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The Cooler: Linebacker Anthony Barr is setting himself up as very willing to sign and positioning the Vikings as the ones — at least right now — who aren’t committing.Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr has had an interesting offseason, if we are using interesting the same way many Minnesotans do (usually followed by a long and exaggerated “hmmmmm” and a bone-deep sigh). He watched his fellow linebacker Eric Kendricks become the first of the Big Four extension candidates to cash in with the Vikings, then skipped some non-mandatory (but strongly suggested) workouts, then returned to the Vikings and talked a couple of times about how things are going.
Now it’s late June, and Barr did a recent SI.com interview in which he shed a little more light on how he feels about an extension with the Vikings. Here’s Barr:
“ I don’t really get into the numbers (with contract negotiations). It’s more about feeling valued and respected than the actual dollar amount. They kind of go hand in hand, I suppose, but I love being in Minnesota and I love my teammates. I want to be there long term. I’ve felt I’ve worked really hard, improved from my first day there to where I am now. I think I’m a totally different football player. It’s not really up to me. I feel like all the work I’ve done so far, you’ve got to go off that. You can’t really go off what-ifs or this or that. Let the chips fall where they may. It’s not my decision; it’s on them, and I would like to get it.”
There’s nothing really shocking in there, but the “It’s not my decision; it’s on them” part is interesting at least.
http://www.startribune.com/vikings-barr-...486567881/
Ultimately it will be his decision to accept or reject the contract that is offered.
I get the “feeling respected” thing, however, the NFL is a business and sometimes you just dont have the money for a long term, high dollar contract for everyone.
Players sometimes have to make a choice between a little more money or long term success with a team. A team friendly contract goes a long way to show respect to the organization who drafted you and put together a very strong team.
Vikings have some contracts on deck that are going to dig deep into the salary cap: its VITAL that draft picks pan out on their initial contracts because its how you get that important value and depth/starters required to mitigate those high priced vet 2nd contracts.
I think there is more to it than just Barr v. Diggs v. Hunter v. The Cap. There are vets currently under contract who may have been approached for renegotiation, and team management may want to finish that process before taking on those 3 big issues. I'm thinking about Kyle Rudolph ($7.6M salary), Andrew Sendejo ($3.5M), and possibly Mike Remmers ($4.6M). Remmers might depend on whether the team is committed to him playing OG (usually lower paid) instead of OT.
I'm not saying any of these guys should be cut, and I hope they are not. But if you - or management - thinks they are in a tight corner where they can't keep everyone on the team and have to let someone walk, shouldn't you consider parting with one or more of those guys, not just one of Barr/Hunter/Diggs?
To put it bluntly...would you cut Kyle Rudolph (and gain $13M of cap space the next two seasons) if it meant you could give Barr, Diggs, and Hunter ALL long-term deals?
Maybe it's more a matter of getting Rudolph and Sendejo (and maybe Remmers) to trim/extend their contracts to get another combined $5M in cap each of the next few years. The apparently slow pace of getting extensions done might mean that's happening, not just that Barr or Diggs or Hunter are dragging their heels.
Quote: @Jor-El said:
I think there is more to it than just Barr v. Diggs v. Hunter v. The Cap. There are vets currently under contract who may have been approached for renegotiation, and team management may want to finish that process before taking on those 3 big issues. I'm thinking about Kyle Rudolph ($7.6M salary), Andrew Sendejo ($3.5M), and possibly Mike Remmers ($4.6M). Remmers might depend on whether the team is committed to him playing OG (usually lower paid) instead of OT.
I'm not saying any of these guys should be cut, and I hope they are not. But if you - or management - thinks they are in a tight corner where they can't keep everyone on the team and have to let someone walk, shouldn't you consider parting with one or more of those guys, not just one of Barr/Hunter/Diggs?
To put it bluntly...would you cut Kyle Rudolph (and gain $13M of cap space the next two seasons) if it meant you could give Barr, Diggs, and Hunter ALL long-term deals?
Maybe it's more a matter of getting Rudolph and Sendejo (and maybe Remmers) to trim/extend their contracts to get another combined $5M in cap each of the next few years. The apparently slow pace of getting extensions done might mean that's happening, not just that Barr or Diggs or Hunter are dragging their heels.
you might be right, but I tend to think its about the team prioritizing their deals and the values. they put Kendricks and apparently Hunter pretty high, of course we dont know, maybe they have had an offer on the table for Barr all along and he is balking so they are moving onto the other guys and will deal with Barr once they see what they have left? of the 3 you mentioned left to potentially carve up... the only one I would even play around with is Dejo, we certainly wouldnt want somebody to say hell no cut me now. OL is already a weakness and if you got into a pissing match with 2 returning starters along that front 6.... well that doesnt look very good when you just went and committed what you did for the guy they are supposed to be protecting.
Quote: @JimmyinSD said:
@ Jor-El said:
I think there is more to it than just Barr v. Diggs v. Hunter v. The Cap. There are vets currently under contract who may have been approached for renegotiation, and team management may want to finish that process before taking on those 3 big issues. I'm thinking about Kyle Rudolph ($7.6M salary), Andrew Sendejo ($3.5M), and possibly Mike Remmers ($4.6M). Remmers might depend on whether the team is committed to him playing OG (usually lower paid) instead of OT.
I'm not saying any of these guys should be cut, and I hope they are not. But if you - or management - thinks they are in a tight corner where they can't keep everyone on the team and have to let someone walk, shouldn't you consider parting with one or more of those guys, not just one of Barr/Hunter/Diggs?
To put it bluntly...would you cut Kyle Rudolph (and gain $13M of cap space the next two seasons) if it meant you could give Barr, Diggs, and Hunter ALL long-term deals?
Maybe it's more a matter of getting Rudolph and Sendejo (and maybe Remmers) to trim/extend their contracts to get another combined $5M in cap each of the next few years. The apparently slow pace of getting extensions done might mean that's happening, not just that Barr or Diggs or Hunter are dragging their heels.
you might be right, but I tend to think its about the team prioritizing their deals and the values. they put Kendricks and apparently Hunter pretty high, of course we dont know, maybe they have had an offer on the table for Barr all along and he is balking so they are moving onto the other guys and will deal with Barr once they see what they have left? of the 3 you mentioned left to potentially carve up... the only one I would even play around with is Dejo, we certainly wouldnt want somebody to say hell no cut me now. OL is already a weakness and if you got into a pissing match with 2 returning starters along that front 6.... well that doesnt look very good when you just went and committed what you did for the guy they are supposed to be protecting. If one of them said, "cut me now"...well, it doesn't mean the team would. The team can ask these guys, and do you really worry about any of those 3 sulking, or holding out? That's not going to help any of Rudolph/Sendejo/Remmers, who are kind of on the overpaid side for their positions (especially if Remmers is to be a RG). If Rudolph pouted and didn't play hard this season, his stats would worsen, and when he gets released after the season, will someone else pay him like the 6th-highest-paid TE in the NFL (which he will be this year)?
I just think these discussions happen a lot, especially with vets who are at least halfway through a significant second contract. Something might even get quietly announced a few days from now, done to help the Hunter deal. Maybe it is not yet happening with Rudolph - after all, we haven't made much effort to develop an alternative behind him. Maybe the Vikings love him and are going to give him this year to show he can finally have a monster season with Cousins throwing. But next year, especially if he's still just an average producer, would you be willing to give his $7M to Sheldon Richardson and draft a new TE in the first round?
Quote: @Jor-El said:
@ JimmyinSD said:
@ Jor-El said:
I think there is more to it than just Barr v. Diggs v. Hunter v. The Cap. There are vets currently under contract who may have been approached for renegotiation, and team management may want to finish that process before taking on those 3 big issues. I'm thinking about Kyle Rudolph ($7.6M salary), Andrew Sendejo ($3.5M), and possibly Mike Remmers ($4.6M). Remmers might depend on whether the team is committed to him playing OG (usually lower paid) instead of OT.
I'm not saying any of these guys should be cut, and I hope they are not. But if you - or management - thinks they are in a tight corner where they can't keep everyone on the team and have to let someone walk, shouldn't you consider parting with one or more of those guys, not just one of Barr/Hunter/Diggs?
To put it bluntly...would you cut Kyle Rudolph (and gain $13M of cap space the next two seasons) if it meant you could give Barr, Diggs, and Hunter ALL long-term deals?
Maybe it's more a matter of getting Rudolph and Sendejo (and maybe Remmers) to trim/extend their contracts to get another combined $5M in cap each of the next few years. The apparently slow pace of getting extensions done might mean that's happening, not just that Barr or Diggs or Hunter are dragging their heels.
you might be right, but I tend to think its about the team prioritizing their deals and the values. they put Kendricks and apparently Hunter pretty high, of course we dont know, maybe they have had an offer on the table for Barr all along and he is balking so they are moving onto the other guys and will deal with Barr once they see what they have left? of the 3 you mentioned left to potentially carve up... the only one I would even play around with is Dejo, we certainly wouldnt want somebody to say hell no cut me now. OL is already a weakness and if you got into a pissing match with 2 returning starters along that front 6.... well that doesnt look very good when you just went and committed what you did for the guy they are supposed to be protecting. If one of them said, "cut me now"...well, it doesn't mean the team would. The team can ask these guys, and do you really worry about any of those 3 sulking, or holding out? That's not going to help any of Rudolph/Sendejo/Remmers, who are kind of on the overpaid side for their positions (especially if Remmers is to be a RG). If Rudolph pouted and didn't play hard this season, his stats would worsen, and when he gets released after the season, will someone else pay him like the 6th-highest-paid TE in the NFL (which he will be this year)?
I just think these discussions happen a lot, especially with vets who are at least halfway through a significant second contract. Something might even get quietly announced a few days from now, done to help the Hunter deal. Maybe it is not yet happening with Rudolph - after all, we haven't made much effort to develop an alternative behind him. Maybe the Vikings love him and are going to give him this year to show he can finally have a monster season with Cousins throwing. But next year, especially if he's still just an average producer, would you be willing to give his $7M to Sheldon Richardson and draft a new TE in the first round?
in a league starved for OL play, is Remmers really over paid? Rudolph should have a monster season with Cousins who isnt hesitant to throw into coverage and give his guys chances to make plays so I dont know how crazy he would be to take a pay cut... maybe, but what I wouldnt want is to have guys disgruntled going into the season or worse to ask for the chance to test the market before they agreed to a pay cut.
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