Report: Ferguson would’ve stayed if Jets would’ve paid his full salary

Posted by Michael David Smith on April 8, 2016, 6:14 PM EDT
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The Jets’ request that he take a pay cut precipitated left tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson’s decision to retire.

Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News reports that Ferguson began contemplating retirement when the team approached him about a pay cut, and Ferguson would almost certainly have played this season if the Jets had been willing to pay him the full $10.375 million his contract called for.

However, the Jets weren’t going to pay him that kind of money, and they talked to him this week about taking a pay cut. The Jets hoped to entice Ferguson to take less money by telling him it would allow them to bring back quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, but Ferguson decided he’d rather just walk away.

The 32-year-old Ferguson has made about $70 million in his 10-year career.

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71 responses to “Report: Ferguson would’ve stayed if Jets would’ve paid his full salary”

  2. Give me a break. Let’s start a telethon for this obese never was. He’ll be back when the best job he can get is working overnights at Home Depot.

  3. Isn’t this what we all knew was the case this morning when we heard the news? Brick is not going to risk a head injury for 3-4 million when he is normally gets 10-11 million….dude made 70 million played every snap never had a injury and gets to walk away from the game on his terms….well played sir well played…enjoy your retirement Brick and thanks for being a first class player, person and teammate, the NFL could use more like you….

  4. Of course he would have.

    At 32 most LTs can’t make a roster, so they don’t have to announce retirement.

    He didn’t retire Plearly, seems right about on time for a solid player. The Jets weren’t going to pay him and he wouldn’t sniff close to that money elsewhere. He was paid a kings ransom already so unless he wanted to go ring chasing seems like a good time to hang it up.

  8. The Jets’ request that he take a pay cut precipitated left tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson’s decision to retire.

    Hmm? Could such a simple plan work on Geno too?

  11. logicalvoicepft – dude his celebrity alone and success means he could and would be hired at an elite college programs right away making six figures but quickly move up the coaching tree. At some point one athlete will figure that out and you’ll see someone go from playing to head coaching Job in a few years only.

  12. If he was going to play for a few million he could have just held out, wait to get cut, and sign with a team that had a chance to win.

    Pretty cool of him just to retire as I see it.

  13. Haven’t we learned to treat EVERYTHING Manish Metah related as a lie until proven other wise?

  14. He had a down season last year so the Jests … sorry Jets … decided to squeeze him. Now they need a new left tackle, possibly a new quarterback, an outside pass rush and a new GM. As a Jet fan I can still remember the 24 hours when we had Bill. Jets have just lost any chance to win the division.

  20. NFL contracts, beyond the guaranteed money period are useless. No different then toilet paper. I can’t believe people are knocking a player that has a contract, signed by both parties and is simply asking the team to abide by it. He is still a decent LT but he and his agent know if the Jets cut him no other team would offer him anything close. It’s a friggin sin how these NFL teams are not bound to fulfill contracts. I hope the Nets crash and burn this year because of that.

  21. So, now they need a starting LT, a QB, along with the other required needs. At least they have an extra $10 mil in cap to work with now. Cap hell is such a ride isn’t it.

  22. Where are all the Jets fans that said he had no option but to take a pay cut?

  24. Ferguson is a very bright guy, he didn’t “attend” UVA, he graduated a semester early, so I don’t understand the negative comments about his ability to earn after football. He’s also earned every penny the Jets have paid him. He’s missed like 5 offensive snaps in 10 years, so he’s no slug. He’s made a sound business decision that the added wear on his body, additional risk of long term health issues, etc., are worth $11 million, but not less. His body, his risk. Good for him, his career earnings should have him and his family set for life.

  27. Should have just paid the man. When he refused the pay cut he either would have made the $10.3mil, been traded, or cut. Some LT needy team would have paid him that. The guy played every snap for 10 years. Now the Jets get a little more cap space and have a huge void to fill at LT.

    Good for him going out on his terms. He’s probably well off enough to not want to move, be the new guy with another organization, or be away from his family.

  28. So, Fitzpatrick’s salary requirements just went up $3M to account for extra sacks…

  30. Missed 1 snap in 10 years due to a gadget play. Upstanding man and teammate by all acounts. And people insult him for retiring? Jets fan, Pats fan, or NFL fan… I don’t understand it. This guy doesn’t deserve your scorn.

  31. I bet he doesn’t continue to live in that liberal heavy taxed dump of a city…who can afford it if you’re not making $10M/yr?

  37. The Titans should have picked this guy up if they have the space; and one of the cheapest teams in the league has the space. What else would you expect out of the Adams brood though?

  40. He obviously put a price tag on what it was worth to subject his body to a year of abuse (probably $10 mil), and decided he wasn’t going to get it.

    It sounds like he has the financial freedom to walk away on his terms, which makes me happy. How much would you want saved if you’d made $70 mil over 10 years? (Taxes take roughly half, so $35 mil net over 10 years.) The first few years are probably expensive as you’re buying a house and taking care of mom and all the cousins, etc. Still I’d hope to have $10 -15 mil in the bank at the end of it all, which would be averaging spending $2 mil per year every year. Don’t know if that’s realistic living in New York/Jersey, but if that’s where he’s at he should be able to do whatever he wants for the rest of his life.

  41. They are going to get a guy to replace the Brick. The bigger problem is that Todd Bowles cannot lead this team to a championship. Period. They are wasting their time.

  42. Why not force the Jets to cut you then? That way he is free agent and has a little more flexibility in case he changes his mind about retiring?

  43. Jvw1982
    Well said sir, honestly couldn’t have said it any better. Not an NYG fan but he was never hurt and always@LT for years for the jets. Enjoy retirement

  44. it’s entertaining when people say that a 32 yr old “should” be set for life. With 70 million, half of that after taxes and fees he should have enough to set up the next 5 generations of the family and grow that money into 100 million in less than 20yrs.

  45. So in other words most NFL teams dont honor their contracts just like the owners have never honored any contract they’ve ever signed in their life.

    The NFL owners and team are scumbags

  46. Great player and an even better person.

    One thing, though. Why are all these AFCE trolls ripping on the Jets about asking him for a paycut? He was a great Jet but he has been in the bottom 10 for LT’s the past 3-4 years he simply wasn’t worth the 10 mil price tag. I especially don’t get the Dolphins and Bills fans talking about our cap space. We never were in cap hell and we aren’t going to be. If you did your research you would know the Jets have over 30 million in cap space for 2017 even with Revis, Marshall, Gilchrist, Skrine, Mangold, Carpenter, Richardson, and Leo on the books. That’s a lot better than having our cap space being tied into two overrated defensive lineman in Dareus and Suh.

  47. He made 70 million dollars. They want to use a coupon while all this news is coming out about players killing themsevles because they can’t deal with the pain playing a decade in the NFL caused? Great move by him.

  49. Can’t blame the jets he is a average Left tackle, great player in his early years but fell off big time last 2 years. Why wouldn’t you ask him to take a pay cut not worth 10 million. Use the money else where and get younger. Enjoy the retired life you were a great jet!

  50. Wow, he played in NJ and he from Long Island, that’s the double bubble as far as taxes, that $70mil starting to look real small….

  53. 5 million in dead cap space and a few dead QBs without that guy to keep pressure off them.

    J E S T … JEST JEST JEST!

  56. Not that high for the most dependable position player on the team. Pretty sad and things like this always come back to haunt a team be it an injury to someone else from a missed assignment or they end up spending more cause they get one for about half who doesn’t make it or again gets hurt and then they have to pick up another with this taking away from a different player from a position of need. He was the 10 highest paid LT in the league from Over the Cap. Unless they draft Stanley or Tunsil or even Dexker then this might be a plan. But they still don’t know what they have and they did with “D.”

  59. good for him! just because they ask does not mean you have to say yes. I hope fitz does the same thing. he made not have made that kind of money but pretty sure he has made enough and invested it so if he does not get what he wants he can walk away. let them try and win without him and see where that gets the jets or broncos or anyone else that needs a qb and won’t give him what he wants.

  60. There is no story here. The player retires a wealthy man and the team prefers the $5 million cap hit in dead money because it doesn’t want to overpay another year. This is a business and both sides got their desired result.

  61. Jets knew they had to upgrade his position anyway. Now OT becomes more of a priority, oh , and we have $9 mill in cap space thank God instead of just $500K.

    This is going to work out awesome for the Jets!
    They can now sign Fitz and draft an OT in the first round case closed!!!

  63. The Jets’ request that he take a pay cut precipitated left tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson’s decision to retire.

    Hmm? Could such a simple plan work on Geno too?
    ___________________________________________
    Since the Jets don’t have any other options at qb I wouldn’t run him out of town just yet. He will probably be your starter this year. I would say this is going to be a down year for the Jets but since they havent really had an up year. We will say same old Jets.

  64. Multiple other sources have reported he was contemplating retirement and this sealed the deal. But Mehta with no quotes or reported source speculates in his column and that becomes noteworthy? It’s Manish F Mehta we are talking about, he makes Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith look like Woodward and Bernstein

  65. This is something that will become the norm as guys in their early 30s that have made really good money for 8 or 9 years and are still healthy will not see the benefit of taking less money just to hang around. Calvin Johnson now Brick they both were young and could still make millions just maybe not as many or maybe they feel its just not worth it for any amount of money especially of they have a healthy bank account. If I was sitting in my mansion at 30 yrs old and had 10 or 20 million in the bank I would have trouble getting motivated to put my body and mind in harms way when you dont need the money at all. The NFL players in thr past as a whole haven’t made the money that the NBA and MLB players do, due to the amount of players in the league and the injuries but more and more mid level guys are bringing in Star money. With the money increasing for more of the players not just the elite of the elite this will become more common. I could see an NFL with less than 5% of the league being over 30. The TEs are pushing guys put and guys don’t really care anymore because I think they are starting to really understand the danger they have been in and would continue to be in if they stay in the league.

  66. Any contract I’ve ever signed penalizes me for not honoring it. How is this not the case for NFL teams?
    ———–
    Because the team’s power to tear up the contract IS written into every player’s contract in exchange for huge up-front signing bonuses. All part of the deal.

  67. Anyone hating on Brick doesn’t know Brick. He is one of the most intelligent, well spoken, articulate, and all around great guys the NFL has to offer. He doesn’t see the justification in the risk that comes with playing another year at such a reduced rate. While the timing wasn’t ideal, he actually did us a favor by freeing up money to sign, ya know, a QB. He missed one snap in 10 years and represented the Jets to the highest standard and in superior fashion. If he wants to walk away after what he’s done for us, I can’t be mad. He was a true soldier! Ride out Brick, thanks for everything!

  68. I should be shocked at the low class comments directed at Ferguson and/or the Jets over this. Then I took a look at who made a lot of them I see the user names of guys known to be Patriots lovers/Jet haters. That just reaffirms how low class they are and how powerful the Jets’ ability to get under their skin is. It never ceases to amaze me how the fans of the best team in the game over the last decade can be so low class and so threatened by the Jets and their fans. Sometimes the truth makes no sense despite being obvious.

  69. The Jets were going to pay the full salary – the salary he deserved and if the jerk didn’t like that, then he is free to take his greedy fat butt elsewhere. I bet the Jets’ salary offer was more than just. I bet the clown would not get that much elsewhere.

  71. Jets fans have been touting their “new and improved” front office, the one that has left gaping holes at QB, LT, TE, and team depth. They seemed to forget that Woody Johnson is a cheap and horrible owner, a non-football guy who has had a hand in virtually every poor move the organization has made, including bringing back Revis at a king’s ransom because he won a super bowl with New England. He is the only New Yorker I know who is obsessed with a Boston-based anything, and the Patriots play their games 30 miles outside the city.

    On January 18, 2000, Johnson purchased the Jets for $635 million, just a couple of weeks after Belichick quit the Jets. He muffed the transition of Parcells to Belichick by not securing the new head coach as part of his acquisition that (no doubt) was months in the making, losing the best head coach in NFL history and has been trying to payback Kraft and Belichick back ever since.

    If Woody owned the Harlem Globetrotters he would make the Washington Generals look good.

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