I had the question posed to me on another post about the Steelers and Woodley being far apart on their contract negotiations. Here are my thoughts on that situation:
They're negotiating. There's no pressure on Woodley to settle on, say, a 4-year, $20-million deal when he's going to make $10 million this season.
But, the Steelers have to be careful that they don't upset the apple cart with Woodley considering they have deals with Polamalu and Timmons to work on as well.
Woodley can't make more than Polamalu. You could argue that he shouldn't make more than Timmons. And they're not going to give him a better long-term deal than the one Harrison has now.
But, the negotiations haven't even been ongoing for a week. Something will get done at some point because the Steelers need to lower his cap nnumber so they can start working on Polamalu/Timmons.
15 comments:
Come on Dale. Wood isn't some guy we coached up (Porter) or some guy Aaron Smith made (Haggans). This is a special player who would have been special on any team in any scheme whether at LB or DE. You pony up the bucks for these guys. I also include Timmons in this category.
Also we have to stop making Troy the standard for business. As great as he is I find it hard to believe he'll play much longer w/ his reckless style. You have to pay the stars of the future what they are due. Whether people want to admit it a transition is on it's way & you have to have these young stars intact.
Dale any chance that they extend more than Woodley before the season
if you had to choose between timmons or woodley, it would be timmons because of the importance of his position on defense. imo, he is also a better player.
with that said, they cannot break the bank on woodley because timmons will ask for and deserve more.
i expect woodley to stick with the franchise tag and follow the money next year. nothing wrong with that, he earned it. you just can't pay everyone what they deserve with a defense this good.
Its an interesting dilemma, Woodley outplayed his rookie contract and Timmons was a late bloomer but has more upside over the next 3 years. Both our outstanding players but at this point Timmon's value to the team is higher than Woodleys. As for Troy, I love the guy and when healthy he's a game changer but we haven't been able to count on him for a full season and he's heading into his 30s so things aren't going to get any less risky. He deserves big bucks, but he shouldn't expect a large upfront payment.
There are several big money players who will be coming off the books in the next few years (Smith, Ward, Harrison, Farrior, Hampton, etc.), so they should have the cap room going forward to sign Woodley, Timmons and Troy to extensions. I'd be really surprised if they didn't.
The bar for Woodley and Timmons has been raised really damn high by Hali, Harris and Beason, but that's the price of doing business. If they have to cut a few vets to keep the young studs, so be it.
As for Troy, I expect him to sign a very team-friendly contract just like Ike did.
Woodley gets a 6-year, 61 million deal. 10mil more than Harrison got in 2009. Wow. So, no deal for Timmons eh?
I think we overpaid for woodley. He benefits a lot from playing opposite Harrison and when Harrison drops off or leaves woodley will never get double digit sacks again.
The question is who do we loss now that we gave all our money to woodley?
Timmons is only slightly more valuable because of position flexibility, he'll get his next year. Woodley has more talent than Harrison ever had & he's still getting better. James is a product of hardwork & a low center or gravity. Woodley is an exceptional talent & I knew he'd get his.
robbie makes a good point regarding players who will be coming off the books in the next few years. hopefully that will provide room to sign timmons.
Timmons will get signed... or franchised. He's not going anywhere. He's the most promising unsigned talent they have and there is NO way a deal doesn't get done.
didn't expect to wake up and see woodley had signed already. good news. if they get timmons signed too, it would be a great bunch of signings. forget troy until next year unless he wants far less than the market is dictating.
now for kugler to work some magic on the o-line draftees !
It's 22.5M bonus, so I'd guess only about half of the total 61M is guaranteed. Over the life of the contract, probably a 5M/yr cap hit. Woodley's 26, so this likely takes him through the rest of his Steeler career.
"woodley will never get double digit sacks again."
That's a pretty big statement. Worilds, or anyone else for that matter, might as well ease the pressure on Woodley when the time comes
While the overall total for Woodley's new contract is an average of $10 million per year, the actual cap hit this season is much less than that. This gives them negotiating room with Polamalu, Timmons and an offensive tackle Starks or Adams, should they choose to do that as well.
Post a Comment