Long term contract extensions

Discussion in 'Tennessee Titans and NFL Talk' started by 2ToneBlueBlood, Sep 10, 2013.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. 2ToneBlueBlood

    2ToneBlueBlood Pro Bowler

    3,966
    1,547
    669
    This offseason the Titans front office proved to everyone that they're not cheap, by going out and spending $100 million in free agency. However, they have had the reputation in the past of being "cheap" and I'm wondering if that comes not from being inactive in free agency, but from not resigning their own guys to contract extensions, or waiting too late to begin talks. Just in the past few years we missed resigning Finnegan and Jared Cook (who had a monster game for the Rams this week) because IMO we waited too long to start contract extension talks.

    So the question is, does the Titans FO have some unwritten rule that they will not negotiate a long term contract with any of their players until their contract year? Because the only person I can recall that was given an extension that wasn't in their contract year is Chris Johnson, and that was because he held out (though I'm sure there are some others, I just don't remember them).

    Here's the point: I think our team and especially our defense has suffered lately from not having a sold core of players that we can build around. We are extremely young but have some talent and I'm worried that if we wait too long to try to resign players like Jurrell Casey and Akeem Ayers, they will just wait it out and see what they can get in free agency. On 104.5 this evening someone called in and asked John McClain how he would compare Casey to Haynesoworth, and he said he thought Casey was a better player. I think he can be that beast in the middle that we've lacked since A.H. was here, when we had that awesome defense and went 13-3.

    I say we start contract negotiations now with both Casey & Ayers and lock them up for years to come. I'm afraid if we don't start talks soon that both of them will realize after this season that they're just a year away from free agency and that they could break the bank if they just wait a year to sign. If we started now, it would give us two solid players to build around, kind of like the Ravens did with Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, giving us the stability we need.
     
  2. Scarecrow

    Scarecrow All-Pro

    30,719
    13,964
    1,459
    Cook wasn't extended largely because of how he turned out for us. Why sign a potential good potential guy?

    I don't think Finnegan was really in their long term plans.
     
  3. Fry

    Fry Welcome to the land of tomorrow!

    42,307
    15,453
    1,389
    Casey needs to show he can stay healthy first.
     
  4. Brew City

    Brew City Case Race Champion

    2,529
    1,208
    629
    I think we sign players we feel really fit our system. Finnegan and Cook were Fisher/Reinfeldt guys. I think our FO has a plan and want their own players. Those guys just didn't fit. Well Finnegan might have, but he wanted WAY too much money to play nickel in our system. We wanted bigger corners, which is why I don't see Verner getting resigned unless they move him to safety.
     
  5. Gut

    Gut Pro Bowler

    8,052
    2,249
    669
    The Titans rep depends on which era you're talking about and the reason for that perception. During the Eddie george era, we overpaid our own players and tried to keep that core for as long as possible at the expense of our cap and eventually you have to pay the piper...and we did. Rebuilding the cap and a roster with coaching turnover and the owner being involved in picking players the coaches don't want causes a lot of issues. I think the perception is because they didn't go after the huge name free agents who frequently don't turn out so well or aren't worth the contract they sign. The fact that we went after Peyton, signed Levitre and spent on other free agents/backups shows you that Munch is committed to winning NOW and the FO is supporting him!

    The reason why you don't want too much of a lead time is that the more you spend earlier then you need to, the faster your window closes. Teams and NFL players play the same game for different reasons. The player wants a big payday as early as possible because that signing bonus is your only gurantee against a career ending injury. The teams wants to wait so they can get guys to play out their rookie contract and one year as a RFA and then negotiate the big deal during their tendered season.

    Cook couldn't block and we wanted a strong run game (with a TE who can block) so we didn't want to pay him as a tendered WR if he's really a pass catching TE. Finny, as pointed out, was a great nickel for us in this system but he was reaching the point of he won't be worth the contract he signed for the number of years he signed it for. You could very well see some turnover in the near future...will they keep Griff, Verner? Meanwhile, the team will watch how effective and injury free Casey and others are.

    Gut
     
  6. Finnebosch

    Finnebosch I am vengeance.

    4,464
    1,917
    719

    Courtland Finnegan
    Michael Roos
    David Stewert
    Chris Johnson
    Michael Griffin
    Eugene Amano
    Jason McCourty

    All players we have given contract extensions to since 2007 and all but Griffin were done before their rookie deal expired. Casey and Ayers are not going anywhere and this offseason will probably focus on cutting some salary cap to work out deals with both guys.

    In fact I would say that if the Titans plan to keep a guy then we normally sign him before he hits FA. I think Finnegan and Cook were examples of us not wanting guys anymore and not us losing guys we wanted.
     
  7. acqua7

    acqua7 Pro Bowler

    1,044
    422
    599
    wimbley will be released to free up space to pay these guys.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  • Welcome to goTitans.com

    Established in 2000, goTitans.com is the place for Tennessee Titans fans to talk Titans. Our roots go back to the Tennessee Oilers Fan Page in 1997 and we currently have 4,000 diehard members with 1.5 million messages. To find out about advertising opportunities, contact TitanJeff.
  • The Tip Jar

    For those of you interested in helping the cause, we offer The Tip Jar. For $2 a month, you can become a subscriber and enjoy goTitans.com without ads.

    Hit the Tip Jar