Fully Guaranteed Contract

Originally posted by kidash98:
With Cousins signing his 3 years, $84m FULLY guaranteed contract with MIN, history is being made. This is the first fully guaranteed contract in the NFL. I'm surprised the MIN went this route, more or less making it harder for the rest of the teams in the NFL to plan ahead in the future whereas a salary cap is concerned.

What do you guys think? I know the NFL is behind MLB and NBA when it comes to contracts being guaranteed but do you guys think this will hinder how teams operate how they sign people, esp. the cream of the crop?

I think the shield will get together and make fully guaranteed contracts illegal

I don't believe that NFL Teams could structure short term fully guaranteed contracts and maintain the ability to build a sustainable, truly competitive roster, with the way the Salary Cap in the NFL is Structured (Hard Cap) versus the NBA and MLB. Both of those leagues also have smaller rosters compared to the NFL and fewer "Key Positions" that get paid elite money regarding that league's averages. Not to mention players who are either over-valued by teams from the start or those who "lessen up" after getting paid, would just help to magnify each mistake a team makes.

I believe Sherman's Contract is actually a lot closer to a balance between team and player and although not exactly where it should be is close to how contracts should be structured. Sherman is getting paid a few million each year just for being on the team and putting his body on the line, then per game played and per his performance he can make an amount that puts him in the pay bracket that he feels he can perform at. It's nearly a perfect balance of risk/reward between team and player. The only caveat is percentage of playing time which is a far greater risk for the player.

So to answer the 1st question in short, No I don't believe the NFL is behind MLB and the NBA when it comes to contracts being guaranteed, but I do believe the NFL's contract structure is becoming, if not already, outdated.

* I want to add I believe if the NFL is going to adopt something from the NBA it should be something similar to "the max contract for homegrown talent" and even just max contract structures for players with certain accomplishments. Maybe teams could give their 1st round QB a max contract that pays him in the top of the league on average and maybe max contracts give a discount for teams on the salary cap for an example. This would allow players to be rewarded for good play and teams to be rewarded for drafting and developing talent, while also allowing teams to keep their talent and creating more competition throughout the league.

Originally posted by tjd808185:
I think Lynch and Paraag are geniuses and Jimmy should smack his agent for not waiting a month.

Why would Jimmy, smack his agent … when it's been report that he, was the one who wanted to get the deal done ASAP ?

Originally posted by FlayvaMeister:

Originally posted by tjd808185:
I think Lynch and Paraag are geniuses and Jimmy should smack his agent for not waiting a month.

Why would Jimmy, smack his agent … when it's been report that he, was the one who wanted to get the deal done ASAP ?

Jimmy wasn't going to get more with just 7 career starts.

Originally posted by kidash98:

Originally posted by theduke85:

Originally posted by SteveWallacesHelmet:
If it was a 5 or 6 year deal that was fully guaranteed, then I think this would be a big deal.

Since its a 3 year deal, I dont think this is a big deal at all, and wont change a thing.

Pretty much this. It's still a ton of guaranteed money, but it's not that radical.

It is IF IT becomes the standard and with a lot of top tier players with their contract either ending or soon to end, can use it as the selling point for their service.

I totally disagree with you kidash. If Cousins signed a 5 year, $143M fully guaranteed contract, then yes, this contract sets precedent. But since its 3 years, I dont see how it makes any difference at all.

To me, this deal is no different than if Cousins signed a 5 year, $143M contract, 3 years and $86M of which is guaranteed. Its literally the exact same thing, minus the 2 non-guaranteed years.

Hard work finally paid off for Cousins. Feck Washington. That was cold blooded what they did to Kirk.

Originally posted by SteveWallacesHelmet:

Originally posted by kidash98:

Originally posted by theduke85:

Originally posted by SteveWallacesHelmet:
If it was a 5 or 6 year deal that was fully guaranteed, then I think this would be a big deal.

Since its a 3 year deal, I dont think this is a big deal at all, and wont change a thing.

Pretty much this. It's still a ton of guaranteed money, but it's not that radical.

It is IF IT becomes the standard and with a lot of top tier players with their contract either ending or soon to end, can use it as the selling point for their service.

I totally disagree with you kidash. If Cousins signed a 5 year, $143M fully guaranteed contract, then yes, this contract sets precedent. But since its 3 years, I dont see how it makes any difference at all.

To me, this deal is no different than if Cousins signed a 5 year, $143M contract, 3 years and $86M of which is guaranteed. Its literally the exact same thing, minus the 2 non-guaranteed years.

This is what I was thinking as well. He just did away with the meaningless years and high total because he doesn't care about the optics of the total contract value.

Bottom line is:
Cousins and JG will make almost identical money over the next three years.

Originally posted by Furlow:

Originally posted by SteveWallacesHelmet:

Originally posted by kidash98:

Originally posted by theduke85:

Originally posted by SteveWallacesHelmet:
If it was a 5 or 6 year deal that was fully guaranteed, then I think this would be a big deal.

Since its a 3 year deal, I dont think this is a big deal at all, and wont change a thing.

Pretty much this. It's still a ton of guaranteed money, but it's not that radical.

It is IF IT becomes the standard and with a lot of top tier players with their contract either ending or soon to end, can use it as the selling point for their service.

I totally disagree with you kidash. If Cousins signed a 5 year, $143M fully guaranteed contract, then yes, this contract sets precedent. But since its 3 years, I dont see how it makes any difference at all.

To me, this deal is no different than if Cousins signed a 5 year, $143M contract, 3 years and $86M of which is guaranteed. Its literally the exact same thing, minus the 2 non-guaranteed years.

This is what I was thinking as well. He just did away with the meaningless years and high total because he doesn't care about the optics of the total contract value.

There is a difference though, and those years aren't meaningless, those years allow the team to keep a good player under contract and possibly move money around by extension, to allow the team to sign/re-sign other players. Short Term fully guaranteed contracts, don't allow teams much flexibility in regards to the cap. To me Cousins signing this contract tells me he is only interested in big paydays and not sustainable success. He is betting on being able to win at least 1 superbowl in this 3 year window in order to cash in again when the market has been reset again and the salary cap has increased even more. He gets 84 million and if he gets a superbowl ring he is more than likely going to get 100 million guaranteed on his next contract. The problem is this contract is already going to partially dismantle a superbowl contending roster and if they get one, other players will get priced out further dismantling the roster. Then they can either extend him for more money and further dismantle their roster in other areas, or let him go and now be without a FQB and an Elite defense, and then he will go to another team and do the same thing. Guys that just want the money and don't care about contending as long as they have gotten paid accordingly will look to this as a blueprint on how to cash in short term and set themselves up for 1 more bloated contract. Look at the NBA, do we really want to go into every year knowing that barring some major injury there is only 1-3 teams that have a shot at truly contending?

I don't think it's really that historic...Cousins was a rare exception as an upper-tier FA QB. How often do you see QB's like him as FA's? Almost never. Some agents/players may try for fully-guaranteed contracts, but I don't believe we'll see many actually come to fruition. Owners can and have banded together over issues in the past...if this were to become one, which I really doubt, they'd do the same thing and pull together and put the kabosh on it.

Originally posted by niners94:
Hope it's a new trend, players deserve guaranteed contracts.

to get 84 million to play 48 games? b******t!!!!

I like how its a straight, no chaser deal. No funky language, offsets, incentives, blah blah. Jus play n get paid. I also like how he will get a chance at another big deal. Hope more guys get the chance, they deserve it.