Yesterday it was revealed that the Lions front office had issues with the language in Tampa Bays offer to George Johnson. It was speculated that the Bucs inserted a "poison pill" cause in the contract that would make it more expensive for the Lions to match than what Tampa Bay would be paying Johnson. The Lions are asking the league for clarification the "principal terms" of the contract
Johnson's offer sheet contains de-escalators and the Lions want to know whether they have to match the 3 year 9 million dollar offer that could shrink to a 7 million dollar offer. Or do they have to match the 3 year 7 million offer after the de-escalators apply.
The CBA constitutes de-escalators as a "variable payment" since the terms of the labor deal does not specify whether this type of payment has to be match for the offer sheet to be match the Lions are asking for the league to rule on this issue, hence the arbiter.
Basically the Lions will probably match the offer but that offer could be as low as a 3 year 7 million deal. They will have to wait until the arbiter rules on this within the next 10 day, then the Lions will have two days after that to decide.
sounds like a really good way to let your players know you respect them. Quibbling over 2 million dollars on a three year deal. The reason you put a restricted tag on a player is the option to match the deal if another team offers that player a contract. If we are contemplating matching their offer it should be a match. Not arguing semantics. The de-esculators would work for us the same way they would have worked for the Bucs. If we want to keep him, we should match the contract. I truly hope the arbitrator decides that is the case because the other option is unfair to GJ.
ReplyDeleteThese clowns have no fucking clue.
3 years and 7 million is NOT matching 3 years with the potential to make 9 million. I don't care how it is spun. How these incompetents keep their jobs is utterly beyond me.
Pulling stuff like that may seem like good business sense in a small picture point of view, but how does this sit with the players?
DeleteLevy is a FA next season with no indications that talks have started. The Lions have a few weeks left to pick up Reiff's option. You have Ihedigbo making noise about his contract.
Players are like employees treat them fair and with respect and they we be loyal. Start messing around with them word starts to spread and the next thing you know is that it gets hard to re-sign and sign players.
This start with Millen. He was a colossal asshole and treated certain players very poorly. Remember Johnny Morton? Other players see that, they talk to one another and word of mouth spreads.
yea, I agree… I actually thought the Lions went through this, but it was more covert, on the under, in 2012 when all the guys were in the last year of their contracts and then proceeded to show little team chemistry and so many guys seemed to be pressing trying to get on tape, yet actually missing the plays or something. That's just theory on my part, no real way to know, and I haven't done the research to know how unusual the roster contracts were for the 2012 team, but I'd hate to see this offseason hinting at what's to come (like the arrests in 2011) except this time it'll be contract related. Levy, Reif, Digs, George, and then the young players still under contract are seeing this as the modus operandi for the FO.
DeleteAdd Avril and are we seeing a pattern? maybe even going back to SLH, and WY where guys who are productive , if you aren't a star, it's iffy if you'll get rewarded from the Lions.
You make a good point. This does go back to the mustashio'd moron and has continued on with Mayillen. This is why you fire everyone and start from scratch after employing a total failure of a GM. This why you don't hire the right hand man of the worst GM in the history of the NFL. The fruit doesn't fall far from the tree.
Deletein Mayhew's defense, I am not sure he doesn't have what it takes to be a great GM. He could've still been a good candidate with work experience under M****, my problem is as far as I can tell, that is the real only major time in the FO in that type of capacity was with the Lions under M*****. If he had years prior to as 2nd in command .. even one other place… I think that would help lend to his experience.. seeing how others do it. Not all organizations are the same.
Deleteif memory serves correct, he also served in the FO in Washington and that's basically it, and in Washington it was a much different capacity, and I am not even sure how good they were at the time.
Was he a is he a bobby breathared disciple?
Seems like this FO does not value rotational roles. I think they feel like they can easily replace players that provide depth. What kind of role would Young and SLH have on the Lions for this upcoming season?
DeleteBilly, you make a strong case against the Lions top heavy spending habits and how it potentially will hurt a team's middle class in both loyalty and retention.
Deletethat's a coup! extra 7th rounder, or was it just switching positions in the 7th?
DeleteI think he was worth keeping, we shall see. We were supposed to be high on Taylor and especially Webster and this clears the path for more PT
something else I find interesting about LIons fans….(some that I talk with over there) …. there's been a case made that getting rid of Mayhew would partially be a mistake since with the Ford's history, there's no guarantee the next guy would be better. …. but when it comes to players, the same fans are mercilessly harsh with their judgement.
ReplyDeleteTake George v Mayhew - a player some expressed loudly is not worth the money .. a one year wonder… a benefit of the players around… did nothing since he entered league…
don't pay him, move on.. he's peaked.
yet with Mayhew they'd argue to keep him as possibly the best option, but isn't that what George could be too?
it just seems like the standards and expectations for the players is great than that for the FO.
now another question :
from the roster , who are the Lions that Mayhew drafted and they had to re-sign? Draft picks no longer on their original contract… actually would like to add UDFA's picked up by the Lions as rookies who have gone onto a second contract with the team?
I kind of thought that without the SUh contract, that would free up spendable cap space for a guy like George. Hard to say if Suh had signed, that it wouldn't have cost them more than George.