How long have I been saying that Leon would get a deal that began in 2010? That was completely obvious to anyone who had looked at the salary cap legislation in detail. The way Keels conducted the negotiation, including tweeting irrelevant statistics to try and justify the size of the deal Leon was after and having him threaten to hold out despite (as you’ve pointed out yourself on many occasions) him not having any leverage due to the Jets potentially continuing to control his rights, suggests he didn’t have any regard for the Jets’ cap situation or the new rules and gave his client inaccurate information as to what he could expect to be offered.

Keels mantra is “never back down” but in this circumstance it was totally inappropriate and has done his client no favors whatsoever. At least Leon had the foresight to make the decision to come to camp and bust his behind playing hard for the team.

Leon never had any leverage and the Jets never had any obligation to do anything, especailly when every creative solution they came up with was rebuked by team Keels. It may have only been advice, but that advice planted a seed in Leon’s head and actually had him believing there was a chance negotiations might go somewhere and that, if they didn’t, the Jets had done him wrong.

Note: Keels’ advisory talents screwed Andre Smith over even worse than Leon might end up being. In the end, Smith (who was advised to bail on the Combine) decided to go against the advice of Keels and sign a deal because he could see his leverage and potential money crumbling away while his agent clung blindly to his fleeting mantra like Kate Winslet at the end of Titanic.

Lets’s assume the reports of what was offered are correct, no new money this year but about $5 mil per year with $10 mil in various guarantees and some sort of insurance policy to protect against injury.

Leon wins if there is a CBA that allows 4th year players not under contract to become unrestricted FA and he signs a better deal than offered.

Leon wins if there is no CBA and some team offers him $6 mil per with at least $10 mil guaranteed and is willing to forfeit the picks required by the Jets tender (which I hope is at least a 1st and 3rd).

Leon wins if there is no CBA and the Jets RFA tender is low so a team can offer him more than $5 mil per year and lose no picks or only a late round pick (a low offer recovers his draft spot, a 4th rounder).

OTOH,

Leon loses if he cannot come back from the injury because no way was the policy for $10 mil plus the cost of the policy has to be subtracted from the payout.

Leon loses if there is no CBA and no team offers to give up draft picks or sign him to at least what the Jets offered.

These are not completely stupid risks.

My family’s motto is “ring the register”, don’t be a pig and if you get enough, take it and leave more for the other guy. Money in hand is real and risking a lot to get more than one needs….IOW, I would have signed the $5 mil per deal with $10 mil guaranteed just in case the injury destroys his value or he ends up being a RFA and no team offers him as much as he turned down.

But, Keels will be a winner under all of the winning situations above and the game is not yet over. And, regardless of whether Keels wins or not, Leon is the responsible person because he listened to Keels.

harlan

I am probably the most critical of Mr. T of any commenter on here, but the Jets offer to Leon was more than fair. Keels lied to Leon about his worth to steal him from his prior agent, and it backfired.