Buzz: Rumors on Faneca Getting $20 Million in Guarantees Spreads
With Free Agent Friday around the corner, let’s start with the baseless speculation! It’s apparently what many “real” reporters think we bloggers do best … at least according to elitist journo-types like Kornheiser and Wilbon who think
Journalism = Playing with Masks on Sticks (*credit KSK)
Anyway, this pristine journalism from an actual newspaper though … the Santa Rosa Press Democrat … see the rumor after the jump …
Here’s a rumor I just heard. I thought I’d pass it along just to get it out there. The word around the league is that the Jets have negotiated a monster deal for free-agent guard Alan Faneca (Steelers) that will pay him in the neighborhood of $20 million guaranteed. That said, I’m curious to see what transpires there. I’ve found a good percentage of pre-free agency rumors never materialize.
Pardon, let me take the shotgun out of my mouth … it’s hard to type with one hand. Well at least the writer qualified it as rumor. Now my pros and cons for such a deal
Here’s my three reasons why this is totally baseless:
- The key to know that this is bunk is the $20 million guaranteed part. Even DREW ROSENHAUS thinks $6-7 milion per year and a $10 million signing bonus is fair for Faneca and said so here. If Rosenhaus thinks $10 million in a bonus is fair .. then you better believe getting $20 million guaranteed is OUT OF THE QUESTION.
- Faneca’s good … but what makes you think Tanny would give ANYONE over 30 $20 mil guaranteed? He wouldn’t give Kendall a million, why overpay by a factor of 2X?
- I’ve been to Santa Rosa … beautiful town … but why is anyone with knowledge of anything about this be contacting some dude out there? Wouldn’t this be better placed in the hands of someone at the Daily News or even a Pittsburgh paper? Why would anyone leak a story to the home of freaking Pinot Noir? Faneca is from Louisiana and played in Pittsburgh. What’s the connection to some wine-sipping sap in Sonoma? Does Faneca own a vineyard? The only thing I can think of is that it’s where his agent is … but I can’t be sure of that.
Here’s my three reasons why this could be true
- The Jets front office has to be desperate to show some improvement in 2008, and the biggest way to do this is with a top notch Guard. There’s no one better one the market than Faneca. To get a guy like him in a thin market, it’s going to take extra dollars.
- Yes, he is 31, so the $20 million is less than what Steinbach and Dockery got last year … so based on how contracts are going $20 million is “reasonable.”
- If the Jets can hold onto him until at least year three, then taking a cap hit on that contract aren’t so bad. In my estimation, Faneca has about three years of top play left.
How’s that for responsible journalism, Kornheiser?
Jets are desperate tp get a Guard who wont make D brick look so awful. They want to cover their ass. mEANWHILE WHAT THEY SHOULD BE DOING IS GETTING A nt IN FA and using draft picks on the O line
What free-agent NT would you like them to take, Vinny? Isaac Sopoaga was probably the only decent 3-4 nose on the market, and it looks like he re-signed with the Niners yesterday.
I see your point Vinny, but there aren’t a lot of good FA NTs… especially after Haynesworth and Williams got tagged.
The Jets are desperate to get a good Guard not so much to make D’Brick look less awful as you put it, but to keep Clemens from getting killed and to get the running game going again.
Faneca is a good Guard, but I’m a bit concerned about his age. How many (good) years does he have left in the tank?
…and 20 million!?!!
I gotta agree with pound on this one, you improve your team through any means at your disposal, they happen to be free agency and the draft, whose to say which positions should be targeted in one and not the other? Yes, they obviously need a 3-4 nose tackle, but these are not abundantly available, especially in free agency this year. The way I look at it is, we need a bunch of players, the more positions we address in free agency the fewer positions we need to focus on in the draft.
Having said that I highly doubt the validity of this rumor, especially the amount of gaurunteed money, if its true it could be a bad sign that the FO is reacting to fan and media pressure, trying to make a big splash in FA, at the expense of the long term success of the team.
I live in Santa Rosa, on a Pinot vineyard no less… Press Dem isn’t some sleepy little Midwestern gazette, but no one on the sports page has the juice for that kind of info. I’m still not buying it, but big name Free Agents haven’t been gravitating towards the Jets (how long do you think Adalius mulled over Tangini’s offer?). Sometimes also-rans have to ramp up their offers in order to catch the attention of marquee players. Sometimes it works like Steinbach and Hutchinson
Hey My Pet Goat,
Next time I come out there, I am staying with YOU!!!
Rogers and Jenkins are availible for trade. The JEts should use their money on them, especial if there going to trade Vilma. A Wr is FA would make sense as well. Again, you can get a very good Guard in round 2 for a fraction of what Faneca costs.
we had the worst guard in the league last year. If we can get the best guard in the league we should do it. With time to run behind and time to throw, all skill position players become markedly better.
faneca has at least 4-5 years left in him…he wasn’t my 1st choice but since he’s the only 1 left out there taht can make a big impact on our sh..y line then im all for it…just my thoughts…
Bassett,
Yeah I’ll just tell my girl that there’s this guy I met… on the internet… and he’s coming to stay with us. But don’t worry, he’s a Jets fan!
I could say some very awful things Goat, but I’ll restrain myself for the good of all.
I can vouch for Bassett he’s like a big teddy bear
I say we put Goat, his girlfriend, and Bassett together. We down a few bottles of Pinot and Ilan and I sit back and watch…Just my thoughts.
I’ve seen a couple of movies that start like that……
OBVIOUSLY LEFT GUARD HAS TO BE OUR #1 PRIORITY.With that fixed,Pennington becomes very viable.
It doesn’t make sense to pay Faneca 2xs what we refused to pay Pete Kendall.
OUR 1ST ROUND DRAFT CHOICE SHOULD BE FOR SOMEONE LIKE JEFF OTAH.
Let’s finish building the O-Line.
After that we can use our cumulative 2nd rounders for the defense.
AN OFFENSIVE GUARD IS THE BEST DEFENCE MECHANISM WE CAN GET…BECAUSE THE OFFENCE WILL STAY ON THE FIELD.
Jeff Otah? At six? (I shudder to think what your Madden franchise must look like.)
I don’t care how much you need a guard – You don’t take one with the 6th pick!
The top guards are usually not drafted before late in the first round – last year Ben Grubbs went as the first gard at the 29th pick – so if we are lucky a guy like Brandon Albert will still be there for us in round 2.
Sopoaga may have been the best NT option on the free agent market but he’s so effective at it that SF is moving him to DE.
Anyone who thinks he – or any of these other names we’ve been linked with – would be any upgrade over D-Rob is just going to be back here in a year moaning that we need a NT again.
Bent, do you include Rogers and Jenkins in that assessment?
Sorry Smith Sherman, but nothing short of a bionic arm will make Pennington “viable”.
Yes, I do. For financial reasons, the trades make sense, but is either of them going to be a massive upgrade over Robertson? No.
However, there seems to be this myth that D-Rob is lazy and has poor levels of production, so I wonder whether an equivalent performance by his replacement would engender the same negativity amongst Jets fans or would the new guy not be judged on the same merits?
If the trade did happen and Rogers (say) gets suspended again or Jenkins (say) gets injured again, they could be released with no cap consequences, so it is a lot less risky than signing a free agent to fill the role.
Expect the drumbeats for Marcus Stroud to be added to the list. He’s another big name DT with injury problems who didn’t play very well last year.
And yes, I think you are potentially looking at very marginal improvement should we move Robertson for Rogers or Jenkins or whomever.
[...] pay out such a big contract (Faneca’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, expects Faneca to sign for about $7 million a year with a $10 million signing bonus) to an O-lineman on the wrong side of 30? History suggests [...]
Bent,
Are you delirious? DRob Sucks! He has never come close to being the player the Rogers or Jenkins is. Maybe you didn’t notice last season that DRob got pushed all the field as other teams ran for 5yds a clip on us. I would take either of those guys in a heart beat. They would be considerable upgrades
You are correct, I did not notice that. I did read that it happened on some message boards, but I never saw it myself.
Oh, and Stroud…is also “staring an 8 game suspension in the face”.