The New England Patriots got a bargain when Aqib Talib earned his first career Pro Bowl nod on a one-year, $5 million salary in 2013.
Owner Bob Kraft realizes he will have to shell out more money to keep Talib in March, but he doesn't sound keen on devoting a significant portion of the salary cap to an injury-prone cornerback.
"Well we want to retain all the good players we can retain," Kraft said last Friday on WBZ-AM, via CSN New England's Tom Curran. "It's not like we have unlimited funding so ... He wasn't on the field a lot of the time since he's been with us.
"It's a balance of us balancing all that out and what is he worth," Kraft continued. "I think he's happy here and would like to be here and we're happy with him and we'd like to have him here and now it's just about doing business."
It's not unusual for an organization to attempt to drive a player's price tag down via public comments. In this case, Kraft has a fair point.
Talib was forced to settle for a one-year contract last offseason because teams were wary of character issues and a suspension risk. Although he managed to stay out of trouble and earned Charles Woodson's praise as the NFL's top shutdown corner in the first half of the season, a recurring hip injury limited his effectiveness down the stretch.
Talib's preference is to remain in New England, where his NFL career took off. If his asking price reaches the range of $7 million to $8 million per year, the Patriots might just let him establish his value on the open market for a second consecutive offseason.
3. "this was known all year though" In response to Reply # 0
imagine if tampa had kept dude and still got revis, smh that being said i'm starting to think CB is a mad replaceable position not saying good CBs don't have value. but you can get by a lot of times with mediocre corners if the D line is good the way dudes like talib and rodgers cro just bounce from team to team while not really being that missed when they leave supports that
8. "this is completely inaccurate..." In response to Reply # 3
>that being said i'm starting to think CB is a mad replaceable >position >not saying good CBs don't have value. but you can get by a lot >of times with mediocre corners if the D line is good >the way dudes like talib and rodgers cro just bounce from team >to team while not really being that missed when they leave >supports that
the entire defense works in tandem. a stellar defensive line is nothing without a secondary unit with excellent coverage. at the same time, the best corners in the league are nothing without a stout def line putting constant pressure on the pocket.
14. "every cb i know ALWAYS credits the def line..." In response to Reply # 12
..and the defensive scheme/strategy employed (and vice versa)
i certainly recognize that its rarely equal (hard financing that today). still, that scheme heavily depends on both supporting each other. for anyone to suggest that you can simply shuffle people @ such a crucial position is laughable.
*the pats don't get nearly enough credit for doing a masterful job of shifting personnel when injuries made it absolutely necessary (esp the superbowl win with troy brown). that's a credit to their prep and the system that they employ.
15. "it becomes a matter of budget priorities" In response to Reply # 14
If you've got Revis and Deion as your corners, you can spend less of your cap on a pass rush, because even if the QB gets 5 seconds to throw, ain't nobody gonna be open.
Similarly, if you've got a killer pass rush and the QB only gets 1 second to throw, you can spend less on the DBs because they don't have to be as great.
As you said, the cap makes having greats in both areas near impossible, so knowing that you're elite in one area means you can have average players in the other area.
*Jews you*
"this is okp tho, reading is completely optional" (c) desus
16. "respect all around..." In response to Reply # 15
..while there are few athletes who truly stand out on their own merit, most of the success we see from certain individuals is due to the scheme and supporting play by all involved.
the media loves to hype the "star players," but typically fail to point out the reason for their success.
i agree with your assessment of the current financial approach for most teams. unfortunately, without a truly solid defensive (balanced) strategy in place, most teams fall short of their goal.
17. "they need to pay him and edelman" In response to Reply # 0
___________________________________ "WASP of the year: even if he isn�t a WASP, Oakley. Sailing? Check. In a yacht club? Check. Used the term �summer� as a verb instead of a noun? You betcha!" -thejerseytornado
20. "this needs to stop..." In response to Reply # 19
>As it says in the article, many teams do this to drive down >the bargaining price. Once you admit to need, there goes a lot >of negotiating power.
..while kraft didn't really say anything dangerous, there are far too many situations where teams bash a player in order to drive down their earning potential on the open market.
that's pathetic.
if you don't want to pay that player, fine. but damaging their market value with disparaging remarks has become the norm and its ridiculous. esp since players are fined for saying anything disparaging about their team or the league as a whole.
any team unwilling to pay the asking price shouldn't be allowed to say anymore than that.
22. "that's terrible business..." In response to Reply # 21
..esp since players are heavily fined/sanctioned for doing the very same thing
i'm not much for tarnishing a persons reputation for the sake of "business," but if orgs/teams/league can do it, the players shouldn't be punished for the same behavior.
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