Bombshell Body Massage is reportedly the front-runner for naming rights.
At long last, Dan Snyder sells Washington (NY Times - paywalled). Good riddance.
Josh Harris, an owner of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils, agreed in principle to buy the Washington Commanders for a record $6 billion from Dan Snyder, the longtime owner of the team plagued by scandals that drew investigations from the N.F.L., Congress and other government agencies.
With the end of Snyder’s tenure the N.F.L. begins to distance itself from a painful chapter in league history and right the future of the popular franchise, which under Snyder had been tarnished by accusations of a toxic workplace and unable to secure a new stadium.
The agreement comes as the N.F.L. continues its second investigation into allegations of widespread sexual harassment made against executives at the team, including Snyder, as well as potential financial improprieties. Those allegations, coupled with Snyder’s inability to build a new stadium and a backlash from the team’s fans, had pushed many of the owners of the league’s other teams to consider voting to force him to sell the team, which he bought in 1999 for $800 million.
Once the Harris group submits its deal, the sale would have to be approved by the league’s finance committee and by at least three-quarters of the 31 other team owners, which could occur within weeks. Harris’s group includes Mitchell Rales, a billionaire from the Washington, D.C., area, and a group of limited partners that includes Magic Johnson.
Best news ever, for this beleaguered Washington sports fan.
One sports radio guy quipped today, after they mentioned that Snyder will no longer be an owner, “Who are we supposed to complain about now?”
Talking to my barber the Jets fan today while getting a haircut, and I mentioned my surprise and disappointment that they traded Elijah Moore. He said Moore requested a trade last year so he wasn’t surprised at all.
So that actually makes me feel better. They didn’t dump a promising young player to bring in a Rodgers retread, they traded away a disgruntled player. The former would be obnoxious, while the latter is disappointing but reasonable.
Not Chico’s Bail Bonds? Although, they are more closely associated with baseball.
Philadelphia commits hard to Jalen Hurts to the tune of 5 years $255M ($179M guaranteed) and a no trade clause. That’s a tremendous show of faith. Be interesting to watch how this championship window goes for the team
On the one hand, Hurts is awesome and I can’t say he didn’t deserve a payday.
On the other hand, one reason why Philly could stack up so much was because their star QB was on a rookie contract. I’m sure this was all planned (they’re not idiots) but it might be a step back for them.
Yeah, that’s always the way it goes with QBs. You can build a team around a star rookie QB on a cheap contract but keeping the other pieces gets a lot harder when a large chunk of your cap is tied up on one player.
The best teams seem to manage to find ways to still win, of course.
Actually, come to think of it, Philadelphia was already sort of in this situation. They took a $30M+ dead cap hit for dropping Carson Wentz a couple years ago. They basically tied 20% of their salary on a player that wasn’t even on their roster. Of course, the cap is $40M bigger now than 2021, so that should help as well.
Should this be the ceiling on what Lamar Jackson can expect? He’s older and more banged-up than Hurts, with less postseason success. If he’s still hoping someone will offer him $250 million guaranteed, he needs a better agent. (Yes, I know he’s his own agent.)
The Ravens offered him a pretty similar deal. This is the comparison with the deal Schefter reported (note that we haven’t gotten the full details of any of the offers or counter-offers)
TOTAL VALUE
JH: $255M
LJ: $250M
FULL GTD AT SIGNING
JH: $110M
LJ: $133M
TOTAL GTD
JH: $179.3M
LJ: $200M
Sure, I’d say it should be around what Jackson should expect at the upper end, but as you note, it could be the fully guaranteed part.
And yes, if the fully guaranteed part is the hold up, it might be a good idea for Jackson to get some representation so figure out what each side won’t give up and what other terms might be negotiable or potential alternate avenues to get the financial security Jackson wants. The offer terms haven’t been confirmed, but the guaranteed money seem like a good candidate considering how little interest he’s gotten from other teams.
That said, Hurts’ contract is going to get eclipsed pretty soon. Teams have historically committed ~20-25% of their cap to a franchise QB and with the cap rising each year, it’s only a matter of time before another QB gets an even bigger contract.
NFL economics are just weird.
Aaron Rodgers is still a Packer, and the rumor as to why is around disagreement between the Packers and Jets on what New York would send to Green Bay as far as draft picks.
The Packers apparently want a guaranteed first-round draft choice (possibly in 2024), but the Jets (and owner Woody Johnson, in particular) are hesitant to give that up, especially given that Rodgers has said that, prior to his “darkness retreat,” he was 90% leaning towards retiring (so, the Jets may feel that they will only be getting one season out of him).
So, Rodgers’ own big mouth might have contributed to the holdup?
Quelle surprise
I’ve got the world’s smallest violin on standby
Agreed. I’m a Bears fan with no skin in this dispute, but I hate to see one of the league’s most exciting players painting himself into a corner like this. That said, I’m sure the Ravens share some blame, too.
Ain’t that the truth?!?
In 2020, Patrick Mahomes signed an incredible 10 year 450 million dollar contract, average of 45 million bucks each year.
Three years later, Mahomes is just the sixth-highest paid QB in the league, in terms of average salary. He’s behind Hurts, Rodgers, Wilson, Murray, and Watson.
Oh, and he’s the reigning Super Bowl champion QB, as well the league MVP.
And Daniel fucking Jones got $40 goddamn million a year.
I wouldn’t expect that to last. Burrow’s up for a new deal in the next offseason, at which point KC will almost certainly top it with Mahomes.
He had them by the short hairs and he knew it. They’re not in a position to draft a QB and the free agent options even at the beginning of the offseason weren’t any better than him. They’re not going to sell the farm for Lamar Jackson or Aaron Rodgers. They kind of think they can win now if they can shore up the team around him. Circumstances left them with Jones as basically their only real option.
It was a huge contract, but a fair number of people agree Mahomes took a team friendly contract. He probably could have held out for more if he really wanted. Not like anybody disagrees how important he is to the team.
That Jones contract still makes me laugh. Even at today’s QB prices, there weren’t a lot of people claiming he’d be worth the money on an open market. he lucked into a good situation for himself and took full advantage.
Burrow is next along with Justin Herbert and at least one of them is likely to set or be close to setting the new mark.
The Dolphins exercised Tua’s 5th year option (for $23 million) so they have up to two years to figure out if and how much a long term extension is worth to them. Flip side is the longer they wait, the worse the relationship may get if he has a tremendous year and figures he wants out instead. The team has already shown its willingness to (1) openly court other QBs and (2) callously disregard his safety, so that’ll be an interesting watch