating in 1952 while still a student at Texas A&M. Cashion worked junior high, B team, high school and college football for 20 years before the NFL hired him as a line judge. Four years later, in 1976, Cashion earned a promotion to referee.

He worked as the referee for two Super Bowls — XX and XXX — before retiring after the 1996 season.

During his 25 seasons in the NFL, Cashion officiated 18 postseason games, one Pro Bowl and almost 500 professional games. (PFT)
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I remember him as a small child... RIP, Red...

 

Kyler Murray: I’m fully committed to football...

Kyler Murray is giving up baseball and focusing on football.

Murray, the Heisman Trophy-winning Oklahoma quarterback who was also a first-round pick of the Oakland A’s, revealed on Twitter today that he has decided to make the NFL his priority.

“Moving forward, I am firmly and fully committing my life and time to becoming an NFL quarterback,” Murray wrote. “Football has been my love and passion my entire life. I was raised to play QB, and I very much look forward to dedicating 100% of myself to being the best QB possible and winning NFL championships. I have started an extensive training program to further prepare myself for upcoming NFL workouts and interviews. I eagerly await the opportunity to continue to prove to NFL decision makers that I am the franchise QB in this draft.”

Although there are still people inside the NFL who question whether Murray is tall enough to be a franchise quarterback, there’s no question that he was an incredibly productive quarterback in college. Now that he has publicly committed to being an NFL quarterback, he is likely to be a first-round draft pick.