Which QB will sign a team friendly deal to help his team?
Who will it be?
With the news of the Colin Kaepernick contract extension breaking yesterday it has brought back a conversation that I have had with a good friend of mine a few times. Which quarterback is going to decline the big money contract to help his team? Tom Brady, to the surprise of many isn’t even in the top 10 for highest paid QB in the league, and every offseason the patriots are able to bring in significant free agents to help take another shot at the Super Bowl. If you look at the players and teams who have a lot invested in their QB’s you will see a common problem, they struggle to maintain the talent surrounding the face of the franchise year in and year out. We all saw what happened to the Ravens after Flacco’s pay day and the players they had to let go. That also trickled into this offseason with no key names added, but to their credit they did sign their own back.
Players like Andrew Luck, Cam Newton & Russell Wilson’s contracts are coming up the next year or two and it will be interesting to see if any of them turn down the big money contract for a far more cap friendly number to help the greater good of keeping the team together. Every team identifies their key positions that work for their schemes, but we all know everyone needs and wants a shut down CB, a franchise LT, a sideline to sideline LB with a QB smashing DE on the outside, well not everyone can get $40-60 million guaranteed or $100M+.
The Seattle Seahawks may be onto something with paying who they believe are their cornerstones and then rotating out various other positions with well scouted low round draft choices and have done it well to this point. If any other team is going to follow that model you better hit on those positions you pay or you might end up with some upset fans, ahem Jerry Jones? With next year’s salary cap projected to be right around $150 million because the new TV contracts start, and reviewing this past free agency the outlook of teams splurging on the average players may increase that possibility (Rodger Saffold anyone?), or we just may see the NFL’s first $150 and $170 million dollar quarterback.
This article was written by Richard Gerber an up and coming writer for NFL Draft Diamonds. Let Richard know which QB you think would take a team friendly deal via twitter @richardgerber03.
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