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For weeks, the deeply flawed crown jewels of the quarterback class of the 2016 NFL Draft posed a pressing question to the league about how to resolve a massive error. As the Philadelphia Eagles mulled over Carson Wentz’s future and the Los Angeles Rams considered trading Jared Goff, prominent NFL teams mulled over an issue that dominated the two franchises.
Of course, you could find a business partner ready to restart Goff or Wentz careers, but what could convince a business partner to eat up the massive amount of salary owed to each?
Well, the Rams just made the plan. And for the second time since 2017, the league has what amounts to an NBA-style sweetener in exchange for a player’s massive salary. That’s one of the foundational foundations of Saturday night’s astonishing trade deal that would send Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford to the Rams in exchange for Goff and three valuable draft picks – including top picks. round in the 2022 and 2023 drafts and a third round. choose from this year’s project. Just in terms of value, the top trio represents a lot more than most thought the soon-to-be 33-year-old Stafford would strike a deal. The goalscorer was the inclusion of Goff by the Rams, including $ 43 million in guaranteed cash to be paid to him over the 2021 and 2022 seasons. It is this salary guarantee that has put the Rams in a position of soften their deal for Stafford.
So what’s soaking up $ 43 million in guaranteed money? On Sunday, several league sources, who spoke about the deal early in the morning, said the Rams’ inclusion of a second first-round pick likely pushed LA on the Washington football team for Stafford.
If that sounds a bit like an NBA team selling toxic salary assets with a draft pick, that’s because that’s precisely what it is. And this is the second time the NFL has seen this happen since 2017. The other was the Houston Texans tying a second and sixth round pick to Brock Osweiler, and sending that bundle to the Cleveland Browns for a conditional fourth pick. round. . The problem in this one was that the Browns were using their vast salary cap space to eat up Osweiler’s guaranteed salary of $ 16 million, which the franchise ultimately did before releasing Osweiler before the start of the 2017 season.
The Lions are highly unlikely to make that kind of decision with Goff, who toast Los Angeles and is seen as an aspiring MVP candidate heading into the 2019 season after a 2018 campaign that saw him pitch for. 32 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, with 4,638 passing yards. What the Rams got instead was a player severely limited by a collapsed offensive line, leaving head coach Sean McVay in the early stages of a frustrating belief that Goff’s limits won’t allow him to – never to go beyond the need for the coach to fundamentally micromanage each part. of the transient offense.
This 2019 season started to put the Rams on a troubling turn with Goff, who had just signed a massive four-year, $ 134 million contract extension ahead of the season. It was a deal that seemed to make Goff untradeable or untradeable until the end of the 2022 season. Of course, it was an ideology that ignored the Rams’ wide open nature with part of their base. talent, which included absorbing some sizable caps while unloading talent. He also ignored the aggressive use of the team of his first-round picks to make the necessary changes.
Still, few in the league believed that a commercial suitor could be found to agree to what amounted to a terrible contract after watching Goff wrestle during the 2020 season. Many viewed the Rams’ problems as similar to those plaguing the Eagles. and Wentz, with the team facing a landslide of guaranteed money that other franchises would not want to import, especially at the price of draft assets. What no one seemed to be considering in the league was the ability to reverse typical trade mechanics, with the Eagles or Rams sending their quarterback and contract out of town with a few draft picks to secure a deal.
It was a thorny enough question that the Eagles didn’t even think twice. Instead, the team fired their head coach Doug Pederson and looked into a reboot of Wentz under a new coaching staff and at the behest of team owner Jeffrey Lurie. The Rams went in the opposite direction. That made sense, considering the franchise would never have sacrificed McVay for Goff in the same way the Eagles slipped in Pederson pink to get a Wentz plan back on track. Instead, the Rams gave the league the Saturday night plan to blow up even the most pesky of contracts. Something like “tie a pickaxe on it.”
Much like the Browns in 2017, it should give the NFL something to chew on, as the league has always internally disapproved of NBA machinations such as the draft pick auction to create ceiling space or just give up. commitment to large contracts. While this is seen as creative in some quarters, the NFL’s problem with the maneuver is that it could tip the scales towards franchise owners who are willing to “buy” picks for a cap.
The difference in this case is that Stafford and Goff provide the Rams and Lions with plenty of cover in this case. Not only was Stafford merchandise hot enough to command a price that could have been higher than some suspected, but Goff is still talented enough that a career reboot seems entirely possible in Detroit, perhaps even at point to justify the guaranteed money that it will be. paid until 2022. It’s possible that everyone will walk away from this deal feeling great about the disputed products.
Truth be told, the NFL might be in a better place for this as well. If we’ve learned anything in 2020, it’s that some teams make huge quarterback trades that they end up regretting. And the league is better off with teams actively looking for ways to be the best possible product on the pitch. If a team like the Eagles wants to hang on to a deal that doesn’t look so good and attempt to resurrect a player and justify it, so be it. But the Rams just showed that it doesn’t have to be. At the end of the day, pretty much anything can be remedied if a team is willing to walk away with money or draft picks.
Including a contract that appeared to be non-negotiable just a few weeks ago.
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