How come we had to use "clever" negotiations to pay Willis more money?

Originally posted by jonnydellfan:
the 30% rule will likely only be in place for this year. It's a result of the uncapped year. The owners wanted reasonable protection against an uncapped season. So players wouldn't force outlandish contracts upon owners the 30% rule was put in place for an uncapped year. Since Willis is in the last year of his contract and no new cba until next year at the earliest, the club wanted to lock Willis up before he even had a chance to test the free agent market. I applaud the organization for doing what it needed to do to lock up Willis to a contract that he deserves. I think it would have been rather insulting to offer him the kind of contract a guy like Karlos Dansby got.

Willis had two years, 2010 + 2011, before his contract expired.

Originally posted by jonnydellfan:
the 30% rule will likely only be in place for this year. It's a result of the uncapped year. The owners wanted reasonable protection against an uncapped season. So players wouldn't force outlandish contracts upon owners the 30% rule was put in place for an uncapped year. Since Willis is in the last year of his contract and no new cba until next year at the earliest, the club wanted to lock Willis up before he even had a chance to test the free agent market. I applaud the organization for doing what it needed to do to lock up Willis to a contract that he deserves. I think it would have been rather insulting to offer him the kind of contract a guy like Karlos Dansby got.

Willis had 2 years left on his deal, before the extension. Not one year.

~Ceadder

Originally posted by philmo:

Originally posted by DaDivaRecieva15:
who cares, as long as we got him locked up.

Just wondering, managing the payroll is the most important thing in making a good football team, just wanted to know why we couldn't have just giving him the max with the %30 rule and saved the cash for other players

I agree.

Willis is their best player, the face of the team, but payroll is crucial, so why pay more than you need to? I’m not bashing the signing, just looking at both sides. Paraag has mostly been doing well, so I guess this contract is probably OK too. But if Willis gets injured in the next 2 years (God forbid), he gets $29 million extra to do nothing. So it’s the 49ers that are taking the risk, while Willis is not.

Their salary is going way up. They are paying Staley ~$7 million per year, and if Iupati and Davis work out, that’s another $7 mil each, so the Oline alone would cost ~$25+ million per.
OL: $25+ mil
ILB $12+ mil
TE’s $8+ mil
Safeties $7-10 mil
Subtotal = ~~$55 mil,
$55 mil, . . . and you haven’t paid your most expensive positions:
QB
RB
WR
DL
OLB/Pass rusher
CB

These are the positions that usually command the top salaries, so salary could jump pretty high soon. This while the economy will likely get worse. I understand that they are trying to get the new stadium, etc., but signing Willis in this poor economy was a risk for the 49ers, not for Willis. Love Willis and like the signing, but with the bad economy NFL salaries could go lower, like they are in the NBA

Originally posted by maxsmart:

Originally posted by philmo:

Originally posted by DaDivaRecieva15:
who cares, as long as we got him locked up.

Just wondering, managing the payroll is the most important thing in making a good football team, just wanted to know why we couldn't have just giving him the max with the %30 rule and saved the cash for other players

I agree.

Willis is their best player, the face of the team, but payroll is crucial, so why pay more than you need to? I’m not bashing the signing, just looking at both sides. Paraag has mostly been doing well, so I guess this contract is probably OK too. But if Willis gets injured in the next 2 years (God forbid), he gets $29 million extra to do nothing. So it’s the 49ers that are taking the risk, while Willis is not.

Their salary is going way up. They are paying Staley ~$7 million per year, and if Iupati and Davis work out, that’s another $7 mil each, so the Oline alone would cost ~$25+ million per.
OL: $25+ mil
ILB $12+ mil
TE’s $8+ mil
Safeties $7-10 mil
Subtotal = ~~$55 mil,
$55 mil, . . . and you haven’t paid your most expensive positions:
QB
RB
WR
DL
OLB/Pass rusher
CB

These are the positions that usually command the top salaries, so salary could jump pretty high soon. This while the economy will likely get worse. I understand that they are trying to get the new stadium, etc., but signing Willis in this poor economy was a risk for the 49ers, not for Willis. Love Willis and like the signing, but with the bad economy NFL salaries could go lower, like they are in the NBA

Maybe you should be a fan of the LA Clippers or the Pittsburgh Pirates instead because they are cheap teams that make financial responsible decisions but also see their best players constantly leave. The bottom line is Willis was going to get paid either way and probably would have gotten paid more money if any of the other middle LBs signed bigger contract than Ryans' contract. BTW, he only got paid 2 Mil more than Ryans did and I would say he is a way better MLB than Ryans. Locking him up before the new CBA was the wisest thing to do because we don't know how crazy salaries will get with the new CBA. Plus this sends a message to all of our players and players who are considering signing with us that if they take care of their business on the field we will take care of them. The bottom line is the team has ONE player who is currently the best in the world at his position. Good teams will never let him walk and if you only have to pay him 2 Mil more than the previous richest contract for his position you do it in a heartbeat.

Who cares, he's a 49er for the next 6 years.