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Contract Disputes Problematic for Jets: Cannizzaro


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Contract disputes problematic for Jets

Jets Blog

Last Updated: 6:10 AM, July 10, 2010

Posted: 3:06 AM, July 10, 2010

Mark Cannizzaro

In 24 days the Jets open training camp at SUNY Cortland, where a pressing question looms as large as that Aug. 1 start date approaches faster than a Santonio Holmes fly route: Who will be there and who will not?

Significant contract unrest for some players critical to the team's success has been bubbling beneath the surface of coach Rex Ryan's feel-good minicamp practices and OTA sessions this offseason.

* Darrelle Revis is hell-bent on becoming the highest paid cornerback in the NFL.

* Nick Mangold wants top-dog money among NFL centers.

* David Harris is quietly seeking the kind of money the Jets gave to his linebacker teammate Bart Scott, who came in as an unrestricted free agent last season.

. N.Y. Post: Charles Wenzelberg

SHOW ME THE MONEY: With only 24 days until minicamp, it is still unknown whether Darrelle Revis (right), Nick Mangold and David Harris will show up because of contract disputes with the Jets

One thing you can count on as much as you can the requisite Ryan bravado: All three of those players will not have new contracts by the start of training camp.

According to a highly placed NFL source familiar with the Jets' thinking, Revis, Mangold and Harris will not all get new contracts in 2010.

"Those other three guys won't get signed this year," the source told The Post, referring to Revis, Mangold and Harris. "There's no way that can happen. It's not realistic."

This has potential to leave the Jets in a sticky situation -- particularly if Revis, who has been the most vocal about wanting a new deal, doesn't get what he wants.

Revis has three years remaining on his contract, though the last two are a team option (the Jets can buy it out for $20 million). Mangold and Harris are entering the final year of their respective rookie contracts.

On the heels of the six year, $60 million extension this week given to left tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson, who had two years remaining on his original contract, Revis, Mangold and Harris all want new contracts before camp begins.

In the case of at least Revis and possibly Mangold's, too, you can add or else to the end of the previous sentence, because Revis has talked openly about a possible training camp holdout and Mangold has dropped hints.

Contrary to some reports that Revis already has decided to hold out if he doesn't have a new deal by camp, sources close to him told The Post yesterday that Revis is "consulting his family" and he "hasn't made a decision yet" on whether he'll hold out.

Those close to Revis insist the Jets are not making a long-term commitment to him in terms of real guaranteed money, and they're wary of the extension Ferguson signed, saying it's misleading in terms of the reported guaranteed money. And there is a heavy dose of window-dressing in Ferguson's contract.

Reports yesterday were hailing the $34 million in "guaranteed" money in Ferguson's deal. The reality is Ferguson, who already was due to make $3.1 million in 2010, is just getting another $2.2 million this year.

If he were to suffer a career-ending injury in 2010, the Jets would not be on the hook to pay him any more than the $5.323 million they will pay him this year. So, the only truly guaranteed money Ferguson is getting is the added $2.2 million he'll make this year.

This is where the Leon Washington factor has taken a stronghold inside the Jets' locker room. Washington never got the new contract he wanted entering last season, then suffered a compound leg fracture and was traded away for a low draft pick on draft day, leaving him with no financial security.

Sources familiar with the Jets thinking insist that if Ferguson or any other player was injured and under contract, the team would do everything it could to get him healthy again, not simply cut him.

The issue here is trust. After seeing what happened to Washington, players are wary of that happening to them.

Revis, for example, is due to make just $1 million in base salary this year, so he's concerned about securing his future in case he suffers a bad injury.

There are some agents around the league who have speculated that the Jets are trying to avoid handing out a lot of up-front cash now because they're concerned about a potential lockout looming in 2011.

As of today, the Jets are on the books to pay out about $104 million in salary in 2010, including Ferguson's new money and the $5.25 million they owe departed guard Alan Faneca.

That's $24 million less than the $128 million salary cap in 2009, a number that likely would have gone up to $135 million in 2010 had there been a new Collective Bargaining Agreement in place and no 2011 lockout looming.

mark.cannizzaro@nypost.com

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i think if i hear the phrase "if he suffers a career ending injury,blah,blah,blah".if you cant play for the team any longer,why should the team pay you huge guaranteed money?thats why the players make multi millions of dollars a year.shoot,if you are making 8m for the season,and you get messed up,you cant live off of 8m?????

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As of today, the Jets are on the books to pay out about $104 million in salary in 2010, including Ferguson's new money and the $5.25 million they owe departed guard Alan Faneca.

That's $24 million less than the $128 million salary cap in 2009, a number that likely would have gone up to $135 million in 2010 had there been a new Collective Bargaining Agreement in place and no 2011 lockout looming.

mark.cannizzaro@nypost.com

Fattazero shouldn't try to do math in front of other people.

A salary cap is not the salary limit a team spends. A salary cap includes bonus money already advanced to players as well. Is it his suggestion that the Jets, kings of free agency over the past few seasons, haven't shelled out any significant bonus money outside of an on-paper "salary" amount?

He either cannot add or knows less about the way the NFL works than he knows about the secrets to being interesting, writing above an 8th-grade level, and staying under 500 lbs.

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Fattazero shouldn't try to do math in front of other people.

A salary cap is not the salary limit a team spends. A salary cap includes bonus money already advanced to players as well. Is it his suggestion that the Jets, kings of free agency over the past few seasons, haven't shelled out any significant bonus money outside of an on-paper "salary" amount?

He either cannot add or knows less about the way the NFL works than he knows about the secrets to being interesting, writing above an 8th-grade level, and staying under 500 lbs.

I select D---All of the above

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Fattazero shouldn't try to do math in front of other people.

A salary cap is not the salary limit a team spends. A salary cap includes bonus money already advanced to players as well. Is it his suggestion that the Jets, kings of free agency over the past few seasons, haven't shelled out any significant bonus money outside of an on-paper "salary" amount?

He either cannot add or knows less about the way the NFL works than he knows about the secrets to being interesting, writing above an 8th-grade level, and staying under 500 lbs.

Definitely true, though I believe he took most of the signing bonus figures into account. My own estimates have the Jets paying about 108M in cash this year not including what they will pay Wilson. That is down from the last two years which were both close to 120M, but the Jets had more restrictions on them this year and this was by far the thinnest free agent crop in ages.

As for the cap numbers he is way way way off. If the cap remained in place the Jets top 51 charges including the salary cuts and money owed Faneca is right around 128M. The assumption that the cap would have been 135M is just pure nonsense. Assuming that the cap grew the same it has since the last CBA it would have been around 129M. Making that assumption is probably a poor one since revenues seemed to be down around the league and it likely would have grown a bit less than the norm.

Cannizaro is taking the Jets salary cap number from 2009 and just adding 6 million onto it. The problem with that is that the Jets 2009 number included an extra 1.4 million pushed into it from cap maneuvers made in 2009 and a cap adjustment due to it being the final capped year of around 5 million. The real cap was only 123M, so assuming normal growth we would only hot 129M in 2010. So the Jets internal accounting has them basically right at the cap this year which is where they want to be to avoid any potential penalties that the league could consider in the new CBA if there is gross abuse of the uncapped season.

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I understand players want security for the future.

Say god forbid one of them does get injured, they have already made more money in a year then most will see in a lifetime.

Security?? They can't expect fans to be sympathetic, I don't have "security" if I get injured and can't work. Security for them is living in the lap of luxury for the rest of time too.

I just hate hearing about this crap. 15 million wouldn't be enough for him even, he wants more.

It's laughable-

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