Daily Links: There’s Always Room for a Blocking TE!
- The Pak was cut in favor of the team’s new TE, Ben Hartsock.
- Florio boils down the latest with the Jets and Broncos.
- The Jets Ravens Preseason MNF game ranked 5th among cable during that week’s broadcasts.
- Sam Farmer notes that this is the era of QBs, and Sanchez gets a below the fold mention.
- Will Matt Jones end up a Titan? This was a mistake by the Jets to not sign him.
- An NFL Twitter policy? Child please!!
- Looks like Alvin Keels has been keeping a close eye on his own personal Frank Cushman.
- Finally a movie about how pathetic and desperate Giants fans are … oh wait, that’s not the point? Oh.
33 Responses to Daily Links: There’s Always Room for a Blocking TE!
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As to Alvin Keels. I am shocked people have this guy representing them. He comes off as a complete ass in Hard Knocks. The guy acts like a classed up pimp when speaking to this team reps. If I was an athlete i would run from this guy and his company. You would think the guy would not act like a jerkoff with the camera rolling.
I can now see why Mr T and Leon do not have a deal done
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DSmizzle says:
Bent, question regarding the cap ramifications of cutting Chris Baker:
What is the cap ramification, if any, of signing guys to the veteran minimum, like Hartsock, to see if they can fill their hole of lacking a blocking TE who has some minimal pass-catching skills, and when it doesn’t work out, releasing him?
The reason I ask is, let’s say, hypothetically that they bring in this guy and he stinks, and they release him. Do they take a cap hit? If they keep signing different veterans and then releasing him, at what point does it start adding up to somewhere around what Baker would have cost against the cap?
Since you have an ability I am utterly devoid of (analyzing numbers without your head exploding), if we were to look at the JETS’ transaction wire for adding and dropping TE’s since they let Baker go, could we figure out what the total SALARY CAP cost of trying to replace him has been?
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AKA Drew:
Keels might be a jerk, but if you watch Hard Knocks, the woman working for the Bengals is apparently part of the extended family that owns the team. Her seeming lack of competence reeks of nepotism. Some people just aren’t well-suited to play hardball in contract negotiations (and this is not a sexist thing, as I know plenty of women attorneys and businesswomen who are bad-ass negotiators, and plently of male attorneys and businessmen who are pushovers). Now, she is apparently a lawyer, which means she has to have some minimal level of intelligence because you have to pass a bar exam (I hope I have not disproven that theory), but she doesn’t seem to know how to play hardball with agents.
Keels’ behavior with regard to Leon is acceptable in my mind, because he hasn’t gotten Leon to hold out, which would have been a disaster. Now, he may have tried to get Leon to hold out, but he hasn’t been effective if he has tried. In my mind, the net effect is that Leon missed a few voluntary workouts and that he is going to be playing this year.
I can’t blame Leon (and by extension, I can’t blame Keels) for trying to use the leverage Leon does have to get an extension. Leon IS playing this year despite his misgivings about his contract situation, so he’s far from a Brandon Marshall, and Keels has to be playing some role in Leon being a “good solider” or at least a “decent soldier” about this.
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brian311 says:
AKA – i thought the same thing about Keels after seeing him on the show. He gets out of the towncar like he is Donald Trump or something. What a joke – and I actually think the Bengals were the big winners with that contract and the weight clause they were able to land.
His entire handling of Smith from the combine to camp has been nothing short of a trainwreck, and basically its an advertisement for players to not hire him.
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Bent says: Dsmizz – There’s no impact whatsoever with a veteran’s minimum deal. It’s only really if they had a signing bonus that would create dead money when that player was released. The difference between having Baker on the team and having a vet min guy fill that role is about $3m a year for the next three years and that won’t move (and hasn’t moved), no matter how many TEs they have brought in and discarded.
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on Matt Jones, there was a leaked report after the draft that the team was interested in him, but that Ryan didn’t like his attitude or something to that effect.
Ryan’s made it clear he wants “tough” players … and maybe he didn’t think he fit the bill.
In my mind, there is no downside to signing Jones, he’s contrite about his mistakes, had a production jump (that most WRs do have after a few years) and has the size and speed to do the job and could have been had on the cheap for 2009.
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TJBfan says:
From yahoo sports “breaking news”
Bucs fire offensive coordinator
Tampa Bay dismissed Jeff Jagodzinski and has named Greg Olsen as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach.
Wow….i remember we were looking at Jag for somewhere on our squad(a possible QB coach), sad to see he didn’t make it to the first game of the season.
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Really? says:
A cokehead who’s a bad receiver? HUGE MISTAKE!
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DSmizzle
I am not saying the woman handling the negotiations is a rocket scientist. She is a puppet for the owner. She knows what she can accept and offer. Keels plays the role of glorified pimp/ganster on the show. Alvin Keels is the only person on camera looking like a un-qualified “professional”
She and the Bengals are the main reason for the hold out. Keels saw that the Bengals are a joke and they were being unfair in their offer. He couldnt pull that move with Mr T because A) Leon has no leverage and B) Mr T and the Jets would wipe Keels and his amatuer ass up.
I am not blaming Keels for doing anything wrong other than looking like a complete unprofessional jackass on HBO. He could have used the opp to get free marketing for himself and his company. Instead he looks ridiculous.
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I don’t know. All agents are different. I don’t think Drew Rosenhaus or the other loud-mouths make themselves look professional. They are like caricatures of full of $h1t agents, like in Jerry McGuire or something. I don’t find them to look professional, other than being more polished in the way they speak.
In the end, Keels’ demeanor doesn’t matter to me. If he’s hammering out good deals and using his clients’ leverage effectively on their behalfs, that in my mind is the true measure of his professionalism, in my mind.
The more “polished” super-agents, I think, are far less professional, but they just look and talk like they are.
In the end, I know what you are saying, but I think the way he acts would mean a lot more if he were an attorney going into Court or a businessman speaking in front of a large meeting.
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Harlan Lachman says:
Bassett, I think it is precipitous to call this non-signing a mistake. We have not played a single game. Nor has MattJ (in fact, I have not seen reports yet of his signing). It is suspicious to like what a HC is getting out of players and who he finds and keeps yet then question his not liking a player. I can think of lots of downsides to signing of a WR (e.g., he does not block on running plays when he is not getting the ball creating a discipline issue, he forces the cutting of a better player creating the type of double standard we saw last year here and this year in MN, He doesn’t run routes well or pick things up, he doesn’t fit in with an attacking team, his drug dependency indicates a bigger character flaw, etc.). Personally, I will reserve judgment until at least game eight.
DSmizzle: Regarding Keels, this too has to play out. If Leon gets hurt and ends his career, Keels cost him $10 mil guaranteed. If Keels mistimed the market value for Leon, he will have lost leverage. From everything I am reading (albeit between the lines of shoddy journalism) the Jets are trying to make a deal and Keels is holding out for top dollar. This is not always the best strategy. My family made its money by “ringing the register” (according to my Grandfather, taking enough and leaving some on the table for others). Keels may have gotten A Smith more but he cost him this season by holding out and in the long run, Smith might have made more money by not using the opportunity of an early signing to get him in good with his teammates (i.e., building relationships), not using TC to allow Smith to work himself into shape, and earn the starter’s job and the fellowship of his teammates. I will remain convinced that Smith’s injury resulted from his being out of camp.
H
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Harlan, Smith’s ability to contribute to the Bengals this year is unquestionably substantially ruined by the hold-out, or at least greatly hindered.
However, Keels did his job, if you limit the definition of his job to maximizing the wealth of his clients.
As for on-the-field development, Smith has more than enough time before his rookie contract expires to catch up and excel if he’s got what it takes.
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Brendan says:
Dsmizzle,
I wouldn’t say he maximized the wealth of his client. He might have gotten Smith a nice contract on the surface, but with clauses like the one that cuts his paychecks in HALF if he is over 350 pounds, he stands to lose out on a lottttt of that pretty contract. Keels is over-matched and full of himself. He wants to be a celebrity, not an agent. He’s not looking out for his client’s best interests, otherwise he wouldn’t have ruined Smith’s rookie year, and a reasonable agent would have worked a deal for Leon by now (something where he gets $22 mil over 4 years or something) and be done with it.
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JustAGreenGuy says:
Keels is a man who puts his ego ahead of his clients. The Bengals contract is shoddy to say the least and he has already pissed off the organization. The # 6 pick is making 24 million. I know 22 is guaranteed, but was that worth a hold out when his big contract year is at the end of this one. Also the way he handled the combine and his weight was a joke. As a business guy I think he is an idiot who is looking to make a splash instead of consistency.
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Brendan you beat me to it. Shucks
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You see, I think the guaranteed money with a guy like Smith is huge.
Unquestionably, despite his immense talent, there is a great risk that he never develops the proper work ethic to become a star. Yes, he’d still have to keep his weight under control, but I’d be far from surprised if the team wanted to dump him after his 3rd or 4th year is he is THAT much of a bum.
I’d also not be surprised at all if the guy develops into an absolute masher and a Pro Bowler, because of his ability.
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Bent says:
Keels lost that negotiation. No doubt about it. He wanted close to 28m guaranteed and ended up with a 21m 4yr deal. There is a team option to convert that into the kind of deal Keels wanted, but unless he proves to be a superb player, that will never happen (and if he proves to be that good, of course he would have got the same money on the open market). At least it enables Keels to save face, which is the most important thing, right?
Still, Keels has become a lot more famous as a result of Hard Knocks and the ongoing Leon saga (coupled with his embarrassingly inappropriate tweets) and I don’t think his reputation will be harmed by any of this because he can always spin things to look like he did a good job. I don’t think he’ll struggle to find work, which is a shame for the NFL.
If I’m an NFL GM, I’d probably cross the name of all his clients off my board before it started. It’s just not worth the hassle.
Were you guys aware that Smith broke his foot on his second day of camp, setting back his progress even further?
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Haha yeah Bent, I saw that. In a non-contract drill. It may or may not have been directly related to the fact Smith showed up the size of a Macy’s float for the Thanksgivings Day Parade.
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Well, Keels may or may not have success in individual cases, and admittedly, I haven’t looked very deeply into the specifics of the Smith-Bengals negotiations (although I think Cincy’s management is totally incompetent based upon past results and what I saw on Hard Knocks).
That being said, I don’t begrudge the way he has handled the Leon situation. The one problem I see with regard to Leon is that by not accepting the current JETS’ offer (or something close to it), he (as mentioned above) risks getting injured and as a result being worth a whole lot less.
The possibility of injury is the real opportunity cost with Leon. I’d give Keels an “F” if contract talks between Leon and the JETS fall through completely, but if he works out something between where the 2 sides are now, I think that would be good, solid work, without Leon having held out of camp.
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Keels is trying to hold teams hostage, when he is the one who should be more flexible. I don’t know what on hard knocks makes you say their front office is incompetent. I saw the woman (I regretfully forget her name) stand her ground and repeatedly tell Keels what their offer would stand as. Since Keels blinked first, I would say that makes him look worse than the front office, who forced Smith and Keels to take a deal they didn’t want to, with horrible anti-incentives (penalties, I guess you could call them).
With Leon, we know he wants to be here, and we want him here. He’s trying to get paid more than our current starting RB. And while Leon is incredibly valuable, a fan favorite, an exemplary citizen, etc. He isn’t an every-down back. Any other agent would probably have this worked out by now, giving Leon a reasonable salary ($5million for a guy who touches the ball 15 times a game is plenty). I just think Keels believes he can bully teams into paying based on accolades of fan-favoritism.
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Brendan:
My opinion of the Bengals’ woman is that she was very passive in dealing with Keels. Granted, you have to have some measure of restraint, but I’d personally address a guy like Keels with more of a hard-line, aggressive approach.
As for Leon’s value and potentially getting paid more than TJ, I think Leon is infinitely more valuable than TJ. TJ is a pretty darned good player, no question about it, but Leon is unique and there aren’t terribly many Leons in the NFL.
If you were to ask me which player I’d rather enter 2009 with if I could only have 1, I’d take Leon in a heartbeat. This isn’t to disparage TJ, but to emphasize Leon’s value when analyzing the situation between the JETS and Keels.
One of the best kick and punt returners in the game? That has a lot of value there.
One of the best “3rd-down” backs in the league (NOTE: this just means you can be used for this purpose, not all valuable “3rd-down” backs are explosive, e.g., Kevin Faulk).
Very dangerous when lined up in either the backfield or as a WR – creates matchup problems
Very effective when lined up in the traditional RB role on regular down-and-distance situations
Essentially, the guy has proven to be a flat-out star in the NFL. The only difference is that he’s spreading his talents out in a variety of different capacities, rather than just as a traditional running back like TJ.
Leon got exactly 200 touches, including kick returns. They let him rush the ball a criminally-low 76 times.
Now, any criticizm of the amount of carries given to Leon by the JETS is perfectly legitimate, but must be tempered by the fact that he was trying to get playing time on a team that had the AFC’s leading rusher.
You can’t fairly judge Leon’s value based upon the number of times he has touched the ball on the JETS, especially under Mangina. Not only did Mangina utterly fail to use him as much as he should have, EVEN IF he did, Leon’s touches would be limited by TJ’s production.
You gotta look at Leon’s value as-if he were being used significantly more as a RB, which is what almost every other team in the NFL would do. I think Leon could easily handle the wear-and-tear of a guy like Ware last year on the Giants.
In summary, I don’t find the number Leon is seeking to be completely unreasonable given the circumstances. He’s one of the most explosive players in the league, and has proven this on a team that was (before this year) not even giving him an appropriate number of chances to prove this value.
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Bent says:
Katie Blackburn is her name and she is Mike Brown’s daughter.
I DO begrudge that way Keels has handled negotiations, which has been – to my knowledge – to turn down every offer from the Jets, failing to take into account that they have other players to sign and may not have the requisite cap room in their structure to give him the exact deal that he wants (and they are restricted in the backloading and incentivizing of the deal by the special rules for this year, which he doesn’t appear to appreciate, if even understand – not to mention that the Jets are reluctant to do much backloading/high incentive deals as a franchise anyway).
His MO is “never back down” and he has a very aggressive attitude towards negotiations. Some teams have been backed into a corner and the Jets have made an effort to retain Leon, but you have to draw a line somewhere.
I’ll be glad when this is over, but if the Jets have the same attitude and give him a little extra just to no longer have to deal with the guy then Keels has won and will probably be back with other players to pull the same move next year. (I have serious concerns on this front, but daren’t say anything because I don’t want to risk giving anyone ideas).
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Bent:
I understand what you are saying about Keels acting like an ass, but I’m just saying the demands aren’t completely unreasonable in my opinion (from a standpoint of looking at Leon’s value to an NFL team, not regarding whether or not they’re being helpful given the JETS’ cap situation).
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Bent, You worry that if we sweeten the deal, Keels won.
if Leon gets hurt before there is a deal, if there is no deal and there is no CBA and he is a RFA, then Keels will have cost Leon Millions. Oh, and though it is not what I would call winning, from a cost benefit perspective, the Jets will financially win.
Leon (and other players considering Keels as an agent) will have to weigh whether a little sweeter deal was worth the risk of losing everything. As stated elsewhere (cf. ring the register), I know the answer to that question for me.
Also, Keels cost Andre Smith millions already given his draft slot. Besides the weight clause, players who are starters and liked by teams, mediaots, etc, earn more than their salaries. Do you think Smith will earn as much as if, like Sanchez, he was an early signing and the starting T on an improved line?
I have come to appreciate Leon even more and I hope Keels doesn’t cost him millions too.
But, if he continues to play no-ball (i.e., it is my way or the highway), the risks, at least in this case, are not in Leon’s favor.
Harlan
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DSmizzle,
If I could only have one, I’d take Leon as well.
But a few things:
He isn’t a feature back.
While he is a fan favorite for us Jets fans, he isn’t a star either.
He’s a gifted offensive player, but one who would lose production if used too often.
Making $5 million a season still puts him towards the top of RB salaries, aside from elite guys like Portis, Tomlinson, Turner etc.
You can’t calculate Leon’s value based on speculation and assumption. By this I mean, you can’t give Leon a value based on what you think he would do as a feature back, because that’s never been his role. We could assume that if given 250+ touches (including kickoffs) than he would be extremely valuable. But Leon wants to be paid as a 350+ touches type of player.
In the end, I want Leon to get his money, but I think his expectations have been raised to unrealistic levels by Keels. A seasoned agent would have Leon happy to make $5 million a season as a split-time RB, because with Shonn Green in the future plans, that’s all Leon is ever going to be. Our home run threat, a guy who turns nothing into something, but not a guy to take the ball 20+ times and grind out yards.
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Good points, all.
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i agree – very good points and one thing i would add is you have to take all the hard knocks footage with a grain of salt. you are seeing a 2 minute slice of what was in actuality, hours and hours of discussions. even though it may technically be a documentary, there is clearly some editoralizing / character portraying happening.
the jury is still out on leon and what will happen regarding his contract situation. but i believe that the andre smith situation is an example of what not to do as an agent.
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Bent says:
Smizz – It’s hard to put a value on Leon, but that’s not my issue. Leon hasn’t proved himself as an every down back yet, so this could be a big risk and the obvious answer to protect themselves against that is a highly incentivized deal…however, Keels hasn’t grasped the fact that it is more difficult to fit that kind of deal under the 2009 cap because of the special rules regarding the treatment of incentives.
He either needs to reduce the money he is asking for or wait until next year, which the Jets can afford do (because they will still hold Leon’s rights) but have gone out of their way to make a deal happen now, so camp Keels have to be receptive if they want it to happen.
I should add that my views on Keels are not influenced by Hard Knocks, which I have not seen.
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Just to add. my views of Keels were not influeneced by Hard Knocks either……only confirmed from the previous times I have heard this guy guy speak and tweet
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igs says:
Bent, god to hear you come out in support of signing Matt Jones. Dag, I’m just about to start a petition and send it to Mr. T. It’s ridiculous. Tennessee is actually less WR thirsty than the Jets are at this point.
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Bent says:
Bassett made this post, not me. I was initially interested in taking a look at Jones, but they’re obviously not big fans of him. I like our receivers anyway.
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Aaah, Basset knows a good player when he sees one. I too like our receivers. I just think that the team has the most potential when the receivers are given the freedom to play the roles they were meant to play. Cotchery Z, Stuckey Slot, and a true X. While the other recievers can develop at the appropriate pace.
Interesting you should say it mistake to not go after Matt Jones. i wonder what the reasoning was. If he is contrite and realizes this is his last chance, he might actually be ready to tap into his immense physcial gifts and apply himself. he always had the talent….I agree. We should have taken a flyer on him.