Lito Sheppard Injury Has a Silver Lining
The loss of Lito Sheppard has certainly had a destructive impact on the Jets’ performance over the past three weeks. But, the deal that Mike T. struck in the off season with the Philadelphia Eagles had a clause in it that, in retrospect, will work out very well for the Jets. The conditional pick that was attached to the deal is liable to be as low as a fifth rounder now that Lito’s injury has caused him to miss three games. That makes Sheppard’s price pretty palatable, should he play the rest of the season like the Pro Bowler he was in the past.
Sheppard signed a four year, $27 million dollar contract that kicks in, in 2010. The deal is contingent on the payment of a ten million dollar signing bonus in March. Naturally, if Lito plays poorly, the Jets can cut him loose. If he excels, they can have a shutdown corner to play opposite Revis for $6.5 million a year. A bargain for a top corner.
If Sheppard hadn’t lost the playing time, he would have cost the Jets a second rounder in next year’s draft, or else they would have had to do some kind of Jon Vilma back-room, gentleman’s agreement, which Sheppard was not obligated to agree to. Now it won’t be necessary.
25 Responses to Lito Sheppard Injury Has a Silver Lining
-
nick says:
so we can get a pick as low as a 5th now that he has missed 3 games? im down with that
-
ramble914 says:
Wasn’t the knock on Sheppard while in Philly that he couldn’t stay on the field? So far I’d have to agree.
-
Andrew Weiss says:
nyckage
According to what I read, there’s virtually no way possible that the Edwards pick becomes a second rounder.ramble
It was more that he wasn’t playing up to his Pro Bowl form. He was injured quite a bit his last two years, though. Still, corners make a lot of money if they’re good. Revis will be able to ask for more than ten million when his contract runs out. -
cojetfan says:
a most excellent point. I never would’ve thought of that. that’s why i read this fine blog, here.
-
steviek says:
how is that you can have a cb on the books for $6.5m with a $10m signing bonus?
-
FernandoQ says:
The trade was for a 5th rd pick in 09 and a cond. Pick in 2010. The pick can be as high as a 2nd or as low as a 4th not 5th, the 5th pick in already sent to Clev. For Edwards…so they will have traded a 5 & 4 for Lito….Great Trade…..the contract ext. Is up to the Jets and won’t effect the pick at this point! :)
Go Jets!!!!
-
AL says:
I would hardly call Lito a Shutdown corner. He has been O.K. so far.
Strickland has been far more impressive as far as I am concerned.
-
I think the Jets will still owe them a pick if they pick up the option on Sheppard in March. Of course there is no chance that will ever happen, but I think there is a slim chance we owe them a 4 for Lito. Im not sure if we get their 5 if that happens. I know with the 2nd and 3rd round contingencies which were based on PT we got our 5th back.
-
Dylan says:
So we wont have a 3rd, 4th, and 5th rounder, but instead we will have a #1 receiver and a starting CB! Great deal for the Jets! Now we can draft a a DE who can get pressure off the edge with one of our first two picks, and we can use our 1st/2nd, 6th, and 7th for depth.
-
Will the Jets get any compensatory picks since Coles and Baker left?
-
Dylan, Baker wont fit into the calculation since he was cut. The Jets could receive compensation for Coles, though with the mega deal given to Bart Scott that may cancel that out.
-
Jason,
Yeah thats probably true. Didn’t we lost Barton and like half of last years defense to the Browns? Hopefully that will account to a few picks lol. -
*lose
-
um says:
i wouldn’t call him a shutdown CB either. And I certainly wouldn’t give him a 10 million signing bonus, or 6mil a year…lol
We have a 2nd year player in Lowery, who is a ton cheaper, but not a shutdown CB… but he has potential.
The few times Lito played, he got a # of illegal contact and/or pass interference calls. Lowery got calls like that in his rookie year, but he also had a decent nose for the ball and had as many PDefs as revis.
-
Bent says: Hmmm…silver lining is maybe a bit strong. Bronze lining perhaps?
I don’t think they were ever going to pick up the option. Even if they see him as worth that kind of money, they’ll probably cut him and then resign him to a similar deal, perhaps even slightly higher to compensate them for the fact that they preserved a pick. The only risk is that another team could swoop in, but if this was all agreed in advance, this risk is minimal.
The deal they signed with Lito is a smart one because if there’s a cap they can convert the $10m option bonus to a signing bonus and spread the cap cost over 4 years. However, if there’s no cap, they can treat it as a roster bonus and none of it will count in future years. The fact Lito won’t make the 85% of snaps condition (I’m not sure he would have anyway) just means they now have the option to retain him for a mid round pick, but if they can rewrite his deal and preserve that pick, then I’d expect them to do that anyway. If he’s cut, they won’t owe the Eagles a pick (even if he re-signs immediately). That’s how it was reported.
If he had met the 85% condition, even without the extension, the Jets would lose a 3rd (and get back a 5th FWIW). That’s off the table now, which is important because Braylon (unless he records insane numbers…5-64-TD every week would not constitute insane) is going to cost their 3rd, so if Shep cost a 3rd too, they’d have to give up their 2nd to the Browns.
The Shep pick could have been a 2nd if he met the conditions and got the extension, but as noted above there’s no way they’d give him the extension, it would just be reworked somehow.
Another thing that comes into play is that the extension is 27.2m if he plays less than 39% of snaps this year or 30.2m if he plays more than that. However, since it’s likely they will be reworking that deal anyway, this probably doesn’t matter.
“I think the Jets will still owe them a pick if they pick up the option on Sheppard in March. Of course there is no chance that will ever happen, but I think there is a slim chance we owe them a 4 for Lito. Im not sure if we get their 5 if that happens. I know with the 2nd and 3rd round contingencies which were based on PT we got our 5th back.”
I think it is officially a 5th if they extend him without him playing 85% of the snaps, not a 4th (but they’ve given their 5th to the Browns, so I believe it will now escalate to a 4th if it kicks in…or the Browns pick will – another sign they have no intention of picking the option up). They can cut and rework to avoid losing this pick though. And no, they wouldn’t get back a 5th in that scenario, just if they lost a 2nd or 3rd.
“Didn’t we lost Barton and like half of last years defense to the Browns? Hopefully that will account to a few picks lol.”
Correct. There’s a mysterious formula they use, which compares gains to losses and may involve salary, playing time, statistical production etc, but nobody is too sure. Since the Jets lost about 5 more UFAs than they gained (and most are contributing to some extent) I’m sure they get at least one compensatory pick. The number of picks is not attached to the number of players involved, it just sets the appropriate value.
“how is that you can have a cb on the books for $6.5m with a $10m signing bonus?”
I guess he’s talking about either the average or the cap hit for that year. Remember that if the $10m bonus is converted to a signing bonus, the cap hit each year will only be $2.5m (although the remainder will hit the cap if he is cut before the contract expires).
-
charleyjet says:
I disagree that Shepard’s absence has been a big deal. There is little drop-off from him to Lowery at the corner. And Coleman has done well in the nickel. If anything, they have missed Strickland’s tackling.
-
Brendan says:
I agree with Charley. Strickland has probably been more missed than Sheppard. He covered the slots and he can tackle. I mean, really tackle. The guy lays people out, which for a CB is awesome to see. Lito is definitely better than Lowery, but coverage isn’t as big of an issue when the team is putting on the heat.
-
JL says:
Brendan, man coverage is everything when you’re bringing the heat.
-
Al says:
I think not having Lito tempered the defense’s aggressiveness. Having Lowery in man coverage instead of Lito, probably leads to less blitzes and less pressure on the QB.
-
The $6.5 figure was based on the published total cost of the contract, at $27.2 for four years. Regardless of the cap for any particular year, and regardless of how the money is paid out, if the player remains a Jet for four years, the contract would cost $6.5 million annually averaged across the full term of the contract (actually, 6.8 but who’s counting). Of course, with Bent’s detail now in play, it would seem he will meet the criteria to make that $30.2 million, which makes it very unlikely they would actually pay the bonus.
As for losing the 5th rounder, and the implications of the Braylon Edwards 3rd plus 5th, we have to assume that Tanny knew about the loss of the fifth for Sheppard, while he was negotiating with the Browns for Edwards. What’s in the fine print would be an interesting question for somebody with access to the GM to ask him. Naturally, SNY is on top of that one.
-
JL,
But when you bring pressure, that coverage only needs to last 2-3 seconds as opposed to 5 when a QB can just sit back there. And with Revis being the way he is, the team rolls coverage to the other side meaning the dropoff from Lito to Lowery isn’t that big of a deal. Shorter coverage time and more help is what I meant by my previous post.
-
It’s worthwhile to reflect that at the end of last season, this team was in shambles. Old at Defensive End, thin at Inside Linebacker, a secondary that was undermanned with only one safety and a rookie corner who seemed to be toasted more often than he made a PD, a disgruntled all-purpose tight end who was surely leaving, a #1 receiver who had a lot of drops and who was committed for a lot of money for another year nevertheless, and no quarterback. It might be time to recognize and appreciate Tannenbaum’s efforts.
-
cakeboy says:
we lost 2 game’s with lito give the man props he has done his job since coming here
And don’t we owe Browns a 2nd round pick if he does well, and I know our deal with the Browns is currently a 3rd and 5th, but that third can be moved to a 2nd, but what about that 5th, isn’t that practically the Eagles now.