2 hours ago, BayAreaLennie said:

Meh ... maybe.  if a guy signs a contract, he signs a contract ... he would have known the risk.  

Sounds good in theory. Just doesn’t actually tend to work that way 

8 hours ago, Jsvand12 said:

Then Baun would have likely wanted more money after this year. They probably would have ended doing something like they did with Barkley. Players aren’t going to accept being severely underpaid for multiple years

Correct.  See Hasson Reddick.  Maybe Baun wouldn't have been like that but things worked out.

10 hours ago, ilikepargo said:

Howie often does things that Howie never does.

(And he sometimes does things that he always does.)

Ahead of the curve (that he sometimes creates himself)..

12 hours ago, DaBirds said:

Said this in another thread but this always happens when guys get signed. The money looks big and then a year later it looks like a bargain. The cap keeps going up and so does the money. 

Especially true as most of the early news are the numbers the agents want people to hear. 

Then you get to see more and they have insanely low cap hits for 3 years plus.

Our Eagles are probably the team that is pushing every loophole further than anyone resulting in the ability to extend top talent and even aquire more.

Baun was the biggest priority of the "big 4" pending FA's.  Seems like a good deal for both sides.

I can see Becton re-signing here if nobody offers him stupid money.  We have a few things in our favor regarding him...he seemed to genuinely appreciate what the Eagles did for him, seems to truly like it here in Philly, and his complete body of play on the field was far from perfect.  In all the breakdowns I've seen of his play, it seems he's been really good at times but has also been not-so-good at other times.  Playing RG for the first time, he is/was a work in progress and that might help keep his price tag down.

Guessing if Baun had hit the market he would have netted us a 4th round comp pick signing a similar contract.. be interesting to see how everything else falls. 

18 hours ago, Diehardfan said:

Yeah, but at that price I'd almost rather have Williams for a bit more. 17 million is a lot when I was expecting 12 or 13 max. Not sad he is back, though. Good for him.

But if the tag is 25, 17 seems pretty reasonable. If it's true that the Eagles could get out of it after 2 years if they wish, that's good too. A player that has had 4 unremarkable years with one team that goes to another and breaks out like Baun did, is he a one year wonder? Will the next 2 years be mediocre or worse? I don't think so but ya never know.

14 hours ago, BayAreaLennie said:

Meh ... maybe.  if a guy signs a contract, he signs a contract ... he would have known the risk.  One other point -- Baun is 28 years old, so he might only have another year or two of prime.

I don't know how many snaps he played for the Saints but I suspect not a lot, given how he was used. Hope he's 'low miles'.

13 hours ago, BayAreaLennie said:

 One other point -- Baun is 28 years old, so he might only have another year or two of prime.

Yeah --- all that time on the saints ... they probably used him up. 

 

Seriously, though ---- why are people so concerned about "30" ? Great players can play great well into their 30s. Average players will probably be average in their 30s. Probably the main reason players in their 30s get replaced is because there is a younger, obviously cheaper option playing at or near the same level. But great players don't really have to worry about that because great players are rare. In the case of Baun, he is coming off a great season --- the 1st where he was given his opportunity. I know the negadelphian in us doesn't always ask these questions, but what if this playing experience is actually helping Baun get even better? What if he continues to actually improve the next two or 3 seasons? I'm not worried about a number in his player profile. I care more about his play and after watching what he did last season, I'm not sure there's a better LB currently in the NFL. 

12 minutes ago, brkmsn said:

Yeah --- all that time on the saints ... they probably used him up. 

 

Seriously, though ---- why are people so concerned about "30" ? Great players can play great well into their 30s. Average players will probably be average in their 30s. Probably the main reason players in their 30s get replaced is because there is a younger, obviously cheaper option playing at or near the same level. But great players don't really have to worry about that because great players are rare. In the case of Baun, he is coming off a great season --- the 1st where he was given his opportunity. I know the negadelphian in us doesn't always ask these questions, but what if this playing experience is actually helping Baun get even better? What if he continues to actually improve the next two or 3 seasons? I'm not worried about a number in his player profile. I care more about his play and after watching what he did last season, I'm not sure there's a better LB currently in the NFL. 

One of the reasons why LB and RB were devalued is that they usually would get hurt more often and have shorter careers. The game protects them less.

Which is why we always cheaped out on them.

Now with Barkley and Baun it's different because both provide great leadership and are exceptional performers.

Still just because they are an exception doesn't mean the reasons in general don't apply anymore. There might be a slight adjustment but how much will it really be relative to the rising cap in the end?

6 minutes ago, Infam said:

One of the reasons why LB and RB were devalued is that they usually would get hurt more often and have shorter careers. The game protects them less.

Which is why we always cheaped out on them.

Now with Barkley and Baun it's different because both provide great leadership and are exceptional performers.

Still just because they are an exception doesn't mean the reasons in general don't apply anymore. There might be a slight adjustment but how much will it really be relative to the rising cap in the end?

We haven't always "cheaped out," though. There were a lot of guys that just didn't pan out here. One that did show much promise was Jordan Hicks who was unable to stay healthy during his time as an Eagle and he was highly overpaid when he signed with another team. The other was TJ Edwards who wanted a chance to negotiate with his life long favorite team and agreed to sign with them just minutes into the tampering period. But we did extend Bradham to a 5y / $40M contract in 2018 back when the salary cap was over $100M less than it currently is --- and Bradham was "solid" at best. 

Unlike Baradham, Baun is a playmaker and Howie understands that playmakers are valuable. 

42 minutes ago, brkmsn said:

We haven't always "cheaped out," though. There were a lot of guys that just didn't pan out here. One that did show much promise was Jordan Hicks who was unable to stay healthy during his time as an Eagle and he was highly overpaid when he signed with another team. The other was TJ Edwards who wanted a chance to negotiate with his life long favorite team and agreed to sign with them just minutes into the tampering period. But we did extend Bradham to a 5y / $40M contract in 2018 back when the salary cap was over $100M less than it currently is --- and Bradham was "solid" at best. 

Unlike Baradham, Baun is a playmaker and Howie understands that playmakers are valuable. 

NIGEL BRADHAM CANT CATCH

2 hours ago, brkmsn said:

We haven't always "cheaped out," though. There were a lot of guys that just didn't pan out here. One that did show much promise was Jordan Hicks who was unable to stay healthy during his time as an Eagle and he was highly overpaid when he signed with another team. The other was TJ Edwards who wanted a chance to negotiate with his life long favorite team and agreed to sign with them just minutes into the tampering period. But we did extend Bradham to a 5y / $40M contract in 2018 back when the salary cap was over $100M less than it currently is --- and Bradham was "solid" at best. 

Unlike Baradham, Baun is a playmaker and Howie understands that playmakers are valuable. 

Right. The more I think about this contract the more I’m okay with it. I’ve not seen the full details yet, but in reality it’s a 2 year 34 million contract with a third year option for the Eagles. That covers in the unlikely case he’s a one year wonder or declines because of age. The 34 million hit will be spread over the three years and probably a couple of dummy years after, so it won’t have a huge cap hit.

I don’t worry about Howie signing extensions for our players. He’s playing chess when everyone else is playing checkers. 

You can fault him for missing on some draft picks/free agents but no one is better than managing the cap than Howie. 

Howie learned from the best.