Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldcolt
He's a back. Franchise him. For two years in a row if need be. Great backs are fun to watch, great to root for and fill up the stands. What they don't do is lead their teams to Super Bowl wins. Seven backs have been Super Bowl MVP, the last one was Terrell Davis in 1997. Spend big long term money on positions of impact.
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Nowadays it’s taken as an article of faith that you don’t sign a Running Back to a 2nd contract. But, sometimes, articles of faith aren’t worth the stone they’re carved into.
Traditionally, most great Running Backs are still in their prime in their 7th season. For example, 7th seasons looked like this for:
Tony Dorsett: 1,321
Adrian Peterson: 1,286
Ladanian Tomlinson: 1,474
Walter Payton: 1,222
Barry Sanders: 1,553
Marshall Faulk: 1,359
OJ Simpson: 1,816
Eric Dickerson; 1,311
In order to get him into his 7th season, we’d have to tag him 3 times. The first time carries a salary of $10 Million. Number two comes in at $12 Million, and a third pop would be $18 Million.
So, by repeatedly tagging him, you’re carving out $40 Million in cap space. If you look at Kamara’s extension, the first year had a cap hit of $5 Million. Year two was 6 and year three was 8. The way the contract is structured, the Saints can get out after year 3 by cutting him and taking a $17 Million dead money hit on cap.
To me, the path is clear.