Corey Liuget Contract

[SDFan]

there was an article on this over on UT yesterday that said the team is IIRC, #7 in available cap space for this year (1st in cap space for next year) and NEEDED to award a big contract to make sure they were at least up to the mandated Salary Cap FLOOR. Rivers is still negotiating, but will certainly get done eventually, but supposedly there was nobody else under 30 on the club in a last year of their current contract deserving of a big new deal.

[QSmokey]

there was an article on this over on UT yesterday that said the team is IIRC, #7 in available cap space for this year (1st in cap space for next year) and NEEDED to award a big contract to make sure they were at least up to the mandated Salary Cap FLOOR. Rivers is still negotiating, but will certainly get done eventually, but supposedly there was nobody else under 30 on the club in a last year of their current contract deserving of a big new deal.

Interesting. Then Liuget was at the right place at the right time, I guess. Good for him.

[Lightningwill_420]

I'm going on record to say this was a stupid move.
This wasn't as stupid as re-signing oft-injured/me-first player Donald Butler.
At least Liuget is durable and has shown only signs of being a team player. But the dude is way too inconsistent to anoint as a long-term, highly-paid member of our starting defensive line. His second year, he showed improvement over the first year and looked like he would be the kind of player we should give a big contract to. But, since then, he's regressed. He has wonderful games at time, but, mostly, the last couple seasons, he's been non-existent.
I would have saved this money and spent it on a real pass rusher - somebody who is going to help us win games throughout the season. The D-line isn't very good and it would probably only suck a little worse (it couldn't possibly suck much worse) if we lost Liuget to some team that wanted to overpay him. But, if we get a good pass-rushing linebacker, that would make a huge difference.

[bonehead]

It always comes down to how much is guaranteed.

he has a 5.5 million cap hit this year. It will be interesting to see what the cap is for 2016 since we have a ton of room there..

Would a team actually do that? Spread a chunk of the contract money to the second year because the cap is so low? I'm only asking because if they needed to stay up to the mandated salary cap floor this year, next year might be tight also.

[SDFan]

he has a 5.5 million cap hit this year. It will be interesting to see what the cap is for 2016 since we have a ton of room there..

Would a team actually do that? Spread a chunk of the contract money to the second year because the cap is so low? I'm only asking because if they needed to stay up to the mandated salary cap floor this year, next year might be tight also.

the UT article mentioned extending guys like Keenan Allen and Fluker next year- with focus being on young ascending players under 30 who are productive and stay mostly healthy.

[SDFan]

I'm going on record to say this was a stupid move.
This wasn't as stupid as re-signing oft-injured/me-first player Donald Butler.
At least Liuget is durable and has shown only signs of being a team player. But the dude is way too inconsistent to anoint as a long-term, highly-paid member of our starting defensive line. His second year, he showed improvement over the first year and looked like he would be the kind of player we should give a big contract to. But, since then, he's regressed. He has wonderful games at time, but, mostly, the last couple seasons, he's been non-existent.
I would have saved this money and spent it on a real pass rusher - somebody who is going to help us win games throughout the season. The D-line isn't very good and it would probably only suck a little worse (it couldn't possibly suck much worse) if we lost Liuget to some team that wanted to overpay him. But, if we get a good pass-rushing linebacker, that would make a huge difference.

I'm on record for years now saying we need to replace Don Johnson as DL coach if we really want to improve the whole underachieving of that unit year after year.

[Lightningwill_420]

the UT article mentioned extending guys like Keenan Allen and Fluker next year- with focus being on young ascending players under 30 who are productive and stay mostly healthy.

Keenan Allen doesn't stay mostly healthy.
Fluker is not an ascending player.
So maybe the focus is just on anybody under 30. Justin Bieber?

[TTK]

I'm going on record to say this was a stupid move.
This wasn't as stupid as re-signing oft-injured/me-first player Donald Butler.
At least Liuget is durable and has shown only signs of being a team player. But the dude is way too inconsistent to anoint as a long-term, highly-paid member of our starting defensive line. His second year, he showed improvement over the first year and looked like he would be the kind of player we should give a big contract to. But, since then, he's regressed. He has wonderful games at time, but, mostly, the last couple seasons, he's been non-existent.
I would have saved this money and spent it on a real pass rusher - somebody who is going to help us win games throughout the season. The D-line isn't very good and it would probably only suck a little worse (it couldn't possibly suck much worse) if we lost Liuget to some team that wanted to overpay him. But, if we get a good pass-rushing linebacker, that would make a huge difference.

Pass rushers are like quarterbacks. You have to draft them. Very few ever hit free agency in their prime.

[Lightningwill_420]

I'm on record for years now saying we need to replace Don Johnson as DL coach if we really want to improve the whole underachieving of that unit year after year.

I'll have to take your word for the effect of our defensive-line coach. My knowledge of football isn't quite that detailed.

[Lightningwill_420]

Pass rushers are like quarterbacks. You have to draft them. Very few ever hit free agency in their prime.

Okay.
I just did a quick Google search of free agent pass rushers from this year.
There was a dude available named Jerry Hughes - 20 sacks the last two years. He signed for less than what Liuget just signed for.
But, you're right. My brief Google search didn't pull up many free agent pass rushers that had much hoopla from Internet writers.
There were some backup "situational" pass rushers who signed for less than half of what Liuget got. And there was a dude who retired for religious reasons who, if he were not religious, could have been signed for less than what Liuget got.

[TTK]

Okay.

The d-line is pretty weak as is. I couldn't imagine it without Liuget.

We keep drafting pass rushers but they just don't pan out. Merriman was the only guy in "recent" years who teams ever really had to worry about.

Ingram could be the guy if he can stay healthy. Hopefully Attouchu takes a step up this year.

[Wheels]

I think Liuget just needs some help on the D line. So I like this signing, the dude has played pretty well and has beastly potential still. Obviously would like to see more consistency. I think factoring his age, talent, durability, current production, and potential, this is a reasonable deal. Remember when accounting for NFL salary inflation, unless he just sucks, this will be a modest deal several years down the road.