Schefter: Cowboys Extend Jaylon Smith

boozeman

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This is exactly what some of us have been saying. Top 5 money but not trying to squeeze every fucking dollar out of it.
Yeah, but agents are looking for the big money deals that sound good on the surface and a lot of the players are also interested in perceived status.

Many times these players aren't all that intelligent about these deals and specifically money.

If the difference is a couple of million dollars on a contract, then they are really kind of dumb.

When there is a player that is halfway intelligent and knows how to handle money, they can take a deal that is below market value.

Often you see dummies who think about nothing but dollar signs and the fake status that comes with a contract.

Smith sounds like he gets it, and not just because he took what is considered a "team-friendly" deal.

He could have made a serious case to be paid among the top 5 MLBers in the league. But he got the deal done in a week and a half.
 

jsmith6919

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Smith sounds like he gets it, and not just because he took what is considered a "team-friendly" deal.

He could have made a serious case to be paid among the top 5 MLBers in the league. But he got the deal done in a week and a half.
The 105.3 local radio guys called this exact scenario last week, they were talking about how sharp Jaylon is about business and wouldn't be surprised to see him goto Jerry and get his deal done before the big 3 in the coming days
 

boozeman

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The 105.3 local radio guys called this exact scenario last week, they were talking about how sharp Jaylon is about business and wouldn't be surprised to see him goto Jerry and get his deal done before the big 3 in the coming days
Smith seems like he has perspective and his shit squared away.

If that means he is a sucker for taking a team-friendly deal, so be it.

Honestly, most of these dumb asses wouldn't know how to handle a million dollars, let alone millions more.

The agent is going to fight for his own image, what he got. But if a player can't use common sense and realize he can make enough money in one decent contract to set himself and his family up for life, that is on them and their own ego.
 

dbair1967

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Well deserved. Was a massive, massive gamble at the time (one that I went ballistic on in the forum I was, couldn't believe we took that kind of risk then)

That said, he's always been an awesome kid to root for and he has busted his ass to re-make himself into a great football player. Glad he is locked up long term.
 

lostxn

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Yeah, but agents are looking for the big money deals that sound good on the surface and a lot of the players are also interested in perceived status.

Many times these players aren't all that intelligent about these deals and specifically money.

If the difference is a couple of million dollars on a contract, then they are really kind of dumb.

When there is a player that is halfway intelligent and knows how to handle money, they can take a deal that is below market value.

Often you see dummies who think about nothing but dollar signs and the fake status that comes with a contract.

Smith sounds like he gets it, and not just because he took what is considered a "team-friendly" deal.

He could have made a serious case to be paid among the top 5 MLBers in the league. But he got the deal done in a week and a half.
A couple million is a shiftload for the players. They could be injured in a second and never play again. Most have no other skills and didn't really get an education. I would claw and scrape for every cent - especially guaranteed money. Shelf life of an NFL RB is pretty short. Look at guy like Gurley. Seems like he has a chronic knee issue. Suspect its degenerative. That contract he got will be an anchor on that team if he can't stay healthy.

News flash, investing in a bell cow running back in today's NFL is probably pretty stupid. It's a quarterback driven league...
 

bbgun

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So I guess the nerve has regenerated. He's come a long way since the knee brace and getting abused by Todd Gurley on pass patterns.
 

Smitty

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A couple million is a shiftload for the players. They could be injured in a second and never play again. Most have no other skills and didn't really get an education. I would claw and scrape for every cent - especially guaranteed money. Shelf life of an NFL RB is pretty short. Look at guy like Gurley. Seems like he has a chronic knee issue. Suspect its degenerative. That contract he got will be an anchor on that team if he can't stay healthy.

News flash, investing in a bell cow running back in today's NFL is probably pretty stupid. It's a quarterback driven league...
Fortunately for said players, despite having no other skills and no education, if they can squirrel away even tiny fractions of percents of what they were paid, they will have all the money they ever need to go to college once they’ve frittered away their football careers.

You really have to be a bonehead to come out of a lucrative NFL career with nothing to show for it. They give you a hefty pension for chrissakes.

They have program after program for saving for retirement, transitioning after retirement, continuing education, all the benefits the Union could ever ask for. Not to mention they will be pseudo celebs for life who will have stuff thrown into their laps just for the sake of association. You think James Washington or Tony Tolbert or Kevin Gogan can’t get ahead on name recognition in Dallas? Come on.
 

Simpleton

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I don't think Elliott is being especially ridiculous, common sense dictates that he should be paid marginally more than Gurley, somewhere around 14.5-15 AAV. Given the nature of the position and his performance so far I don't think asking for that type of contract is out of line, it'd be smarter if he was in camp and not holding out while attempting to get the deal, but hey. As far as Prescott goes, squabbling over 35/year vs. 32/year is just ego and likely greed being driven by his agents.
 

Cowboysrock55

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I don't think Elliott is being especially ridiculous, common sense dictates that he should be paid marginally more than Gurley, somewhere around 14.5-15 AAV. Given the nature of the position and his performance so far I don't think asking for that type of contract is out of line, it'd be smarter if he was in camp and not holding out while attempting to get the deal, but hey. As far as Prescott goes, squabbling over 35/year vs. 32/year is just ego and likely greed being driven by his agents.
Gurley's contract looks like a mistake. I don't know that besting his numbers would make any NFL owner feel good. And Gurley was an NFL offensive player of the year.
 

Simpleton

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Gurley is only looked at as a mistake now because he apparently has a degenerative knee, but if you really look at the situation you have a guy in Gurley who had torn an ACL in college and had knee issues coming out of the draft, compared to a guy in Elliott who has pretty much never been injured and has the ideal build to withstand the physical pounding. Elliott developing something similar to what Gurley has would be completely random and if that's the fear then you shouldn't be willing to extend him at all because it's a random risk you're unwilling to take on. Clearly they're willing to extend him, and as far as I can tell it's basically a pissing match over 1-1.5 million per year.
 

boozeman

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I had no idea Parker passed away. It explains a lot. It also illustrates how the agents for Prescott and Eliott are the new breed of agent.
 

Chocolate Lab

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Yeah, the team can't really expect every player to have Smith's attitude because he has a great head on his shoulders and he had the horrific injury that the team took a chance on. They can hope for it, but it won't happen. These players more than ever have the attitude that they have to get every penny they can while they can.
 

Cotton

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That's a great deal, given how contracts are being handed out I'd say fair value for him would be about 15/year, maybe slightly less because Deion Jones got about 14.5. A shade under 13 is excellent value for sure.

What Stephen has to get through his head though is that every deal doesn't have to be a value deal. They tagged Lawrence, played the year out, bullshitted with him for several more months, tagged him again, things got contentious and eventually they gave him a fair market deal.

If you can get it, great, but if a guy is willing to take a fair market deal (15 for Zeke is fair), it might not be ideal, but for a truly elite player it's better to just get it over with instead of a doing a whole dog and pony show before eventually paying it anyway.
It is a fantastic deal and locks him up for 5 more years. Excellent value.
 

Sheik

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It is a fantastic deal and locks him up for 5 more years. Excellent value.
The sad part about seeing a deal like this is, if it were me, I'd be much happier setting the market with a guy like Jaylon who has been, in my estimation, at least top 5 at his position, yet he accepts a team friendly deal. Then you have Dakota Prescott, maybe in the top 12 at his position wanting to break the bank and limit what the team can do putting talent around him.

Two completely different guys with two completely different agendas.
 

Cotton

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The sad part about seeing a deal like this is, if it were me, I'd be much happier setting the market with a guy like Jaylon who has been, in my estimation, at least top 5 at his position, yet he accepts a team friendly deal. Then you have Dakota Prescott, maybe in the top 12 at his position wanting to break the bank and limit what the team can do putting talent around him.

Two completely different guys with two completely different agendas.
I'm hoping Jaylon set an example for both Dak and Zeke with this deal. Hopefully, they follow suit.
 

boozeman

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Thoughts on Jaylon Smith’s Contract Extension

Posted on August 21, 2019 by Jason Fitzgerald
The Cowboys announced a big extension yesterday, not for one of the big name offensive players, but instead for star linebacker Jaylon Smith. Smith was in an interesting position when it came to a contract extension. Though he was entering the final season of his four year contract he was technically not eligible for unrestricted free agency due to spending his rookie year on the NFI list and would thus have been a restricted free agent. Rather than having the whole RFA tender process play out the sides agreed to what is technically a six year extension, but is being valued as a five year, $63.75 million contract as if the RFA tender and season occurred.


When the contract for Smith was first announced and numbers started leaking in the $13 million a year range with over $30 million in guarantees there were immediately some critics of the contract because the Cowboys controlled Smith’s rights this year and next. The first with the full contract numbers was Mike Florio of PFT who reported it as a $12.75 million a year contract but when you added up the numbers you realized you were pulling up short of that figure and that the average per year was around $11.4 million a season.
Based on Smith’s status as a RFA in 2020 the Cowboys could have used either the original draft round compensation tender (worth around $2.15 million), a first round tender (worth around $4.7 million), or the franchise tag (worth around $16.7 million) on Smith. The franchise tag clearly never would have happened but from the numbers being reported it is clear that the two sides agreed that Smith would have been given a RFA tender at the first round level and played next year at $4.71 million. Once you add that into the contract the value hits the reported $12.75 million.


It is an interesting way to approach a contract extension. While things like the tag and tenders do certainly come up in and influence negotiations this is the first time I’ve really seen a contract reported in this manner with the tender being used before its applied. We’ll be running with that on OTC since that was the clear intent of the contract but most times it really isn’t. It is certainly a fine way for the players side to inflate the new money APY of a contract while at the same time eliminate the riskiness of playing out a season.


At $12.75 million Smith will be the 6[SUP]th[/SUP] highest paid linebackers in the NFL. His APY will rank behind that of Bobby Wagner, CJ Mosley, Deion Jones, Kwon Alexander, and Anthony Barr. His $35.4 million in injury protection ranks second. That guarantee number is I think what is still setting people off on the Cowboys handling of the contract.
When you do early extensions with players, IMO, there are a number of factors you take into account. One of the primary ones should be market inflation. The market for linebackers had been relatively stagnant for four or five years. There were, however, signs of life in 2018 was a handful of linebackers made it to free agency and landed contracts that were probably $3 million per year increases over what similar players had signed for the last few seasons. The market exploded in 2019 with the Jets going to a stunning $17 million for Mosley, the 49ers going to $13.5 on Alexander, and the Vikings, with an assist from the Jets, to $13.5 million on Barr. The Wagner and Jones contracts continued to move the market.


The point is that the prices at this position may be moving forward and at the very least Smith should compare favorably Jones who signed an extension with Atlanta worth over $14 million a season. So whether you value the contract at $11.4 or $12.75 million in either case you are getting about a 10% discount on a stagnant market and probably a 15 to 20% one if the market grows over the next two seasons.


Dallas also has two other situations regarding new contracts. With Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott, and Amari Cooper all looking for contract extensions that will cost the team in the ballpark of $67 million a season you do not want to necessarily compromise the rest of your roster. If you can get an easier extension done you should get that out of the way and get that player situated within your salary cap structure. It also protects you from losing a player like Smith in the RFA process due to cap considerations (and this is the only reason besides the Cowboys throwing Smith a bone that I would see using a first round tender).


Secondly two of those pending three free agent discussions have gotten a little ugly, especially in the case of Elliott. Sometimes you just want to send a good message through your locker room and to the outside about how you are dealing with your players. This certainly accomplishes that goal.


When we get into guaranteed salary sometimes we get wrapped up in overall numbers. We learned years ago with contracts not to get wrapped up in the total value of deals yet never did the same with guarantees. We also, rightfully so, try to value deals in new money terms to better compare free agents with extended players. Yet with guarantees that isn’t the case. We do this with our premium section but realistically when we look at guarantees you should be looking at the new guarantee as well as the guarantee per year on a contract.


The guarantee is essentially a tradeoff of risk. The player had the risk of injury. The burden now falls to the team. As a tradeoff teams will receive either a better annual value on the contract or better terms. For the big priced linebackers here is how the guarantees really work out.
PlayerGuaranteedNew GuaranteeFully GuaranteedInjury Guarantee per yearFull Guarantee Per Year
Mosley$51,000,000$51,000,000$43,000,000$10,200,000$8,600,000
Wagner$40,250,000$38,750,000$24,500,000$13,416,667$8,166,667
Smith$35,400,000$29,400,000$19,000,000$7,081,000$3,800,000
Jones$34,000,000$32,930,000$18,800,000$8,500,000$4,700,000
Barr$33,000,000$33,000,000$15,900,000$6,600,000$3,180,000
Alexander$27,500,000$27,500,000$14,250,000$6,875,000$3,562,500
When you use those numbers you see that the Smith contract, because it runs five rather than four years and because it has two years of existing salaries baked into the guarantee the monster $35.5 million doesn’t stand out as much. Dallas gets an added year of cost control on a player and throws in a guarantee label on salary he was already expected to make.

The only risk for Dallas here is that they are more or less pre-buying into a franchise tag in 2021 (Smiths new money through the end of 2021, when he would have been tag eligible) is $20.2 million. If things were to go south this year or next that is a lot of coin to pay for a player, but that is a risk you take when you get what is a discount.
On a year by year cash flow basis there are advantages for Smith. Here is the market comparison.
PlayerYear 0Year 1Year 2Year 3Year 4Year 5
C.J. Mosley$0$19,000,000$35,000,000$51,000,000$68,000,000$85,000,000
Bobby Wagner$13,000,000$24,000,000$37,400,000$54,000,000
Deion Jones$12,380,140$25,750,140$34,430,140$44,570,140$57,000,000
Anthony Barr$0$16,000,000$26,100,000$39,000,000$52,000,000$67,500,000
Kwon Alexander$0$15,000,000$27,100,000$40,500,000$54,000,000
Jaylon Smith$13,000,000$20,200,000$29,400,000$40,400,000$51,400,000$63,750,000


His extension year salaries are solid and his first year number beats out Mosley. He will out earn two higher priced players through year 2 and will still top Barr in year 3. Those are the most important years for a player, though less important for an extension like this than a pure free agent contract. The turn to the Cowboys favor comes in year 4 and especially year 5 where most of the other players will get another chance at free agency.


From a cap standpoint there isn’t anything too wild. The team had to use an option in 2020 to make the 30% rule work but $13 million in staggered prorated money is workable. Despite the $12.75 million valuation only once will the cap rise above that figure and the front end is very manageable.

Overall Dallas should be pretty happy because this is a PR win and they get a pretty deep discount assuming Smith remains healthy. Like with the La’el Collins contract a few years ago they also send a message to the locker room of trust. Smith should be happy as well with some financial certainty and up front numbers for someone who a few years ago wasn’t sure if he would be playing again.
 

Cowboysrock55

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What an awesome story Jaylon has become. The guy literally went from fans thinking he may never play football again and if he does he won't ever have his full speed and athletic ability back to becoming a franchise caliber LBer. This defense is going to be built around Jaylon, LVE and Tank for a long time. It's nice to finally have those caliber of front 7 players.

And now we are seeing why the Cowboys picked Jaylon over Miles Jack finally. Jack is the one with long term injury concerns while Jaylon is still becoming a better and better NFL player.
 

Simpleton

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I never liked the Jaylon pick because I thought it was way too rich of a gamble to take with what amounted to a late-1st. Of course I appreciated the fact that he was a clear cut top 10 prospect and that the payoff could be massive, but I preferred guys like A'Shawn Robinson, Jarran Reed or even Sterling Shepherd. Really glad this gamble paid off, especially because it seems to me that Stephen/McClay/Garrett/whoever has gotten Jerry to stop with the constant risk-taking early in the draft.
 
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