NFL agents aren’t happy with the league’s decision to allow teams to trade compensatory draft picks beginning in 2017, according to Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (video link). As Cole outlines, the move makes compensatory picks more valuable, meaning teams may be more inclined to try to collect those picks by not investing heavily on free agents, particularly their own. It’s not hard to see why agents wouldn’t be thrilled with that development.
Here are a few more Wednesday odds and ends from around the NFL:
- The NFL’s salary cap figures to exceed $150MM in 2016, with one source telling Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk that it could get up to $155MM+. As Florio notes, once you factor in player benefit costs, 2016 could be the first year when teams are spending more than $200MM each on players.
- Nick Korte of Over the Cap previews the 2016 free agent market for offensive linemen, suggesting that there are several players that are candidates for five-year investments, including Seahawks tackle Russell Okung, Steelers tackle Kelvin Beachum, and Ravens guard Kelechi Osemele.
- Ruston Webster‘s tenure as Titans general manager has been much-maligned, but as Paul Kuharsky of ESPN.com writes, Webster has started to turn things around in Tennessee, as evidenced by his offseason moves. Webster lead the charge to draft quarterback Marcus Mariota, brought in solid defensive free agents Brian Orakpo and Perrish Cox, and increased the club’s depth.
- While cautioning that nearly $9MM per season is a bit extravagant for a No. 2 receiver, Frank Schwab of Yahoo! Sports lauds the Raiders‘ extension of Michael Crabtree, pointing to soft factors in his reasoning. It wasn’t long ago, writes Schwab, that Oakland’s team culture had become so toxic that players like Jared Veldheer and Lamarr Houston refused to even consider re-signing with the club.
- Another recently extended Raider, fullback/running back Jamize Olawale, is highly valued by the Oakland staff due to his versatility, writes Scott Bair of CSNBayArea.com. Olawale, who would have been a restricted free agent after this season, signed a three-year extension yesterday. As head coach Jack Del Rio notes in the piece, the new Raiders regime tried to e open-minded when taking over earlier this year, which allowed unheralded players like Olawale to emerge.
Dallas Robinson contributed to this post.
Green bay just payed Randell Cobb 11 million a year last off season, so how is 9 million a season extravagant when Crabtree is more productive then Cobb? Right now Crabtree is playing at an elite level, number 1 WR numbers for sure, plus he has some of the surest hands in the NFL. So, how is that overpaying? Sounds like a deal to me.
I don’t mind the Crabtree deal, with the cap rising, but to play devil’s advocate: Cobb put up better numbers in 2014 than Crabtree ever has in a single season, Cobb (whose deal is actually $10MM per year) also didn’t get as much guaranteed money, if Crabtree’s $19MM is actually fully guaranteed, and Crabtree has been pretty inconsistent throughout his career — you’re locking him up for big money over four years when he’s never really had back-to-back productive seasons (you could make a case that 2011 and 2012 were both solid years, but you don’t really want to be paying $9MM annually based on his 2011 numbers).
Giving a GM for making a no brainer pick like Mariota, is like praising Einstein for adding 2 2=4.