This Date In Transactions History News & Rumors

This Date In Transactions History: Corey Liuget

June 9th, 2018 at 12:07pm CST by Ben Levine

Three years ago today, the Chargers agreed to a deal that they probably grew to regret. Fortunately for the organization, they managed to remedy the financial predicament during this past offseason.

Defensive tackle Corey Liuget had been selected by the Chargers in the first round of the 2011 draft, and he proceeded to miss only a single regular season game during his first four years in the NFL. The Illinois product received several accolades during this run, including the David Griggs Memorial Award, which is awarded to team’s defensive player of the year. Coming off a 2014 season that saw him compile 57 tackles, 4.5 sacks, and two forced fumbles, Liuget ended up signing a five-year, $58.5MM extension ($30MM guaranteed) with the organization that would kick in at the start of the 2016 campaign.

While the 2015 season didn’t include the extension money, it was the first sign of trouble for Liuget. The defensive lineman was relatively productive in 11 games, collecting 34 tackles and three sacks. However, he ended up landing on the injured reserve after 11 games, ending his season early. He failed to put up big numbers in 2016 (29 tackles, no sacks), and he was limited to only 12 games last year. To make matters worse, Liuget was slapped with a four-game suspension to start the upcoming campaign.

The Chargers were apparently considering a way out of the contract, as they ultimately reworked the lineman’s deal this past offseason. Liuget was set to earn $6MM in 2018 (sacrificing an additional $2MM due to suspension), but his base salary was dropped to less than $1MM.

Surely, the Chargers would have preferred if the defensive lineman had ended up over-performing (or even living up to) his lucrative contract. Fortunately for the organization, they were able to wiggle their way out of a potential financial issue for the upcoming season.

This Date In Transactions History: Rob Gronkowski

June 8th, 2018 at 9:29am CST by Zachary Links

Six years ago, Rob Gronkowski inked the most lucrative deal for a tight end in NFL history. The Patriots tacked another six years on to the two remaining seasons of his rookie contract at $54MM, locking him down through the 2019 campaign.

The deal made plenty of sense for both sides at the time. The pact included $13MM fully guaranteed and $18MM guaranteed for injury, which provided the 23-year-old with financial security early in his career. Through his first two NFL seasons, the former second-round pick made less than $2.5MM in total.

Meanwhile, the Patriots locked down a tight end coming off of a First-Team All-Pro selection. Although he impressed as a rookie, Gronk took his game to a new level in 2011 as he caught 90 passes for 1,327 yards and 17 touchdowns with a catch percentage of 72.6%. Even today, those numbers stand as Gronk’s career bests.

A broken forearm sidelined Gronkowski for five games in 2012. Shortly after returning, he re-aggravated the injury in the Pats’ first playoff game and missed out on the AFC Championship game. In the offseason, the forearm became infected, forcing the tight end to undergo the third and fourth surgeries of his career. In June of 2013, he had back surgery. Then, in a late-season contest against the Browns, he suffered a torn ACL and MCL in his right knee. Gronk was undoubtedly grateful for his injury guarantees at that time.

There were more ailments to come, including a less serious knee injury in 2015 and a pulmonary contusion in 2016, but Gronkowski continued to be one of the very best at his position. Meanwhile, the salary cap continued to grow and the tight end market advanced. Over time, Gronk’s record-setting deal started to look more and more team-friendly. In 2014, Jimmy Graham signed a deal that made him the league’s highest-paid tight end with an average annual average value of $10MM and $16.5MM in full guarantees.

Eventually, something had to give. Prior to the 2017 season, the Pats tweaked Gronk’s deal to incentivize his performance while protecting the team against another injury-marred season. The deal gave him a base salary of $5.25MM with incentive packages at three different tiers:

A total salary of $10.75MM with either 90% play time or 80 catches or 1,200‪ receiving yards or an All-Pro nomination.
A total salary $8.75MM with 80% play time or 70 catches or 1,000 receiving yards or 12 touchdowns.
A total salary of $6.75MM with 70% play time or 60 receptions or 800 receiving yards or ten touchdowns.

With 1,084 yards (off of 69 receptions with eight touchdowns), Gronkowski satisfied the middle tier requirement. However, thanks to his First-Team All-Pro selection, the tight end maxed out his 2017 package.

Gronk still has two years to go on the deal he inked in 2012 and the Patriots will probably have to sweeten the pot for him again. The tight end has decided that acting and/or pro wrestling can wait, but his absence from early-season OTAs likely signals his desire for an improved contract. In the coming weeks, it’s likely that Gronkowski will receive yet another upgrade to separate him even further from the rest of the tight end pack.

This Date In Transactions History: Issac Bruce

June 7th, 2018 at 3:24pm CST by Zachary Links

On this date in 2010, the 49ers traded Issac Bruce to the Rams. However, this wasn’t a typical trade. The deal was facilitated in order to allow Bruce, then 37, to retire with his original franchise.

Bruce started his career with the Rams in 1994, the team’s final season in Los Angeles. The second-round pick played sparingly as a rookie, but he broke out as an NFL sophomore in St. Louis with 119 catches, 1,781 yards, and 13 touchdowns, all of which went down as his career bests. In his 14 illustrious years with the Rams, Bruce amassed four Pro Bowl trips and eclipsed 1,000 yards receiving in eight different seasons.

“Sixteen years was enough for me,” Bruce said at his farewell press conference. “I think a lot was done. But that second training camp practice (in two-a-days) may have played a part in it. I was ready to move on and do something else other than playing football.”

After so many productive seasons in the NFL, Bruce had little left to prove. Bruce was the leading wide receiver in the Rams’ “Greatest Show On Turf” Super Bowl-winning season and left the team as its all-time receiving leader with 14,109 yards. His second act with the Niners was not quite as flashy with 835 yards in his first SF season and 264 yards in his 2009 finale.

“The two years I was away, I kept tabs on this organization,” Bruce said. “I played against this organization, I played against its players. The funny thing is I found myself encouraging them when things didn’t look bright for them. I looked down and saw myself in a different colored uniform. It was honestly just to me personally — it just wasn’t right.”

So, with the trade, Bruce returned back to the Rams and became the last member of the Rams’ first Los Angeles run to hang ’em up. Later, his No. 80 jersey was retired by the team.

Bruce was denied entry into the Pro Football Hall of Fame for the second time in 2018, but he remains a likely candidate for induction down the road.

This Date In Transactions History: Joe Staley

June 5th, 2018 at 12:00pm CST by Zachary Links

On this date in 2009, the 49ers signed Joe Staley to a sizable extension, despite the fact that he was only two seasons into his NFL career. The six-year, $42MM attachment raised some eyebrows around the league, but then-GM Scot McCloughan had no doubt that it would benefit the team.

“Joe Staley is the type of player we want to continue to add to this football team,” McCloughan said. “He’s a tough, versatile, no-nonsense type of guy who wants to do whatever it takes to help his team win football games. Joe is a consummate team player and has been completely unselfish in the way he has approached his role on this team. We know what he means to the success of the 49ers and getting this extension done puts us in a very nice position for the future.”

In the first two years of his career, Staley carried cap numbers of $1.02MM and $1.22MM. Staley’s new deal tacked on an extra six seasons at an average annual value of $7MM per year, giving the 49ers a total of nine years of club control after the time of signing.

The deal was a huge gamble at the time, but McCloughan saw tremendous potential in the former first-round pick and also anticipated some serious advancement in the left tackle market. He was right on both fronts. Before long, Staley’s contract went from bloated to bargain. Today, 18 left tackles – more than half of the league’s starters at the position – make more than $7MM per season.

Nine years ago, not every GM in the league would have bet big on Staley after he allowed 16.5 tackles over his first two seasons. But, with talent and determination, Staley persisted and blossomed into one of the league’s best left tackles. In a 2010 game against the Rams, Staley played through a broken left fibula as he did not want to let his teammates down.

“The X-rays were negative, so I went back out there,” Staley said afterwards. “Then I got kicked again, and I knew it was broken, but I stayed in for a couple plays.”

Staley’s six-year, $42MM deal turned into an below-market deal rather quickly. In 2014, the Niners gave Staley another early extension to reward him and keep him in the fold through 2019. Then, this past April, the Niners gave him another pay bump, giving him $17.5MM over the next two seasons.

Still, Staley’s pay does not quite match his performance. For reference, Giants left tackle Nate Solder is the kingpin at left tackle with an average of $15.5MM per year. Even with the raise, Staley will average roughly half of that over the next two seasons. Last year, Pro Football Focus had Staley ranked as the second-best tackle in the NFL in 2017 while Solder placed at No. 32.

This Date In Transactions History: Colin Kaepernick

June 4th, 2018 at 7:50pm CST by Ryan Posner

In the 2014 offseason, quarterback Colin Kaepernick had been coming off back-to-back seasons in which he led the 49ers to the postseason. That also included a trip to Super Bowl XLVII when they 49ers lost to the Ravens.

It’s fair to see why the 49ers saw Kaepernick as their quarterback of the future and decided to ink him to a six-year contract extension worth up to $126MM in total, $54MM in potential guarantees and $13MM in full guarantees.

The now-30-year-old would not lead the 49ers to the postseason again following the extension and started all 16 regular season games just once before opting out of his contract following the 2016 season. The 49ers had taken Kaepernick in the second round of the 2011 draft out of Nevada.

Kaepernick has yet to suit up with an NFL team since appearing in 12 games and starting 11 with the 49ers in 2016. After Jim Tomsula took over for Jim Harbaugh as the 49ers’ head coach in 2015, Kaepernick was benched eight games into the season in favor of Blaine Gabbert.

Since his release and subsequent free agency, Kaepernick has filed a grievance against the NFL, alleging that owners from around the league colluded to keep him unsigned. The reported collusion stems from his protest of social inequalities in the United States, which included kneeling for the national anthem.

Between the 2012 and ’13 seasons, Kaepernick threw for 21 touchdowns and rushed for nine touchdowns while throwing just 11 interceptions. The team also went 17-6 in the regular season with him as a starter. From 2014-16, Kaepernick was unable to lead the team to a record better than 8-8, including 10 interceptions in 2014 alone.

The 49ers have appeared to find another “quarterback of the future” after signing Jimmy Garoppolo to a five-year deal worth up to $137.5MM deal, which was the largest annual salary in NFL history at the time. The $90MM guaranteed in the first three years of his deal still stands as an NFL record.

This Date In Transactions History: Terrell Owens

June 2nd, 2018 at 3:34pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

In 2008, Terrell Owens was coming off a Pro Bowl season and was one of the league’s best, and most controversial, players. On June 2nd 2008, The Cowboys rewarded Owens’ stellar play with a 4-year, $34MM extension, giving him a substantial raise from his previous $7MM annual salary.

Perhaps no player in the history of the league has had as much contract drama as Owens, who famously complained loudly and often about his compensation during his time with the Eagles, which eventually led to his release. Owens signed a seven-year deal with the Eagles, and only ended up playing two seasons for them. His extension from the Cowboys followed a similar pattern. Despite a solid 2008 season in which he racked up 1,052 yards and 10 touchdowns, the Cowboys decided he was simply too much of a headache and released him one-year into his new four-year deal. Owens was reportedly blindsided by his release, saying publicly that owner Jerry Jones had assured him his roster spot was safe.

Owens’ contracts were always a big deal during his playing days, and often overshadowed his on-field production. After being a notable snub from the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s 2017 class, Owens was recently announced as a member of the 2018 class, and will be enshrined in Canton this August. Owens has also repeatedly stated he’s still not giving up hope of an NFL comeback, recently saying he’d like to play for Andy Reid and the Chiefs.

Owens’ 2008 deal was the last multi-year contract he would ever get in the NFL, settling for a few one-year deals with three different teams after his release before eventually finding himself out of the league altogether. Still performing at a high level in 2008, not many would’ve guessed at the time that it would be the last big payday in Owens’ illustrious career.

This Date In Transactions History: Rams Release Kurt Warner

June 1st, 2018 at 8:40pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Kurt Warner is now essentially NFL royalty. A Super Bowl champion and two-time league MVP, Warner was enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 2017, serves as an analyst on both television and radio, and was recently considered for a color commentary role on Monday Night Football. But Warner’s fairy-tale career once appeared destined to end with him finishing as nothing more than a flash in the pan, especially after the Rams released him on June 1, 2004.

Warner had been designated as a post-June 1 cut, meaning that while the then-St. Louis Rams had telegraphed their intentions on Warner’s roster status for some time, they waited to officially release him as a salary cap maneuver. Everyone knows Warner’s story up until this point: a former grocery store employee-turned-AFL/NFL Europe star, Warner rose to fame as the captain of “The Greatest Show on Turf,” leading a high-flying Rams offense to two Super Bowl appearances in three seasons.

But things began to change in 2002, as Warner struggled to open the campaign and then missed a chunk of the season with a broken finger. Although he began 2003 as the Rams’ starter under center, he made only one start before giving way to Marc Bulger. St. Louis released Warner following that season, clearing out the remaining three years of a seven-year, $47MM contract he’d signed in 2000.

While it seems ridiculous to ponder with the benefit of hindsight, there was a real possibility Warner’s career could have ended right then and there. Articles (rightly) surfaced with headlines such as “Warner’s career on the decline,” while analyst Phil Simms doubted Warner would ever be a highly-productive quarterback again. “Can [Warner] still be a starting quarterback in this league? Sure,” said Simms. “But I don’t think it could be like before.”

Even Warner and his representatives were bleak on the subject of his future. “Does [Warner] have to find a starting job to be happy? We’re going to keep an open mind,” agent Mark Bartelstein said. “Most teams today have their starting quarterback set.” Warner did in fact land a starting gig by inking a one-year, $3MM deal with the Giants, but he was replaced prior to midseason by No. 1 overall pick Eli Manning. In his nine starts, Warner played well but didn’t exactly set the world on fire, and once again, it was conceivable his career was nearing its nadir.

But of course, Warner’s NFL run was far from over. After signing a one-year pact with the Cardinals, Warner served as Arizona’s starting quarterback for parts of the next three seasons, at times losing snaps to Josh McCown and first-round rookie Matt Leinart. But in 2008, Warner started all 16 games for the Cards and eventually led the club to a Super Bowl which likely cemented his Canton credentials (even though it was a loss). Warner played one more year in Arizona before hanging up his cleats in January 2010, and then briefly considered a comeback attempt earlier this year.

So what’s the takeaway from Warner’s career? To paraphrase Yankees great Yogi Berra, a career is never over until it’s over. Warner looked dead and buried when he was released by the Rams in 2004, but six NFL campaigns later, he was a Hall of Fame shoo-in. Perhaps there’s a free agent still currently on the open market who could experience a similar turnaround, with Warner serving as an example.

This Date In Transactions History: Andre Hastings

May 28th, 2018 at 1:21pm CST by Sam Robinson

Last month, the Steelers traded contract-year wide receiver Martavis Bryant to the Raiders and essentially replaced him with second-rounder James Washington. This marked the latest of Pittsburgh’s decisions to move on from wideout talent during or after a first contract.

This practice has transpired for many years. In the late 1990s, the Steelers opted to let a few of their young wideouts walk as free agents. One of the first such defections came on this day 21 years ago, when the Saints signed Andre Hastings.

Hastings was a third-round Pittsburgh pick in 1993 and played on four early-Bill Cowher-era teams. Hastings’ most notable contribution came in catching a game-high 10 passes for 98 yards in Super Bowl XXX, and in his contract year, he produced a career-high 739 yards and six touchdown receptions. That was second on the 1996 Steelers, behind Yancey Thigpen, whom Pittsburgh let leave for a monster Tennessee Oilers contract in the 1998 offseason.

For the otherwise forgettable 1997 Saints, Hastings again produced a 700-plus-yard season — second to Randal Hill (also signed on May 28, 1997) — and played two more years in New Orleans. But for Pittsburgh, it was one of the first of many similar choices involving homegrown wide receivers.

The Steelers let 1998 receiving leader Charles Johnson, a 1994 first-rounder, walk in free agency before forming a stable set of wideouts — the Hines Ward/Plaxico Burress/Antwaan Randle El troika — over the next few years. This group established consistency in the early 2000s. The Steelers chose to keep Ward long-term and let Burress and Randle El walk. While the former enjoyed a strong stint with the Giants, the Steelers have proven for decades now they can identify receiving talent capable of replacing departed standouts. The next wave involved first- and third-round picks Santonio Holmes and Mike Wallace, both of whom were not retained as UFAs despite playing key roles for Super Bowl-qualifying teams. Both enjoyed their best seasons in western Pennsylvania.

Pittsburgh has since hit on a third-round pick in Emmanuel Sanders and a fourth-rounder in Bryant, with neither seeing a second Steelers contract. While Sanders delivered far superior work in Denver than in Pittsburgh, the Steelers rightly prioritized Antonio Brown, who has since signed two extensions and has authored one of the most dominant stretches by a pass-catcher in NFL history.

The cycle’s continuing with Washington, who joins Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster. Although a proven (albeit mercurial) deep threat in Bryant is out of the picture, the Steelers have a receiver trio that’s now locked up for at least three more seasons. And the franchise has shown a time-tested acumen for big-picture planning in this department, churning out wideouts regardless of the ones that leave.

This Date In Transactions History: Ryan Clark

May 27th, 2018 at 7:55pm CST by Ben Levine

14 years ago today, a former undrafted free agent’s future was in question. Fast forward to now, and he’s one of the most beloved players in Steelers history.

After going undrafted out of LSU in 2002, safety Ryan Clark spent two forgettable seasons with the Giants. The defensive back was relatively productive during his sophomore campaign (21 tackles, one sack, two passes defended in 16 games (four starts)), but he seemingly didn’t do enough to earn a longer look from the organization. On May 27th, 2004, the Giants let go of the young safety.

This ended up being a blessing in disguise for the Steelers, but it’d take several years to translate. After all, Clark initially caught on with the Redskins, who he’d play with for two seasons. Thanks to injuries to Matt Bowen and Andre Lott, Clark got an opportunity to start, and he ended up starting 24 games between 2004 and 2005. However, in a widely-panned moved, Washington ended up moving on from Clark after inking Adam Archuleta to a lucrative deal.

Clark then landed in Pittsburgh, where he’d spend the next eight years of his career. The safety started all but two of his games while he was with the Steelers, and he compiled at least 80 tackles for six straight seasons. Clark started all three postseason games for the Steelers en route to their Super Bowl XLIII victory, and he also helped guide the team to a Super Bowl loss during the 2010 campaign. He even made a Pro Bowl in 2011 after finishing with 100 tackles, one sack, five passed defended, and one interception.

By the time Clark ended up returning to Washington in 2014, he had earned a spot on a couple of the Steelers all-time top-1o lists, including tackles (10th – 448) and passes defended (8th – 44). Still, if the Giants had decided to give the safety a longer look, who knows if Clark would have ever found his way to Pittsburgh.

This Date In Transactions History: Will Allen

May 26th, 2018 at 1:00pm CST by Ben Levine

In 2009, Will Allen was coming off three productive seasons with the Dolphins, and he was quickly establishing himself as one of the most reliable cornerbacks in the NFL. On May 26th, the cornerback signed a two-year, $16.2MM extension ($10MM guaranteed) with Miami… and he proceeded to play zero games under his new deal.

With one year remaining on his contract, Allen signed the deal prior to the 2009 season. The deal was set to kick in during the 2010 campaign and would last through 2011. He looked like he was worth the money during the first chunk of the 2009 season, compiling 21 tackles, two interceptions, and six passes defended. It quickly went down hill for the defensive back, as he tore his ACL in a Week 6 matchup with the Saints, ending his season. That offseason, Allen was arrested and charged with driving under the influence after nearly blowing through a police roadblock.

Then, one week before the 2010 season (the season when his new contract was set to kick in), Allen was placed on the IR with a knee issue. To stick around Miami for the 2011 campaign, the defensive back had to rip up his lucrative deal and settle for a new, one-year contract that paid significantly less than the $5.5MM he was set to make. However, the veteran was ultimately released from this new deal prior to the start of the regular season.

Allen ended up catching on with Miami again in mid-September, and he ultimately compiled 43 tackles and three passes defended in 15 games. However, the team technically ended up getting zero production out of their initial $10MM investment.

Load More Posts