lesean mccoy

Thoughts on Devonta Freemans $41.25 Million Contract

Posted on by Jason Fitzgerald

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk just broke the official numbers for Devonta Freeman’s $41.25 million contract extension which gives us a chance to look at it and offer some thoughts. Overall I like the contract for Freeman which I think is an excellent illustration of how to use contract structures to get over the hump of the full guarantee at signing. However, it is also clear that this is not the top contract on the market, though it is very close.

From Freeman’s perspective here is what I really like about the contract- a huge signing bonus relative to the P5 values of the contract at the frontend of the contract. This is the old way that contracts were done which always did a far better job insulating a player from release than the more current system of high P5s with two years of full guarantees. A large part of that is the Falcons front office which skews towards the older style of cap management, which is both a blessing and a curse.

Freeman’s $15 million signing bonus is nearly 70% of the takehome of the first three contract years and 56% of the first three new years of the contract. Those are really terrific numbers. The next closest to that is LeSean McCoy at 48% of his three year value. The rest of the top veteran backs are extremely low percentages, basically between 10 and 30%.

That should mean that Freeman is a lock to earn the new $20.25 million in the contract from 2017 through 2019. He would have to fall so far off a cliff for a team to consider cutting him to save all of $3.75 million given the initial investment in 2019 and even if they did that P5 is so low that he would likely earn $1M as a free agent if it ever came to that. So I think this is very solid and will now be a fundamental starting point for Le’Veon Bell next year when working off percentages to try to maximize his signing bonus with the Steelers.

Now immediately when I saw the numbers the name that came to mind is McCoy of the Bills. It’s pretty clear from the structure that they followed the Bills model with him very closely, but Atlanta more or less used a classic trick of throwing some backend money in the deal to inflate the APY. This allows Freeman to be considered the “highest paid” but realistically he won’t be.

PlayerYear 0Year 1Year 2Year 3Year 4Year 5
Devonta Freeman$14,500,000$16,500,000$20,250,000$26,750,000$33,000,000$41,250,000
LeSean McCoy$0$16,000,000$21,050,000$27,300,000$33,625,000$40,050,000

For the most part Freeman will trail McCoy by about $600,000 each year in total earnings.  It’s rare for players to reach the 5th contract year, especially running backs, but Freeman needs that season to surpass McCoy in earnings. So while the Falcons were willing to budge on the APY they negotiated the contract in a way that was more beneficial to them and one in which they feel they are not the real market setter at the position.

Still the contract blows away the likes of Doug Martin and Lamar Miller who would be the next set of veterans. It’s a strong deal and probably far stronger than he would have found in free agency where interest in running backs has been lukewarm at best.  This is the right fit for his skillset and for the Falcons as well which is why its worth making the deal rather than dealing with the uncertainty for the year and ending up with someone else next year.

His cap hits are generally manageable until 2020 which is the first real uncertain season. By then the team should have its core locked up for the future and will be able to move away from some of the higher ticket items that might clog their cap. If they can get two very good and one decent year out of Freeman they should be happy even if they have to cut him in 2020.

LeSean McCoy: The Running Back Who Cried Wolf

Posted on by Zack Moore

LeSean McCoy: The Running Back Who Cried Wolf

How LeSean McCoy, Tra Thomas and Stephen A. Smith Confuse Capism With Racism

I was in the middle of a great addition to my chapter on the 2014 Patriots for Caponomics, but then I had to get drawn into a bit of a rant on this because LeSean McCoy and Stephen A Smith are in the news again for saying absolute nonsense.

Let’s preface this being fair and saying, I was never in the Eagles locker room, therefore, I can never say I know what happened in that locker room or what LeSean McCoy may have experienced, so we all must keep that in mind. We have never walked a mile in his shoes, nor know what caused him to feel this way, but with that in mind, I still think he’s overstepped his boundaries and has made himself out to be a fool.

We also must keep in mind that, like any industry, racism exists in football and it’s for both black and white players. Brandan Schaub from The Fighter and the Kid podcast is a UFC fighter now, but during his football playing days at the University of Colorado, he had a racist running backs coach. While watching film of Nebraska’s white running back, his coach said, “I don’t know why white guys play football, they just can’t do the same things that us black guys can do.” This was while white Brendan Schaub was in the meeting room. Not exactly how you make one of your players feel welcome.

What really kind of set me off to write this was an article by Phil Sheridan, ESPN’s Philadelphia Eagles reporter, titled: “LeSean McCoy’s comments are a sign that Chip Kelly is caught in a trap.” What trap Phil? Are we talking about the trap of 2015 where everything that you do that someone can disagree with can be seen as racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia or whatever the name is for the group that is involved in the situation? It’s gross that Mr. Sheridan would even play into this nonsense.

By the end of his article, Sheridan even makes some counter points against McCoy’s statement with the following facts, so I don’t understand what trap Kelly is in:

  • “Kelly traded quarterback Nick Foles, who is white.”
  • “In free agency, Kelly replaced McCoy with another African-American running back,DeMarco Murray (on a five-year, $42 million contract). Kelly also signed cornerback Byron Maxwell to a six-year, $63 million deal — the largest contract of Kelly’s tenure.”
  • “In the NFL, if you trade or release a Pro Bowl-level player like McCoy or Jackson, there is a good chance he’ll be black. A 2014 study showed that 68 percent of NFL players are African-American.”
  • “Kelly tried to sign Maclin to a new contract, but dropped out when Kansas City went to $11 million per year. To replace Maclin, Kelly draftedNelson Agholor in the first round last week.”
  • “Five of the Eagles’ six draft choices are African-American. Only seventh-round pickBrian Mihalik is white.”
  • “Finally, when Kelly became head coach of the Eagles, he inherited Foles and Michael Vickas his candidates for starting quarterback. Vick won the competition. At Oregon, Kelly’s starting quarterbacks included African-Americans Darron Thomas and Dennis Dixon before Tongan Marcus Mariota took over.”

Sheridan noted that the Eagles had 21 non-black players on their 53-man roster at the end of the 2014 season or about 40% of the team, which is slightly higher than the 32% league-wide. Of those 21 players, Cooper is one of the seven who were originally signed or drafted under Andy Reid.

Former Eagles assistant coach Tra Thomas says that he feels “like there is a hint of racism,” but he doesn’t want to “put that tag on someone,” because “you’ve got to be careful with that, but there are some of the players that kind of feel like that’s what it is.” Strong words from a man of strong convictions.

Thomas then goes on to cite “a report that came out last year” regarding the Eagles being “one of the whitest teams in the NFL.” All very serious allegations and something that we should certainly get the Justice Department to investigate. I mean seriously, what can we do when a staggering 40% of the people you work with are white? How can we fight this injustice?

Another point from Thomas regarding Kelly’s perceived racism is that the Eagles have only one African-American position coach, Duce Staley, their running back coach. Tre Williams is now on the scouting staff after being the tight ends coach. Both players were with the Eagles before Kelly was hired.

Sheridan states that out of 23 assistant coaches for the Eagles, seven are African American, that’s just over 30%.

The only real trap that Sheridan speaks to is that since Kelly didn’t release Cooper after that racial episode in 2013, it has given Thomas, Smith and McCoy some firepower to make these charges of racism. Kelly has declined to comment on this and to that Sheridan says, “that might be easier than trying to challenge the perception that’s out there, but silence only seems to make the trap sticker and harder to escape.”

Now the question is, does anyone who should be taken seriously actually think that Chip Kelly is racist?

First, how do we keep giving Stephen A. Smith a voice? There are times in the past where I have applauded him for raising issues that I think should be raised and speaking his mind, but the last few months have raised only one issue for me with Stephen A. Smith, one question for him: are you the racist?

When Tom Brady skipped going to the White House, Stephen A. went on this ten to fifteen minute rant about how Brady was disrespecting the president and even suggested that this man who has made a career out of playing with and leading black and white men might be a racist…Tom Brady might be a racist for not going to the White House…because it was his parents 50th Anniversary…what planet are Smith on?

Smith went on a rant a couple months ago about how Kelly got rid of McCoy, Jeremy Maclin and DeSean Jackson, but still kept Riley Cooper. What Smith is doing is showing his ignorance to the NFL’s salary cap, he’s mistaken racism with capism!

So let’s dive into this!!

In 2015, LeSean McCoy was set to have a cap hit of $11.95 million for the Eagles, while earning $10.25 million in salary. As Jason says, “neither number shoule ever occur for a running back in today’s NFL and it is possible that McCoy would have been released had he refused a pay cut.” His cap hit would have taken up 8.34% of the cap. Instead, he counts as $3.4 million in dead money, which is only 2.37% AND the Eagles got one of the best young linebackers in the NFL, a position they needed to upgrade going into this season in Kiko Alonso, who will take up a mere 0.56% of the cap.

So the Eagles got rid of a guy who’s cap hit was out of line with what a running back should be paid in today’s NFL and who was Pro Football Focus’ 55th rated running back…out of 57 running backs. Something that very few people realize is that the Eagles offensive line was one of the best in the NFL last season, they were rated by PFF as the #1 run blocking offense in the NFL. Their rating of 85.7 was 30 points higher than the Cowboys who were #2, but their rush rating was 22nd at -3.1, largely because LeSean McCoy had a -1.4 rushing rating behind the best blocking in the NFL.

And, to top it off, McCoy signed his overpriced extension the year before Kelly was named the Eagles head coach, so it wasn’t like he was “Kelly’s guy.” From a team building standpoint or looking for players that fit what Kelly wants in a running back, who knows if McCoy fits the mold of what he even wants.

Again, they also got a great player, Kiko Alonso, in the trade at a low-cost and at a position they needed help at. That can’t be forgotten, it wasn’t like he trade McCoy for a bucket of Rex Ryan’s favorite buffalo wings.

Anyway, what happened with the 5.41% of the cap that the Eagles saved by trading McCoy for Alonso? They spent 4.89% of it on two running backs who aren’t white: Ryan Mathews and DeMarco Murray. I think it would be hilarious if a reporter asked McCoy where Chip Kelly could find some white running backs?

While Mathews was injured for much of last season, he’s a player who can do a lot of good things when healthy and fits into Kelly’s offense. Murray has some of those injury issues as well, but most people say he fits Kelly’s scheme better than McCoy and he was the 5th best running back according to PFF, not the 55th.

So they went and got themselves TWO running backs with the money they saved with the trade and they had 0.52% of the cap left over to spend elsewhere.

So there is one case where the salary cap and good management supersedes the cry of racism. One down, two to go.

So with Jeremy Maclin, why did Lyndon Baines Kelly get rid of him? Oh, because Maclin got offered a five-year contract worth $55 million, with a $12 million signing bonus, from the coach who drafted him, Andy Reid. So what did LBK do after that? Did he go sign Brian Hartline, Wes Welker, and Dane Sanzenbacher? Nope. He signed Miles Austin and Seyi Ajirotutu, then he went and drafted Maclin’s replacement, African American wide receiver Nelson Agholor in the first round, Maclin 2.0.

As I wrote in my last piece, Agholor couldn’t be more similar to Maclin:

Maclin: 6’/198, 4.48, 10’ broad jump, 35 ½” vert, 7.06 3 cone

Agholor: 6’/198, 4.42, 10’5” broad jump, 36 ½” vert, 6.83 3 cone

Maclin turns 27 this year, white Agholor turns 22 and adds a punt return dimension that Maclin doesn’t have.

While Maclin’s 2015 cap hit is low due to his signing bonus, in 2016, Maclin’s number is $12.4 million, while Agholor will only cost $2 million.If the salary cap goes up to $153 million in 2016, Maclin will take up 8.10% of the cap, while Agholor will take up 1.31% of the cap.

Through the first four seasons of these contracts, it is projected that the Eagles will save $32,703,526 by having Agholor instead of Maclin. That is $32.7 million that the Eagles will have to spend on other positions and needs over the next four years, while still having a player in Agholor who should produce at a similar level to Maclin fairly quickly because his attributes, measurables and talents are so similar to Maclin’s.

(History Lesson: Lyndon Baines Johnson was one of the most racist men to ever occupy the White House, he helped dismantle President Eisenhower’s Civil Rights Act of 1957 when he was in the Senate, only to push it through in 1964 for purely political reasons and the quotes attributed at the time will make you shudder. I feel it’s important for people to research and understand this because history has been rewritten regarding this man. Plus, saying Lyndon Baines Kelly in a serious voice made me chuckle, what can I say, I’ve been writing all day and only talking to my dog.)

Lastly, with Jackson, I did not like the way rumors were bandied about regarding his gang affiliations and things of that nature, he has reportedly been a good citizen throughout his career, but according to NJ.com, that was only part of the issue for why they cut ties. Keep in mind, with what happened with Aaron Hernandez only two years before the Eagles traded Jackson, their concerns that “his friends were becoming a more powerful – and negative – influence in his life” is a legitimate cause for worry.

Sources told NJ.com that he had “a bad attitude, an inconsistent work ethic, missed meetings and a lack of chemistry with head coach Chip Kelly” and that those “were the original reasons for his fall from grace.”

I fully supported Jackson’s side of this story when it happened on the personal level, I thought it was gross the way the media portrayed the issue. Do you think Jackson should just give up hanging out with the people he grew up with because society is going to judge him? Most of our society doesn’t even know how to judge him and has no right to because it’s not their life. Again, by all accounts, Jackson is a good man.

But hey, let’s look at the salary cap again! Jackson, like McCoy, signed an extension in the 2012 offseason, the year before Kelly came on board. He also was grumbling that he hoped the Eagles would re-do his contract heading into the 2014 offseason, something that Kelly obviously did not want to do. Jackson had a cap hit of $12.75 million in 2014, which was 9.59% of the salary cap. By trading him, they cleared 4.89% of the cap, which isn’t a lot, but was probably the right move for a guy who wasn’t going to be happy playing on that contract in 2014 and because they could easily draft some replacements for him in the draft or sign someone in free agency.

They signed Darren Sproles who helped in Kelly’s pass catching running back role and as a punt return, then drafted Jordan Matthews and Josh Huff to solve the loss of Jackson long-term.

Jackson went to Washington and signed a contract that he could be happy with, he also had 1169 yards on 56 catches (20.9 ypc) and six touchdowns, a great season for a player who has a lot left and who I sure wish the best.

Matthews had 67 catches for 872 yards (13.0 ypc) and eight touchdowns, while taking up only 0.68% of the salary cap as a second round pick. Huff only had 8 catches for 98 yards (12.3 ypc), but did have a 107 kickoff return for a touchdown along with his 14 returns for 415 yards, while taking up 0.42% of the cap.

So I’m sorry Mr. McCoy, is the salary cap racist? Is Chip Kelly racist for getting the best return on his investment that he can possibly make? Is he racist for trying to do the best job he can, so that he doesn’t get fired?

This is like the third time this offseason that McCoy has brought up this charge of racism against Kelly and it’s just wrong. Relax LeSean! He’s not judging you by the color of your skin; he’s judging you by your cap number and your performance on the field!

Meanwhile, Riley Cooper got resigned after the 2013 season because he had just had a great season with 47 catches for 835 yards (17.8 ypc) and eight touchdowns. He was pretty bad last season, but that just means that resigning him to a five-year, $22.5 million deal might have been a mistake. His cap hits through 2018 are still incredibly low for someone who’s supposed to be a WR2. In 2015, he’s only taking up 3.35% of the cap and makes him the 11th highest paid Eagle. This means the Eagles don’t have a WR in their Top 10 cap hits, which is very unusual, but also shows the value that they’re getting out of the position because they have one of the best receiver groups in the league with Zach Ertz and Brent Celek at tight end and pass catching running backs as well.

Cooper was the 110th rated receiver…out of 110 receivers last year according to PFF, but all that means is that they made a big mistake signing him to an extension. What does McCoy want though? Does he want Kelly to cut Cooper this year with $6.2 million in dead money cap hit if the Eagles cut him, but a $4.8 million cap hit if Cooper’s on the team? So McCoy wants them to waste $1.4 million to what? Prove that Chip Kelly is not only not a racist, but also a moronic businessman?
I remember when the word racism used to have meaning, when people used to cringe at the idea of being called racist. Today, being called a racist just means that someone disagrees with you. Being called a sexist on Twitter means that you just made fun of the people who are offended at what Jeremy Renner called a fictional movie character or the people outraged at what Bud Light put on their bottles.

Apparently, all being called a racist takes today is trading or not resigning some black players in a sport that’s 68% black.

The only thing I hate as much as racism are false cries of racism.

Tweet me: @ZackMooreNFL

If you liked the kind of cap analysis that went into this article, please e-mail me at Caponomics@gmail.com, so that you are added to our e-mail list and get some bonus finished chapters as they become available. Last week, I sent out our chapter analyzing the 2000 Ravens. 

Caponomics is a book that analyzes the Super Bowl champions from the last 21 seasons, creates theories based on this analysis and then uses those theories to discuss why 2014 teams were or were not successful.

LeSean McCoy Signs $40 Million Contract with Bills

Posted on by Jason Fitzgerald

According to multiple news outlets (I believe Jeff McLane was the first) the Buffalo Bills and soon to be acquired running back LeSean McCoy have agreed on a whopping new contract that will pay McCoy $40 million over the next 5 seasons with $26.5 million in guarantees, $16 million of which is paid in the first year. According to Mike Garafolo he will receive a $13 million signing bonus, which, by my math, should result in a cap hit of $5.6 million in 2015.

What the move itself defies almost all logic in the NFL. It is the kind of move that is probably favored by head coach Rex Ryan, who helped mold a number of decisions in his time in New York, but it is not the first time the Bills have made such moves. In recent years they spent wildly on Mario Williams and to a lesser extent Ryan Fitzpatrick. As a comparison, Marshawn Lynch this season will receive $12 million to play in the NFL. Adrian Peterson will possibly earn $13 million. The next highest paid player will be the Bears Matt Forte at $8.2 million.

McCoy had three years remaining on his current deal at $25.25 million, of which just $1 milliom was guaranteed. The new $26.5 million guarantee, (of which $10.5M is likely guaranteed for injury only) means the Bills agreed to actually give him a raise in the hopes of appeasing the player and realizing some salary cap relief. McCoy immediately let it be known he was unhappy being traded to Buffalo which likely helped nail down this offer. His orginial cap charge was set to be $10.25 million, so the team will save roughly half that number giving them more money to try to keep Jerry Hughes.

McCoy will be 27 this season. In the last 25 years just 49 running backs at the age of 27 have run for 1,000 yards. At age 28 the number drops to 39 and then 29 at the age of 29. 14 players have done it three times. If we increase that to 1,200 yards only Barry Sanders and Tiki Barber accomplished it 3 times. If we filter our 1,000 yard years to players averaging more than 4.2 YPC its 25, 25, and 10 in the 27-29 age range. The Bills best hope that McCoy is one of those special 25 players to justify this contract.

Eagles to Trade McCoy to Bills for Alonso

Posted on by Jason Fitzgerald

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Philadelphia Eagles, who seem to be in the midst of a firesale, have agreed to trade star running back LeSean McCoy to the Buffalo Bills in exchange for linebacker Kiko Alonso.

This move is a major win for the Eagles. McCoy was set to count against the Eagles cap at $11.95 million while earning a $10.25 million salary. Neither number should ever occur for a running back in today’s NFL and it is possible that McCoy would have been released had he refused a pay cut. If the Eagles had released him they would have owed McCoy $1 million, the amount of his salary that was guaranteed for the year. Instead they get a young linebacker in return who will earn $795,946 for the season. This will clear about $7.75 million from the Eagles salary cap this season.

For the Bills they will now take on $10.25 million in cap and cash obligations for McCoy, essentially eating up 1/3 of their projected cap room. One would expect the Bills to immediately rework his contract for more cap relief. McCoy has three years remaining on his contract. He will earn a total of $15 million in the final two years of his contract, though none of that is guaranteed. I would expect the team to add two more seasons to the deal to maximize the cap savings.

It is a large price to pay for a running back especially one who struggled at times in two of the last three seasons when his offensive line played poorly. The Bills offensive line is a trouble spot for the team and they will need to upgrade significantly to make this work. The Bills declined usin the franchise tag on pass rusher Jerry Hughes, which may have been an indication that the money was needed for the offense. The team already signed Richie Incognito to play guard, but arguably need three more lineman to allow the running game to excel.

The move will likely mark the end of CJ Spillers career with the Bills and could spell the end of veteran Fred Jackson’s. Releasing Jackson would save the team $2.7M in cap room. Spiller is a free agent.

No trade can be made official until the first day of the NFL League Year so its possible that the trade could never happen if someone gets cold feet, but it sure sounds like it will happen.  The Eagles will have well over $40 million in cap space to use to improve the team and should be expected to be a big player in free agency.

NFL Stock Down: Week 4

Posted on by Jason Fitzgerald

Every Monday during the season we will take a look back at three players who are entering important stages of their contract that may have hurt their stock in upcoming negotiations with their play on Sunday. In addition we will also look at one player signed in the offseason to a new contract that did not live up to the expectations that his contract sets for the player.

Stock Down

Cam Newton– Once again I will reiterate that Newton is nowhere near a $20 million a year QB and his chances for an extension are quickly blowing up. 14/25 for 197 yards is low end game manager type play. I think at some point people are also going to question how Steve Smith is putting up the numbers he is in Baltimore while becoming something of an afterthought in Carolina.

Jason Worilds– Worilds is playing on the transition tag because the Steelers didn’t believe enough in him to sign him to a long term contract but were also holding out hope that he could earn that big contract. Through four games hope looks to be all this is. Worilds has posted just one sack and on Sunday registered just three pressures and 1 tackle in the teams’ loss to the Buccaneers.

LeSean McCoy– McCoy doesn’t look like the same player he was last season and his coach had no confidence to give him the ball at the goalline on two plays. McCoy’s salary balloons next season making this effectively a contract year for him. This is the second week in a row McCoy has done nothing and 10 carries for 17 yards is not going to get the job done for McCoy’s future prospects.

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New Contract Disappointment Of The Week

Maurice Jones Drew– In all honesty this should just go to the entire Raiders organization of free agents, who were all terrible for the 3rd time in four games this year. MJD is trying to work himself back from another injury and carried the ball two times for all of 1 yard. He also added two receptions for just a yard. Oakland had no business making this signing and whomever is running the team next year will likely make sure it’s a one year throw away.

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Best & Worst Contracts: The Philadelphia Eagles

Posted on by Jason Fitzgerald

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A few weeks ago Jason LaCanfora published a list of best and worst contracts in the NFL so I thought it might make a good idea for us to do the same here at OTC, with a team by team approach. I’ll try to be a bit more analytical in terms of why money was paid and how it fits in the market, but the general premise is the same. The one key difference is outside of restructured rookie contracts under the old CBA we will only use veteran contracts as there is a big difference between best draft picks and best contracts.  Please note that there is a difference between a bad player and a bad contract when discussing some of the selections. Clicking on a players name will take you to his salary cap page.

Brent CelekBest Contract: Brent Celek

Celek has been one of the better Tight Ends in the NFL for the last four years, ranking in the top 10 in receiving yards in three of those seasons. Those are the type of statistics that should propel a player into the $6 to $7 million per year range at the position, but Philadelphia pounced on the opportunity to sign Celek early and get him under contract at under $5 million a season, significantly less than players such as Greg Olsen, Zach Miller, and Marcedes Lewis.

By signing Celek early the Eagles were able to use some extra cap space in 2009 that was just going to go to waste and place some money into the uncapped 2010 season. All told the Eagles were able to get away “cap free” with $5.1 million of new money in Celek’s contract. The extension years of Celeks contract max out at $5 million in cap charges, which is due in 2016. The prorated money and dead money in the contract end in 2013, just three years into the extension. That allows the Eagles to fetch a good price with no worries about cap concerns if they were to trade the talented player in 2014.

The contract was designed to protect Philadelphia in the event Celek did not develop into what they expected of him, something not present in most of the other contracts mentioned above. Had the Eagles released or traded him this year the total cost would have been $12 million for two seasons with only $1.2 million of it being considered “dead money”.  Factor in the amount of money pushed into the uncapped season and the Eagles were only going to invest about $3.4 million per year in cap dollars before they pressed the escape button and moved on. It was tremendous planning that resulted in a bargain contract allowing the team to spend elsewhere to, in theory, improve the roster.

LeSean McCoyWorst Contract: LeSean McCoy

Just a few years ago this would have been a difficult team to find a true “worst” on but in the last few years things have changed in Philadelphia. While the Eagles are still somewhat cautious with certain extensions and signings, they have grown starry eyed in recent years with the headline grabbing signings. Michael Vick and Nnamdi Asomugha were two of the worst signings in the NFL, their contracts containing high guarantees for minimal performance. Those contracts are long gone now, but they never would have existed under the way the Eagles used to conduct business.  There are other ones to consider as well such as the decision to extend a 30 year old Trent Cole when he had two years remaining on his contract, which now looks to have the potential to be a 1 year $13.5 million dollar extension based on Cole’s play last season.

All things considered, though, nothing surprised me more than the Eagles decision to pay RB LeSean McCoy $9 million dollars a year, with nearly $21 million firmly guaranteed, the highest firm guarantee among Running Backs in the NFL. I would have thought that after the Brian Westbrook mess on his 2008 extension that the Eagles would have avoided getting in deeply on the position again. In a league where teams do not rely on one back the Eagles took a gamble and it blew up on them last season.  McCoy was wasted money in 2012 and will likely be wasted money over the next few seasons. McCoy may play well, but last year showed the Eagles what many teams already know— you can throw many talented players in a similar situation and get quality results which the Eagles received from Bryce Brown while McCoy struggled with injuries. While Brown may not be as good as McCoy the dollar discrepancy is gigantic.

Philadelphia left themselves no protection in this contract unless they were able to find a trade partner for him. The only injury protection is a series of small roster bonuses that are paid for games on the active 46 man roster. Those bonuses max out at just $250,000 so the protection is not significant by any means. In 2014 McCoy’s salary cap figure will rise to $9.7 million. His entire base salary that year, $7.65 million, is fully guaranteed, a figure too high for most teams to even consider picking up in a trade. In 2015 the Eagles would still owe him $1 million in cash if they cut him and the acceleration from his signing bonus would total $3.4 million, bringing the total dead money total to $4.4 million. The Eagles could also look to re-work his contract that year rather than paying a player to not be on the team, something they were stuck with on Asomugha this year.

Check out Our Other Best & Worst Contract Articles

AFC East: Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, New York Jets

AFC North: Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers

AFC South: Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans

AFC West: Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiders, San Diego Chargers

NFC East: Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins (July 15)

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