I think Sam Bradford will renegotiate his deal with Rams

GreatRamNTheSky wrote:

I’d be shocked if he didn’t. He’s made millions already. No reason for him not to give the Rams a more reasonable contract until he can prove that he can stay healthy for a whole season and play to a high level. I think he wants to succeed on the field in a Rams uniform. He’s not going to ge big money from any other team.
Don’t be surprised if he re-does his deal and stays with this team.

Grits

I happen to agree.

In contrast, many think that given his injury history, he’s not worth the chance and it’s time to move on.

It’s an issue that will stay open for a while, I think.

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Does Sam have another year on his contract after this year? I thought this was it. I’m confused.

Oh, OK.

I could see a restructuring that gave him another year in 2016, then. But, I still think the Rams have to get another QB to compete with him, because Sam is the definition of injury-prone at this point.

Let’s say the Rams did draft a QB in the 1st round or 2nd round next year. OK, he could be the future, or he could be one of the many in a line of unsuccessful relatively high QB picks. I doubt the Rams are going to pick in the top 5 to get the most elite QB next year, so they’ll be rolling dice with a QB who has potential. That young QB competes with Shaun Hill, and if he wins the starting QB spot, you have your future starter. AND, you have Bradford back in 2016 as a backup. Or, if the rookie QB can’t hack it, you have Bradford back as the starter, and you still have a young prospect looking forward who could spell Bradford or maybe eventually replace him. I could live with this scenario. I don’t think some competition is bad here. You can’t rely on Bradford anymore. That’s just the way it is.

Rams need to treat this position like the DL and add talent with the same enthusiasm.

Sure he does. He could take ALL the money.

He may get cut or he may not.

Once the Rams get to 2015, based on their record (say the do well and finish 10-6), they may decide to stick with Hill, draft someone and wait for Bradford to come along.

At that rate, he’ll either be cut or renegotiate THEN. In March.

He’s already been put officially on IR. He’s got his money for 2014. All of it. The injury settlement and redoing his contract is pretty much out.

The only question now is if he gets outright cut in March or if he redoes his deal. And once March comes around, the Rams don’t owe him anything as he’s on the last year of his contract. So, what is there to renegotiate? The Rams could renegotiate him if they feared he’d go somewhere else, but where’d the market be for a 2 ACL QB with “potential” as his biggest selling point?

Nah, he’s almost certainly gonna be a cap casualty in March to ensure that the Rams are out from under that contract, then they’ll right a new one that takes into account his current medical situation. In order to renegotiate, Sam has to be able to give something back. What can he give back? Salary? The 2015 Salary isn’t guaranteed, so it’s gone if he’s cut. The cap hit from bonuses has already been paid and cannot be given back.

Why extend him? Just cut him and sign him. It’s the business side of things. The Rams have already invested umpteen millions of dollars. And you know me to be pretty sappy when it comes to this stuff, but really, what’ s to be gained by extending him over just writing just a pure “prove it” contract?

If we extend him, it’s not going to be more than 2 years and that 2nd year is going to be voidable, anyway, so it’ll be just like 2 x 1 year contracts. Plus, there won’t be a signing bonus or at least there better not be, so why do it?

Essentially, you could do it on the same day unless there’s a waiting period or something. He wouldn’t have to clear waivers, so it wouldn’t be that. The Rams could cut him and then resign him immediately to the new deal. Whether that happens on the same day may be a function of the Cap and the CBA, but the Rams and Tom Condon can work out the details and both would be clear that they’re on the same page and still value Sam.

Plenty of guys have been cut and resigned because of how it affects the cap. I see no reason why Sam Bradford shouldn’t be treated like any other player in that regard.

The only reason I could think to extend him would be the logistics (just thought of this). If the timeline makes it more of a pain, I could see them essentially extending him and Sam Bradford just agreeing to different terms for the next two years with much lower salary with significant escalator clauses which in essence, would pay him close to what he would have earned if he starts all 16 games and plays well, but if he doesn’t play, he doesn’t make hardly any money. Now THAT I could see… I mean as long as the salaries weren’t guaranteed and any bonuses were Seasonal roster bonuses.

Well, I’m pretty sure that anything they do, they’ll be talking about to Tom Condon and Sam Bradford WELL in advance so that if there’s a plan going forward, everyone’s on the same page.

As well, I seriously doubt that Bradford is going to be courted seriously by teams coming off his 2nd ACL tear with big contract offers. He won’t know any systems and he won’t be ready for anyone else’s training camp or Pre-season unless he does that experimental ACL surgery.

I think we’re pretty much saying the same thing. I just think that if the Rams need to cut him and THEN resign him…then do it. You don’t just do it and not talk with Condon first and of course, you listen to what he has to say, but if anyone understands that it’s a business it’s Tom Condon. And rest assured, if Sam had a massive year, Tom Condon would have demonstrated EXACTLY how much he understood how much of a business it is by how many zeros he wanted the Rams to put on Sams next contract…

So, of course I think they’ll talk it out and work in concert. Most importantly, out of respect for the process that Sam has to go through, I don’t think they’ll do ANY of this until the off-season. I think they’ll respect him and the rehab and wait. Nothing has to happen now so why do it. He’s already been put on IR so that money’s gone. They may as well write the check if they haven’t already (they may have had to when they made the formal designation. I dunno).

The good news is that the 2015 QB class looks loaded unlike the 2014 QB class. I like several guys in it, actually. And if Bradford does stage a comeback and becomes the QB of our dreams, all the better.

Well, dammit, I can see the Patriots doing that… Bradford’s about 10x better than any backup they’ve had and Brady’s durable enough that he’d have time to heal… Although, I dunno how much longer Brady takes less money. He’s pissed about the Logan Mankins trade.

Anyway, we agree in our estimations that this likely won’t be an issue for awhile. I can’t imagine that the Rams will even look at this until the season is over. Since Bradford is on IR, there’s no point.

No. And I wouldn’t expect anyone to hear anything from him until after they decide what they’re going to do.

I really hope they consider that experimental ACL surgery. He could be ready by Jan/Feb and although that wouldn’t change anything for this season, it would be HUGE for building up strength for the upcoming football season.

It’s my understanding that one cannot renegotiate to give back salary. On paper at least a monetary gain needs to appear, even if it’s extended out into the future.

Well, you can, but that’s not what anyone’s talking about. No one in this thread is saying “have him give back money.”

I mention an extension. That’s different from just giving back money. What happens with an extension in a situation like this? We’ve already seen it with Wells. Someone with an injury history trades in salary numbers for incentives.

Goes like this, maybe. (I will make numbers up…I’m not using the real numbers. This is just an illustration.) Let’s say Bradford is owed 15 M in 2015, his last year. But he has to prove he’s back and has incentive to do so. The team wants him back because if nothing else they don’t want to see a scenario where 2 years from now he’s the Patriots qb and doing well. Plus they have a lot invested in him, and I don’t mean money.

So he signs a three year deal that stretches out the cap hit, lowers it in 2015 (to say 7-8 M), has playing time incentives and roster bonuses built in.

That means that Bradford gets his chance to come back, and the team is set to assess and pull the plug if that doesn’t work.

I can fully imagine him on the team next year.

I can’t imagine why the Rams WOULDN’T want to do that. Here they have a young qb who, if he recovers (and the odds are good he will according to the last thing posted about this here), he brings with him the physical skills (arm/release), the backing of the team, the knowledge of the system and of the receivers–plus THEY believe (as do I) that he was taking it to another level. Why would they walk away from that.

If they do all the other things they should at the same time, then, why not. Those things including drafting another young qb, and signing another vet qb (Hill or someone else) plus Davis might factor in.

Given all that, there’s nothing to lose and a lot to gain.