Leon to Reporter: “I Have No Confidence in a Deal Getting Done”
The headline says it all really. Steve Overmeyer reports via twitter that Leon is not sounding at all confident about his contract situation. Meanwhile, Keels just tweeted that he’s taking a break from work to go equipment shopping for his son’s Pop Warner team.
EDIT: I’m sure you’ll get every beat writer’s version of this story in due course. Lisa Zimmerman tweeted this:
Leon Washington just updated the media on his contract situation. He’s not happy does not think a deal will get done but he’s here. For now.
EDIT 2: Jane McManus goes into more detail on her blog, as Leon reserves his right to hold out at a later date and talks about leverage and not expecting to get anything done this year.
Ugh. Watch this space further developments.
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ummmmm….NOT GOOD.
Wow…..that sucks
Reading what Leon said it sounds like he is being professional about the whole thing. He’s going to come out and play because he loves it. I don’t think he’s going to pull a Pete Kendall and demand a trade and he’s under contract for two years so I don’t think this is as bad as you guys think.
Perhaps not, Mel, but until this is resolved, its shadow is going to linger over the Jets all offseason…maybe until next year. He did say he still might hold out although he (correctly) concluded that it won’t do him any good right now.
True Bent but I think when/if the CBA issue becomes clearer a deal will be more likely to get done. And i don’t really believe the idea that these kinds of things become distractions so I don’t think it will impact play on the field too much.
I don’t think it will effect Leon’s play. If anything, it should make him play his butt off even more. However, it will I’m sure linger in his mind about how he his being treated by this organization. He is arguably the best player we’ve got and Rex has talked about his importance. This deal needs to get done sooner rather than later.
Hopefully, you’re both right. Fingers crossed!
I like Leon, but c’mon, $6million/year? I can understand why Mr. T isn’t willing to do that. If Leon wants a deal now (instead of when he has all the leverage in 2 years) then he needs to accept less. That is the way things are, in football and in life.
yea 6 million is steep for someone who is great but not an every down guy. give 2-3 mil and call it a day. lace it with incentives. that way he can make more based on performance and touches
It may not affect his play but it certainly will affect his loyalty.
Thats what worries me most, because if the Jets aren’t willing to get it done now he’s just gonna walk when the time comes.
We need to lock Leon up before the season. If he has a good year, there will be teams like the redskins who will be willing to pay him 6 mil a year, and since he is a restricted free agent next year, we will be able to match his offer, but if he has a good year the market will be a competitive one for Leon. Also, If I were Leon I would be very angry with this whole situation. He’s watched the front office overpay free agents the past two seasons, and meanwhile our 2 time reigning team MVP (I think) is making only a half million dollars a year and the team is giving him Lowball offers of 2 million per year. Sign him for 5 years around 23.5 million with half of that guaranteed, and some sort of incentives.
I wouldnt be suprised if he absolutley destroys it and holds out at an important game during the season. Can you hold out during the regular season?
If thats the kind of player he is… good riddance.
Mel,
I don’t think the CBA is as big of a deal as people are making it to be. In some ways its a PR move by the Jets to give the fans an excuse for not extending a popular player. I think the two sides are far apart in numbers. Leons camp wants 6/year and Keels has never been a guy to move off his numbers. I cant see any logical reason for the Jets to go over 3.5.
The only way the CBA really gets in the way of the deal is that they are limited in the way they can structure the contract. This is a situation where Keels could normally save face by saying he got Leon 6 years, 36 million but the real numbers are 4 years 16 million with basically 20 million in salary in years 5 and 6 which would never be seen. The CBA does not allow that to happen. The only other CBA related hangup would be performance clauses. I do think the Jets are somewhat limited in what they can give in performance benefits to Washington and comply with the CBA.
Still the bottom line is there is a huge difference in money figures.
Jason,
“I do think the Jets are somewhat limited in what they can give in performance benefits to Washington and comply with the CBA.”
That’s my line of thinking…the only way the Jets can bridge the gap between 3.5 and 6 is with NLTBE incentives, but that is going to be tough to achieve without backloading the salary to some extent.
Also, I still think knowing whether or not there will be a cap is important not only because they know the urgency with which they must sign him, but also because they probably intend to use their current year cap space to lighten the 2010 burden. With no cap in 2010, that may not be necessary.