CBS Postseason Analysis

[bonehead]

Hmmm .. Lestar Jean?

[Formula 21]

6 mil for Butler, an oft injured, non-impact ILB. You're a generous man.

[Beerman]

Yea fuck giving him 6 mil per.

[MrSparky]

NOT. A. CHANCE... san diego is too broke to offer that much to a upper-middle class Butler. ESPN says he is the #1 ILB... not sure

p.s. save the tag

[Steve]

Butler is clearly the #1 ILB who is a FA. I didn't see the ESPN list, but being familiar with the ILB who are FA, that seems like it is correct. However, the point that is often missed is that you can get other guys almost as good for much, much less. And the guys who are truely elite players, they never make it to FA at all. The fact that he is the #1 ILB in FA doesn't change the sentiment at all. We want him, but we won't overpay.

And the issue is not whether or not Butler is worth $6 mill a season. The issue is will he be worth $6-8 mill per season in a year or two. Signing a contract is not about your current production, but is about your production over the course of your contract. Butler is on the verge of being one of the top ILB in all of football. He is not going to want to sign long term deal now, at his current rate, because if he does then by the time he does, he won't get the big contract next time, as he will already being on the declining side of his career. So, the question is how to figure out if he will actually take the next step.

I think there are several ways to handle it, not all of which will be things he will be receptive.
1). Do what Beer suggests, sign a short contract with a lot of incentives so he can get the money anyway. One, the money from the incentives comes off the next years salary cap, plus no one minds paying for actual production. But it doesn't give him the financial security that he or his agent crave.
2). Sign a regular deal, with defered bonuses and such, and then structure it so that Butler doesn't get paid that much now, and then make the later part of the contract voidable, by either him or the team. That way if he is due to get a lot of money and doesn't produce, he can be cut, or if he is overproducing, then he can get out of the deal and be a FA.
3). Sign a short deal and make him play for it again. You can even make most of the money you give him in the form of a bonus. But that is not going to be ideal for Butler, since it really doesn't accomplish much. He won't get that much money, and would still be in limbo.

Some team will probably make him a pretty big deal. Every team needs 1 or 2 LB who can do a bit of everything to play in their nickle and dime packages. And Butler is one of the guys who can do everything well enough to be an asset. If it is just stupid money, then I think we let him go. I want him back, but there will be other solid LB out there. Not as good as he could be, but good enough and save us the cap space. But if we learned anything from Norv and AJ last year, it should be throwing a lot of money at FA is not a good answer. You need good players, but you need to be smart about it.

Lets just hope the Chargers can work something out that doesn't tie our hands and that Butler can live with.

[Beerman]

Jason La Canfora, CBS: Even in their heart of hearts, I don't think they knew that they were that good. When you looked at that team, it looked like a 'tweener team -- some guys maybe a little old, some guys still a little too young. I think Mike McCoy -- if you would have done the voting for Coach of the Year maybe one or two weeks later, if you would have done it the second week of the playoffs, I'm not saying he would have won that thing, because Rivera did a great job and Andy Reid did a great job, but I think he got overlooked a little bit. Talk about maximizing talent, I thought they exceeded any expectations. I looked at them in training camp and thought, if they win six games it's a hell of an accomplishment. They almost won double that.

:upton:

[blueman]

If I watch that long enough, do her boobs fall out?