2019 Free Agent Discussion

[packfanfb]

19 minutes ago, Outpost31 said:

If we seriously cut Jimmy Graham, I'll be officially one of the Founding Gute Haters. 

It would surely mean we would go out and sign a fourth tight end in free agency in four years, and no options out there are going to play as well as Jimmy for what we'd pay Jimmy. 

It would be sinking more money into a position that's not all that important in theory to an offense, and one that takes Rodgers time to get used to, so it would be taking another year back instead of a year forward with Jimmy. 

I said it was a mistake to cut Jordy when it happened, and it was.  Don't know why people don't see that here.  He was a significant threat in the red zone, and this was Aaron's worst year in the red zone of his career. 

Even neglecting who it is (Graham), it's just a really bad precedent.  Ted Thompson was allergic to getting better, but whatever faults he had, he didn't have this compulsive need to get worse.  Gute has shown a serious compulsion to getting worse.

Cut Jordy.
Traded Randall (before we added a single replacement).
Traded Clinton-Dix.

These are moves that demonstrably made us worse.  We did NOT have better replacements at the time of their cutting.  We just got rid of them. 

It's just, in my opinion, stupid. 

I just don't see Graham getting cut. He was Gute's big signing year 1 of his GM career. That alone makes me highly doubt he's going to cut ties. I think Perry and Daniels are pretty far ahead of Graham on the "likely to be cut" list.

[Packerraymond]

Just now, Outpost31 said:

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/01/26/talk-in-green-bay-that-jimmy-graham-could-get-cut/

"Made it clear he's guessing, not reporting."

Silverstein and Demovsky at least have sources because they've broke coaching news. Dougherty is an opinion columnist. Gute isn't going to cut Graham. Randall, Jordy's end of contract value, HHCD all things that are pinned on Ted. Graham isn't.

[MacReady]

Just now, Packerraymond said:

"Made it clear he's guessing, not reporting."

Silverstein and Demovsky at least have sources because they've broke coaching news. Dougherty is an opinion columnist. Gute isn't going to cut Graham. Randall, Jordy's end of contract value, HHCD all things that are pinned on Ted. Graham isn't.

So you can agree, on record, that if Gute cuts Graham it is a stupid move? 

[gopackgo27]

If the Packers keep Jimmy Graham this season & then release him after next year they will have paid Graham $16.3 million to play in 2019. I'd rather pay him $7 million to go away than $16 million for another year of crappy, uninspired play. Going to be interesting.

[Mazrimiv]

9 minutes ago, Packerraymond said:

Silverstein and Demovsky at least have sources because they've broke coaching news. Dougherty is an opinion columnist. Gute isn't going to cut Graham. Randall, Jordy's end of contract value, HHCD all things that are pinned on Ted. Graham isn't.

Silverstein has stated that GB is unlikely to pay Graham's 5M roster bonus that comes due in March

[Packerraymond]

9 minutes ago, Outpost31 said:

So you can agree, on record, that if Gute cuts Graham it is a stupid move? 

Absolutely

[Packerraymond]

4 minutes ago, Mazrimiv said:

Silverstein has stated that GB is unlikely to pay Graham's 5M roster bonus that comes due in March

Source? Definitely have not seen this.

[PACKRULE]

4 minutes ago, gopackgo27 said:

If the Packers keep Jimmy Graham this season & then release him after next year they will have paid Graham $16.3 million to play in 2019. I'd rather pay him $7 million to go away than $16 million for another year of crappy, uninspired play. Going to be interesting.

So he gets a year with AR who plays his worst season in a decade and it’s grahams fault. Why pay a guy not to be here. What are you going to replace him with. Suck it up he could and can be a decent piece to us if used. Gute would be an idiot to cut him but as outpost noted we ve made some other real boneheaded moves of late. 

[Packerraymond]

5 minutes ago, gopackgo27 said:

If the Packers keep Jimmy Graham this season & then release him after next year they will have paid Graham $16.3 million to play in 2019. I'd rather pay him $7 million to go away than $16 million for another year of crappy, uninspired play. Going to be interesting.

16? It's more like 12. Therefore we pay him more than we save to go away. That's smart to you?

[gopackgo27]

1 minute ago, Packerraymond said:

16? It's more like 12. Therefore we pay him more than we save to go away. That's smart to you?

No. His cap hit this year is $12.6 and if he's released next offseason we would owe him his signing bonus of $3.6 million, so in essence you're paying Graham $16+ million to play in GB in 2019. No effin thanks.

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

6 minutes ago, gopackgo27 said:

If the Packers keep Jimmy Graham this season & then release him after next year they will have paid Graham $16.3 million to play in 2019. I'd rather pay him $7 million to go away than $16 million for another year of crappy, uninspired play. Going to be interesting.

I don't get your numbers.

It looks to me like they paid him 13.5 million in cash to play in 2018, and are due 9 million cash in 2019.   

While his cap hit in 2019 is 12.6 million, the signing bonus was paid already last year.  

So it looks to me they will have paid 9 million for him to play in 2019, and it will be hard to get that production for less.

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

1 minute ago, gopackgo27 said:

No. His cap hit this year is $12.6 and if he's released next offseason we would owe him his signing bonus of $3.6 million, so in essence you're paying Graham $16+ million to play in GB in 2019. No effin thanks.

He already has the signing bonus- it was paid in full in 2018.

[Mazrimiv]

8 minutes ago, Packerraymond said:

Source? Definitely have not seen this.

JSO - Dec 26

[incognito_man]

46 minutes ago, Outpost31 said:

If we seriously cut Jimmy Graham, I'll be officially one of the Founding Gute Haters. 

It would surely mean we would go out and sign a fourth tight end in free agency in four years, and no options out there are going to play as well as Jimmy for what we'd pay Jimmy. 

It would be sinking more money into a position that's not all that important in theory to an offense, and one that takes Rodgers time to get used to, so it would be taking another year back instead of a year forward with Jimmy. 

I said it was a mistake to cut Jordy when it happened, and it was.  Don't know why people don't see that here.  He was a significant threat in the red zone, and this was Aaron's worst year in the red zone of his career. 

Even neglecting who it is (Graham), it's just a really bad precedent.  Ted Thompson was allergic to getting better, but whatever faults he had, he didn't have this compulsive need to get worse.  Gute has shown a serious compulsion to getting worse.

Cut Jordy.
Traded Randall (before we added a single replacement).
Traded Clinton-Dix.

These are moves that demonstrably made us worse.  We did NOT have better replacements at the time of their cutting.  We just got rid of them. 

It's just, in my opinion, stupid. 

there was a breakdown of pay/year that had me convinced the smart move is to cut your loses with him at this point.

Other than Cook, the FA class sucks. Not sure if there's guys on the block or cap-casualty guys however.

Not an easy decision.

[gopackgo27]

2 minutes ago, Ragnar Danneskjold said:

He already has the signing bonus- it was paid in full in 2018.

https://cheeseheadtv.com/blog/the-true-options-for-jimmy-graham-nick-perry-444?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Quote

 

1 year - $16,333,334.00 - $16,333,334.00/year

Once again, this is the same exact idea as Nick Perry. If they keep him this year he would play out this season with a cap hit of $12,666,666.00 and when he’s released next year he would have a cap hit of the remaining signing bonus which would be $3,666,668.00. So in total they’d pay $16,333,334.00 for only one season of Jimmy Graham.