Richie wrote:Adipost wrote:Rakshir wrote:sturf wrote:malk wrote:I don't agree with your last part on Meredith. I just don't see that there's a good risk model with the medicals that make $1.9m ok and $2.9m not, when that $2.9m gives you control.
It gives you control for exactly 1 year only then Meredith is a free agent. If the Bears believe the knee is questionable what good does 1 year of control do. You pay him a extra million more to rehab and then be an unrestricted free agent.
You can then sign him to a long term deal, especially when you have other question marks at WR this year that have to be worked out. Your really trying to say that 1 million dollars matters that much but pissing away 16 million on Glennon is totaly acceptable, and we're only 20'ish million under the cap at this point ?
What if Kevin White gets hurt again ? What if Robinson isn't fully healed ? If his knee is good and he kills it, you have the option to sign him long term BEFORE he becomes a free agent next year. But it's all water under the bridge at this point.
Good points. People were blowing off the Glennon contract saying that the Bears had to spend the money somewhere, and we had plenty of cap space. But now 1 million more for Meredith is being viewed as this daunting figure.
People keep citing the money and how inconsequential the 2nd round tender would have been. However, I no longer think that's the way to look at this. At least if you are trying to get an idea of what Pace/Bears were thinking. I honestly believe the Bears have huge doubts about his knee, the team doctors have expressed concerns and that they don't want to be leaning on him in any capacity this upcoming year. When they already decided to make a big investment in a guy coming off of a knee injury in Robinson. Which was a lesser injury, FWIW.
I'm working on the assumption that the intention was always to offer a multi year deal and the original round tender was used to be allowed to match. If they were that concerned about the knee, presumably they'd imagine other teams would be similarly concerned and wouldn't bother offering anything or something they'd be happy to match.
I guess they could also have wanted a cheap year to assess him and then resign as a free agent the following year. This once again plays into my main criticism of Pace, his being too risk averse. In that scenario Meredith either:
Is unfit/can't get back to form. In which case the $1.9m was wasted.
Plays well enough for an extension. In which case his price goes up significantly.
In the end Meredith's price went up anyway but if we gave the 2nd round tender, I'm absolutely sure no one offers him a contract and then it's a different calculation for Meredith. Do I take $2.9m and test myself and the market or do I take whatever multi year deal the Bears offer, bank more guaranteed now and go for a big deal as a 28 year old in 3 years time.
If I'm Pace I give the 2nd round tag then offer the 3 years $10m I said way back (or $12m or whatever is reasonable, I'm guessing as I obviously don't know the real market at all) and make it plain that the guarantees give him two years on the roster, two years to show he's fit rather than one. I'd also try to sell an assurance that if he plays well enough, we'd look to extend after two years and pay him better.
Maybe Meredith doesn't buy any of that but I fail to see how that tactic could be much worse than what Pace did. Essentially you could lose whatever the guaranteed money on Meredith's contract is if he can't get back at all. Frankly, Pace is willing to lose that and more each year on punts for players like Cooper or Wheaton.
I think he's really poor strategically but will continue to give him the benefit of the doubt as it may be due to not previously having a good idea of what he's building. I'd hoped that being set with Trubisky and Nagy meant he'd be in a better place this off season but Nagy will need time to fit so Pace gets another pass from me.
I should point out that getting a pass doesn't mean I'll be calling for his head any time soon, he's got Nagy's contract to prove himself. Rather that he has until next year to start making better strategic decisions before I fully denigrate him for not doing so. Heck, they're not even essential to winning, they just make it easier.
All this said, there's absolutely no way Pace changes so I'm typing into the void!
