94 replies to this topic

[rayzor]

Why are people worrying about this now?

this and the chud thing....i don't know. i guess you have to worry about something. you ain't living if you ain't worrying i suppose.

[Khyber53]

With a full season, and maybe even playoffs, ahead of us, we'll no better late in the season how important it is for the team to keep J-Stew around. Running backs are injury magnets and having two, maybe three, stud ones on the roster is a luxury most teams never have.

That being said, it may come down to if J-Stew wants to stay. He could be the feature back on any other team in the NFL. No doubt about it. He could make big bucks on the open market. And when he did, he could find himself being run into a very short career as the carries and hits pile up. Here, he has a number of advantages: a) he's paired up with a great friend and there's no apparent jealousy over carriers, he doesn't have to carry the full load -- a back only has so many carries in their career and having a good split like this will extend his career an extra two to three years down the road... and long-term money is sometimes better than short term, c) sad to say, but he's only one bad hit to a knee from being the 1 st stringer, d) he seems to be one of the more humble star talents in the league and he may relish sharing the national spotlight and prefer being a beloved star in a small market, d) they will find a way to pay him and pay him well, e) I think he believes that he's on a team that could get him that Super Bowl ring -- a big payday from a lower tier team like Cleveland or Jacksonville will never have that promise, and e) what he has here he won't find elsewhere in this short career game --- security.

[CCS]

Runningbacks are a dime a dozen in the NFL these days. Every single team in the NFL seems to have at least one back that can get the job done when needed. I really hope that we keep him but it won't be that big of a blow if we don't.

[CRA]

I wouldn't be surprised if Dwill restructured his contract to keep Stewart

That is comparable to the hometown discount line....NFL players don't do that. Just like you wouldn't take a pay cut at your job

[La Pantera]

Players restructure their contracts to free up cap space all the time!

[I Registered To Post This]

That is comparable to the hometown discount line....NFL players don't do that. Just like you wouldn't take a pay cut at your job

restructuring doesn't necessarily imply that they're taking a pay cut. a portion of their base salary could just be converted to a signing bonus or something. that's what jordan gross did i think.

[lineal89]

Why wouldn't Stew want to remain here? His career will be extended by not being forced to carry the bulk of the load, not to mention the great chemistry that he's built with D. Will. Hopefully D. Will will renegoiate his contract to keep Stew on the team.

[carolina-chuck]

Sign him. I love to see Dwill, Stew, and Tolbert for many years.

[Marguide]

Didn't CJ make something crazy like $34MM this year? That has to be front loaded money.

But most of that is signing bonus, which counts equally for each year of the contract. Without looking up his deal, I expect he is carrying a slightly lower salary the first couple of years of the deal to lessen the cap hit, so it is actually slightly back-loaded. DWill's deal was done the same way if I remember correctly.

Let's say CJ's bonus was $24 million (just pulling that number out of the air for comparison purposes). JR could have paid $10 million this year in bonus, another $10 million next year in guaranteed bonus, and the final $4 million in year 3, also guaranteed. From a cap standpoint, it is exactly the same as paying the $24 million all in year 1. JR just did it all at once either because CJ wanted it that way, or maybe for other business reasons, i.e. tax liability, expected capital outlays, etc.

[ladypanther]

I want them all.

Keeping a positive thought...if they believe in Rivera and possible Super Bowls...they have an opportunity to have longer careers than average with less body damage. And hopefully some rings.

Maybe not a record as an individual but records as a backfield.

Get it done Hurney.

[Lt Pinkerton]

Also it's important to note that due to the new CBA and the larger amount of money going to the players, the salary cap will be substantially higher in the next few seasons, and D-Will's contract was front-loaded. They planned to keep them both from the very beginning.

[Marguide]

Also it's important to note that due to the new CBA and the larger amount of money going to the players, the salary cap will be substantially higher in the next few seasons, and D-Will's contract was front-loaded. They planned to keep them both from the very beginning.

The cap is not expected to rise substantially this year. There will probably be an increase of maybe 8% to 10% in 2014.

DWill's contract was not front-loaded.

[cultclassiccat]

Ivan..

My question was about otahs salary. If letting him go opened up space for stew. I would like to see otah healthy. Maybe we could get a draft pick for em??

[jtm]

Love Stewy but money needs to be spent elsewhere. It's just business.

[CatMan72]

He wants to be back... that's the most important part, the rest is just details.

I was thinking he might want to leave for a chance to be "the guy" somewhere else, so this is great news!