Agent: Cowboys, Sean Lee agree to six-year extension

[Smitty]

Lee absolutely gave us a hometown discount with the injury clause.

I don't see how that's the case.

If Lee misses half the games, he still gets $42 million. If he plays them all, he gets $51 million.

If anything, the home town discount part was on the lower guaranteed money, but that's not the injury clause.

 

[Cotton]

Only fucking Smitty.

 

[GShock]

I don't see how that's the case.

If Lee misses half the games, he still gets $42 million. If he plays them all, he gets $51 million.

If anything, the home town discount part was on the lower guaranteed money, but that's not the injury clause.

The guaranteed money was a steal.

The injury clause was a discount. He could easily have gotten the 51m on the open market.

Willis got 5/50 with 29 (!) guranteed in 2010.

Clay Matthews got 5/66/31.

Jon frakkin Beason got 5/50/25 in 2011.

It's ok not to knee jerk on this one. It's a good deal.

 

[Clay_Allison]

I don't see how that's the case.

If Lee misses half the games, he still gets $42 million. If he plays them all, he gets $51 million.

If anything, the home town discount part was on the lower guaranteed money, but that's not the injury clause.

If he plays half the games he won't last through six years. 16 million guaranteed is, in and of itself, good injury protection. 3 years from now, if he can't stay healthy, he can be cut.

Who knows if we would cut him, we won't cut Ratliff for some reason, but that has nothing to do with the contract.

Guaranteed money is everything. The rest you can walk away from if the player isn't earning it.

 

[NoDak]

Only fucking Smitty.

Right? Ace started in bitching, but had the good sense to let it go quickly. Schmitty? Not so much.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

Only fucking Smitty.

No kidding, if he doesn't get hurt at all we basically have one of the best if not the best MLBers in the NFL. I'm not going to cry over his contract if he plays 80% or more. Willis gets his money regardless.

 

[Smitty]

Well good thing I never said it was a bad deal, just that I wish we'd get a bit of a bargain sometime. If every good young player we have gets paid like the leader at his position we won't be able to afford them all.

 

[Cotton]

Well good thing I never said it was a bad deal, just that I wish we'd get a bit of a bargain sometime. If every good young player we have gets paid like the leader at his position we won't be able to afford them all.

You are reaching. Period.

 

[Cotton]

 

[NoDak]

If he hits his playing time incentives, I have no doubt he'll be worth the money.

 

[Cotton]

If he hits his playing time incentives, I have no doubt he'll be worth the money.

There is no debating that.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

You are reaching. Period.

So basically he is upset that we didn't rip Lee off.

 

[Cotton]

So basically he is upset that we didn't rip Lee off.

It sounds like it.

 

[Texas Ace]

If Sean Lee makes his playing time targets, he gets more per year than Patrick Willis.

That is my understanding of this deal.

Would have been nice to see it come in a bit less than that, is all. Since he's never made a Pro Bowl or anything.

I get what you're saying because I wasn't happy about the numbers when I read them, but you have to remember the injury clauses or whatever.

So, yes, he can make more than Willis. But if he does, that means he's played at least 80% of his games over that span and you could make the case that he deserves it by that point.

 

[Smitty]

You are reaching. Period.

Love your conclusive style with no support lately. It's very douchebaggish.

You're coming along nicely.

 

[Texas Ace]

Right? Ace started in bitching, but had the good sense to let it go quickly. Schmitty? Not so much.

There was no reason to keep bitching once I realized the injury escalators were in the deal.

I thought it was the same silly type of contracts we love to hand out prematurely. This time, the team actually used their brain.

 

[Simpleton]

I'm sure this point has been made but the big difference is the guaranteed money, 16 for Lee compared to 25 for Bowman and 29 for Willis.

 

[Texas Ace]

If he hits his playing time incentives, I have no doubt he'll be worth the money.

Exactly, which is why I don't see why Schmitty would be upset about him getting his full deal.

His full deal means he plays most of his snaps, and if he plays most of his snaps, he's going to make plays all over the place just as he always has.

 

[Smitty]

I get what you're saying because I wasn't happy about the numbers when I read them, but you have to remember the injury clauses or whatever.

So, yes, he can make more than Willis. But if he does, that means he's played at least 80% of his games over that span and you could make the case that he deserves it by that point.

I never said he doesn't deserve it.

I said we can't afford all these top dollar contracts. Stephen Jones and the idiots at the Zone say we can, but it's the prevalence of these deals over and over again that leave us with no room to operate in free agency most years anymore.

It's not a "bargain" for the Cowboys to pay a guy as the highest paid, or 2nd highest paid, linebacker in football. Even if he lives up to that level of play (and as much as I like Lee, I don't think he's the best LB in football), there will come a time when we can't afford something vital.

I think some people are getting upset with me here because it sounds like I'm taking this out on Lee. I'm not.

I'm just pointing out that this isn't particularly some kind of deal we should be trumpeting as a bargain for us. It's not. It's market value, and if anything, the total dollars are on the high side, whereas the guaranteed dollars are on the low side. The guaranteed dollars being low are good.... meaning we can cut him with less penalty later if he doesn't pan out.

If he DOES pan out, and he sticks around for those dollars, that's top MLB in football money taking up our cap room.

It means we'll have to go light elsewhere. We're already flush against the cap.

Not saying it's not the right decision. I'm just saying I wish we actually COULD get a bargain sometime. For a guy who hasn't proven to be the best LB in football, I was hoping we'd get such a bargain with Lee. We didn't. We paid the going rate for his stock... every penny of it. Lee has gambled that he can stay healthy by taking less guaranteed money, but the upside for him is that if he stays healthy, he's the top paid LB in the league in terms of yearly salary average.

And... let me remind everyone.... we all thought the Miles Austin deal was value at the time too. Then the injuries caught up with him and he couldn't stay on the field and now we can't wait to ditch his salary. If the same happens to Lee, we save money, but only $9million. He could end up being a $42 million contract for an injury plagued player, still.

 

[Clay_Allison]

James Laurinaitis:

Signed a six-year, $42.12 million contract. The deal contains $23.62 million guaranteed, including a $2 million signing bonus.

So, Sean Lee is making less guaranteed money than James Laurinaitis. Johnny Ace Jr. hasn't made any pro bowls either. I'd say we paid market value for a good MLB and protected ourselves well.