In an excellent piece, Bill Barnwell of Grantland places each of the league’s 32 starting quarterbacks into six different buckets based on their contracts, separating, for example, the “prove-it” extensions signed by Colin Kaepernick and Andy Dalton, the large-bonus deals inked by the likes of Joe Flacco and Aaron Rodgers, and the marginal pacts that employ Brian Hoyer, Carson Palmer, and other mid-tier options. Perhaps most interestingly, Barnwell dives into the soon-to-be expiring rookie contracts of the quarterbacks from the 2011-12 drafts, and projects that Andrew Luck will eventually sign a mega-extension that surpasses the length and value of Calvin Johnson‘s eight-year, $160MM deal, which contained $60MM in guarantees. The entire piece is extremely thoughtful and well worth a full read.
- In a memo to NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith, union special counsel Teri Patterson argued that the league’s domestic violence program is severely flawed, and complained that it views all players as “perpetrators.” Patterson also outlined ten more concerns with the program, which is set to be implemented on Monday, writes Tom Pelissero of USA Today. Brian McCarthy, an NFL spokesman, said Patterson’s views couldn’t “be further from the truth.”
- Browns tight end Jordan Cameron will enter free agency in the offseason, and though he’s off to a subpar start, he isn’t worried about his statistics. “People put so much stock into numbers,” Cameron told Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon-Journal. “You can get caught up in that and really go, ‘Oh, this guy has this. He has that. Why am I not up there?’ We all run different systems. We’re asked to do different things. So that’s just the way it is.” The 26-year-old has just ten receptions, and has graded as a very poor blocker per Pro Football Focus (subscription required). In my estimation, Cameron could be the ideal candidate for a franchise tag in 2015. The TE franchise figure is typically lower than that of any position outside of kicker/punter, meaning Cleveland could retain Cameron relatively cheaply for the short-term and further evaluate the possibility of extending him.
- A federal judge has put a hold on legalized betting in New Jersey after complaints from the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and NCAA, writes David Porter of the Associated Press. Governor Chris Christie effectively allowed gambling at the state’s racetracks and casinos through a law signed last week, but the major sports leagues argue that they would be “irreparably harmed” by the law. The issue will be decided in a courtroom, rather than through a law, per Porter.