The one that left me scratching my head was letting Shaun O’hara go. I’m still surprised no other team signed him yet.
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O’Hara was a turnstile the past two seasons. Did you even watch a single Giants game…

“Actually, some people would argue that the time to ask to do something is when you’ve completed all of your contract, not when you’ve completed two-thirds of your contract.”

That’s the way it should be, contracts are essentially one way now, in favor of the player.
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You mean in favor of the TEAM/OWNERS.

That actually happens all time. A team will go to a player (usually an aging veteran) and tell them they need to lower their contract in lieu of getting cut. LaDanian Tomilson cut his salary in half for the Jets this year after management approached him.

What drives me nuts are the people who scream “you signed a contract” when players hold out for a renegotiation. They DID sign a contract and under that contract the player has a RIGHT to hold out. If the owners don’t want the players to hold out, then rewrite the contracts to allow legal action against the players when they hold out. If not, stop bitching. Either renegotiate or play without the player. I don’t understand why the team should get all the leverage. Play poorly and you get cut. Play well and don’t get any new compensation. When I perform well and don’t get compensation, I find a new job with a new company. Since you can’t do that in pro sports, a holdout seems more than fair.

That said, I would not hold out if I were in this situation. I would ask for a raise if I felt I deserved it. If they said no, I would simply tell them to draft my position in the next draft, because when my contract was up, my agent would not be talking with them. It stays private and gets the message across, and it does not hurt the players’ reputation or the rest of the team.

I think we’re on the same page. The NFL out of necessity can’t guarantee contracts like the baseball or the NBA (judging from the financial info I’ve seen of some NBA teams I don’t think the NBA can gaurantee contracts like the NBA).

What I find frustrating are the people who insist a contract is a contract in the NFL towards players that hold out but not management that terminates a contract before it ends.

I do also want to point out that for every big money talent a team wastes millions in garaunteed money on there are talents such as a Desean Jackson or Chris Johnson that give the team pro bowl/all pro seasons on the cheap while playing under their rookie contract.

Also, considering the injury bug the Giants are currently suffering from, my guess is they’ll be sorely missing Cofield right around week 5. Maybe even by this Sunday…

TLDR: I’d love to see the rules changed, for the sake of both the players and teams. But under the current structure, most players get contracts knowing the final year(s) are fairly undependable. That being said, I *do* think that players that grossly outperform contracts should be rewarded, but you have to acknowledge that the rewards come with risk. Thumbs up for a good discussion.

Long version:

I’d love to see the rules changed, for the sake of both the players and teams. Players should be able to have more stability, and teams still need some protection. But under the current structure, most players get contracts knowing the final year(s) are fairly undependable. Players that don’t should fire their agents. The fact that this happens doesn’t mean it should, but it’s one of the things that players need to be informed about.

The timing with Garrard was awful, but he’s not really hurting for the money. He signed a 6 year/$60 million contract in 2008 with $18 mil guaranteed. Tallying up his first three years (until he got released), he made $34.425 mil over 3 years, including the guaranteed money.

Thomas Jones signed a 4 year/$20 mil contract in 2007 with 12 mil guaranteed. Overall, he made $13.1 mil in just those two years in New York.

That being said, I’m not using these numbers to justify their cuts. Jones has proven that he still had it the last few years, and the Jags don’t really need to save that money when there’s a salary floor (unless I’m wrong about that). They both deserved their current-at-the-time contracts, no more, no less.

But there exist guys that get rewarded big contracts and end up having mediocre or worse years. Roy Williams pocketed $27 mil to $32 mil (depending on your source) for 2 mediocre years in Dallas. Albert Haynesworth pocketed $41 mil just in guaranteed money for all the headaches in Washington. If the teams weren’t able to do *something* about these contracts, they’d be screwed for the duration.

I *do* think that players that grossly outperform contracts should be rewarded, but you have to acknowledge that the rewards come with risk.

Thumbs up for a good discussion.

The team that Daniel Snyder owns? LMAO

THE worst run organization in the NFL, with the most petty owner in all of sports
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The fact that you used “LMAO” in your inane response negates any chance of message-impact.

Now go back to trolling Myspace; men are talking football in here.

the giants do what they feel is best for the organization and they obviously saw something with seubert and ohara and thats why they werent kept around longer. boss left for the money which i dont blame him at all.

sorry barry you went to the redskins and you will see your fault in that within 1 season. shoulda went to a contender.

you redskin fans that think your going to the playoffs are more dilusional than bills fans

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The team that Daniel Snyder owns? LMAO

THE worst run organization in the NFL, with the most petty owner in all of sports.

So THAT’S where Belichick learned it from?

Mr Cofield: “Ka-Durrh?!”

Rich Seubert was a great Giant and perhaps one of the more under-rated players in the NFL, but to carry him on the roster would have been an anchor. Same with some of those other players. Shaun O’Hara simply was not good last year. And just because the Raiders think Kevin Boss is worth that much, it does not mean that well balanced management needs to think the same?

And as for Osi, he needs to strap it up and play for the money for which he agreed to play. He is not even in a contract year. In the six losses last season it was like the guy never showed up at the park.

Loyalty to depreciating assets gets you 6-10, bags on the head, empty chairs in December, coaches looking in the “help wanted” section, and a very long offseason.

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Yeah that…..stay thirsty my friends

Judging by 98% thumbs down rating you got I hope you realize how silly your comment was. I don’t always agree with the folks on this site but for the most part many have an idea of how the league works. You? Not so much.

The argument that a team can cut a player at any time is a little misleading. Pragmatically, no team is going to cut a player in the first half of his contract unless his play is truly horrendous (like Jamarcus Russell). The reason is that even if a player with the long term contract is cut, he still got paid. All long term contracts are tempered with guaranteed money as that’s how the longer length was negotiated. Most of those last years are empty anyway.

Rookie contracts and such like Desean Jackson’s deserve to be negotiated, especially given his performance. But remember, if you’re advocating for all players to be able to do this, you’re also supporting Lance Briggs.