Craig Dahl Reduces 2014 Base Salary

[OnceARam]

I'm sure there was some contact to his knee by some dick head defender who then celebrated injuring him, although it was 4 months ago so I could be misremembering, I think his first injury someone drove his shoulder into the turf, although that was my first day watching college football so is probably over 5 years ago, and his second injury was on the 50th sack of the season, but that was three years ago.

Yeah, he's had a lot of "freak" accidents. It's hard to say with injuries what the root cause is. The play he was running out of bounds on - there was some contact for sure, just not very much. Freak accidents happen though. The other two were not freak; they would have hurt anyone.

Bradford definitely takes care of his body better than RGMe.

 

[RamFan503]

Everyone jumped on his comment without even considering his point. He never says "Bradford is overpaid". He said Bradford should take a pay cut so we can sign/re-sign offensive lineman.

I agree 100% because Bradford is in a make or break year AND if he has a good OL around him his chances of having a good year are considerably better. And if he does better we extend his contract.

So I think it's in Bradford's financial interest to restructure his contract to give us some more salary cap space.

Why is this not under serious discussion? Why is questioning how much money Bradford is paid somehow sacred territory?

Alex Smith got a pay cut with the Whiners. Veterans regularly get pay cuts. There are precedents. Yet breaching the topic seems to unnerve everyone.

I understand but as a fan....I think Bradford needs to re-do his contract. It sucks the rams are paying this dude that much money when he has had trouble staying healthy. Wish he would agree to take market value instead of his current ludicrous contract even though its not his fault.

Right. I guess I misunderstood this to say he thought Sam was overpaid. Silly me.

Apparently they've already done some minor restructuring. But say they haven't. Unless a QB is getting guaranteed future money, is there one who has taken less money on the thought that they will make more in the future by playing better? If some DT comes untouched up the middle and ends his career, how does that work out for him?

IMO - it's not under serious discussion because the Rams FO has answered this one to death. And even if you don't believe them, what good does it do for us to throw it around? "Sacred territory" is a bogus term. Because many of us realize the situation and see no reason to keep rehashing this tired argument, doesn't make it sacred territory.

If the Rams and Sam were to restructure his contract, it would (according to KD) be very difficult to do something that made sense to both sides. You are either going to defer money in the form of a guarantee in order to shave the cap hit now or you are going to extend him which would still entail guaranteed money.

As to Alex Smith, the whiners were going to cut him and suck up the approx. $4.5 mil per season remaining on his contract - apparently much of which had already hit against the cap. What do you think Alex was going to do? So I suppose if you think the answer is to threaten Sam with cutting him, then I suppose that is an option. Not a good one IMO - but an option.

If the Rams hadn't already answered this and it was a real possibility, I don't think anyone on here would NOT appreciate Sam taking a pay cut. Hell - I don't think there is a player on this team that I couldn't say that about. But back to reality....

 

[LosAngelesRams]

It's called the NE discount. Brady took less than he had to - for the team.

That's legit if he did it for the team, he's worth way more in my opinion.

 

[RamFan503]

It's called the NE discount. Brady took less than he had to - for the team.

Wait a minute. A 36 year old QB takes a 5 year guaranteed sum and that is doing it for the team? Yeah, right now the team is paying him less. But he will get paid that money regardless AND he can let them pay the players that will make his last few years look better. You think Sam wouldn't take that deal? Do you really think the Rams should offer THAT deal given your current reservations?

 

[RamFan503]

Great point. The answer is to take his 2014 Cap Number ($17.6 M according to Sportrac) and guarantee the figure over two years.

This is doable because;

1) Bradford's contract is out of guaranteed money.
2) Bradford would make the same amount of money in either way.

So he would be paid $8M this 2014 and $8M 2015. This would increase our Cap this year enough to resign Saffold and make a play for the best FA Safety.

The downside risk is that Bradford under performs and we cut him, which would cost us $8M in 2015.

However, if he performs well (like we all hope he will) both parties are in a position to resign him long-term in 2015. This also gives the Rams leverage should we resign him in 2015.

So, if you really think Bradford is the answer; this is the answer. If not, at least we can move on with an intact OL + a cheap QB we pick up in the draft (which would allow us to take the $8M cap hit in 2015).


Let me know what you guys think.

Let me get this straight and correct me if I am misinterpreting. You think the Rams and Sam should agree on a restructure that would split his salary in half over the next two seasons and pay him half this season and half next. Then, just ignore the amount he is slated to make in 2015? Or do you figure somehow the money he is slated to make in 2015 won't count against the cap or totally screw us with every other contract should Sam play like a top QB in 2014. I get the cut him in 2015 and save $8 mil. But it would appear that this kind of contract says you expect and want to cut him after this season.

Man - if I'm Sam, I would want to know where I could sign up for that deal. Maybe you should pose that scenario to KD and see how much play it gets.

 

[MTRamsFan]

This dude is not worth the Charmin he wipes his butt with.

 

[RamFan503]

That's legit if he did it for the team, he's worth way more in my opinion.

No doubt he's earned the position to negotiate a contract that he feels is right. Did he do it for the team? I guess we'll see. If he is still playing in a few years and hasn't restructured yet again, then it works out. My thought is that he did it because he can get more guaranteed money in the long run whether he plays or not and can help keep some of the players around him that allow him to play well NOW.

My guess is that Brady wants security and one more chance at this point in his career. Probably doesn't hurt that his center is an UFA as is one of his main targets.

 

[RamFan503]

And you expect that he will leave that money on the table?

 

[OnceARam]

Let me get this straight and correct me if I am misinterpreting. You think the Rams and Sam should agree on a restructure that would split his salary in half over the next two seasons and pay him half this season and half next. Then, just ignore the amount he is slated to make in 2015? Or do you figure somehow the money he is slated to make in 2015 won't count against the cap or totally screw us with every other contract should Sam play like a top QB in 2014. I get the cut him in 2015 and save $8 mil. But it would appear that this kind of contract says you expect and want to cut him after this season.

Man - if I'm Sam, I would want to know where I could sign up for that deal. Maybe you should pose that scenario to KD and see how much play it gets.

You twist my arguments into something I don't even understand. I don't know what KD is either.

 

[RamFan503]

And you expect that he will leave that money on the table?

I expect that if Brady can still play at a high level after those two years, he will renegotiate for a higher salary. If not, from my understanding, the patsies have guaranteed him that money in exchange for him freeing up cap space this year and next. So he still gets paid - regardless.

 

[RamFan503]

You twist my arguments into something I don't even understand. I don't know what KD is either.

How do I twist your words? Under your scenario, wouldn't we have to pay Sam that $8 million AND what he is slated to be paid in 2015 if he plays well and we decide to keep him on the team? Otherwise, Sam is supposed to just give up $8 million dollars with no guarantees - right? I don't know why he wouldn't go for such a great deal.

As far as not knowing what KD is - that would be Kevin Demoff. He has been on here twice answering our questions. He has addressed the Sam questions both here and countless times in the media. I'm pretty sure he would have explored the scenario you suggest if it had any chance of being viable. He's a pretty sharp dude.