View Full Version : 49ers bench "$80 million" cornerback Clements
Beastie Bills
10-31-2009, 02:36 PM
49ers bench "$80 million" cornerback Clements
Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on October 31, 2009 3:31 PM ET
The 49ers say they aren't starting cornerback Nate Clements on Sunday (http://blog.pressdemocrat.com/49ers/2009/10/browns-promotion-prompts-quesions-about-clements-future.html) because he doesn't match up well with the Colts. Or at least the 49ers coaches believe that Tarrell Brown matches up with smaller receivers (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/31/SP5O1AD5KU.DTL&type=49ers) like Reggie Wayne better.
No matter how the 49ers want to spin it, it's telling that the team's high profile free agent signing from 2007 isn't one of the best two cornerbacks on the team.
Shawntae Spencer has rebounded well after ACL surgery. Brown was signed to a long-term deal (http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2009/10/28/niners-lock-up-cornerback-tarell-brown/) earlier this week. Clements is a solid cornerback that can tackle and he'll wind up playing most snaps Sunday because the Colts usually go three wide. But Clements' demotion is a reminder how phony splashy free agent deals can be.
Clements' contract was essentially a seven-year, $64 million that had a fake final season tacked on to make it 8 years for $80 million. That way, Clements and his agent could say he was the highest paid defensive player in NFL history. Now there are questions whether he'll make it to year four of the year contract.
Clements is due $6 million next season and he's not worth that money unless he plays every snap.
Beastie Bills
10-31-2009, 02:37 PM
Let me be the first to say: hahahahahahahahaha.
I'm so glad we didn't try to re-sign this guy.
LtFinFan66
10-31-2009, 02:49 PM
6'0" 198 is a "smaller" receiver?
Yasgur's Farm
10-31-2009, 02:55 PM
I don't understand. How could that be? I know a few on here bashed 1BD incessantly because we let him go. Were they trying to say we should have offered him an $80,000,001 - 8 year deal?
yordad
10-31-2009, 02:59 PM
I don't understand. How could that be? I know a few on here bashed 1BD incessantly because we let him go. Were they trying to say we should have offered him an $80,000,001 - 8 year deal?Only HHurrican was. Oh, and many Tacklingdummy.
Crisis
10-31-2009, 03:33 PM
That's pretty shocking, what happened to him?
He had one AMAZING year here, and was still a legit #1 corner most of the time he was here.
He just get lazy once he got paid?
New Ro's Greatest
10-31-2009, 04:53 PM
WOW! I thought he was supposed to be a top 5 CB! lmao! GO BILLS:roflmao:
Mahdi
10-31-2009, 05:08 PM
6'0" 198 is a "smaller" receiver?
These days yeah. What they mean by that too is that Wayne is a very shifty route runner which is not Clements strength.
Clements matches up better against big receivers.
OpIv37
10-31-2009, 05:36 PM
I give SF credit. You never see the Bills benching high- priced players or 1st round draft picks, no matter how poorly they play. Case and point: Dockery last year.
As far as re-signing Clements, SF definitely gave up too much for him. But can you blame Bills fans for being upset at the time? We let Pat Williams and Winfield walk, and those two now anchor one of the best defenses in football.
PECKERWOOD
10-31-2009, 05:37 PM
Dude, Nate will be their starter for 99% of the year, one game doesn't really matter, he is still a good player.
Yasgur's Farm
10-31-2009, 05:38 PM
Good player... Yes... But $80M players don't get sat!
DynaPaul
10-31-2009, 06:06 PM
Maybe he got the same disease that Nate Odoms got?
Beastie Bills
10-31-2009, 09:00 PM
I give SF credit. You never see the Bills benching high- priced players or 1st round draft picks, no matter how poorly they play. Case and point: Dockery last year.
McCargo?
Losman?
Parrish?
clumping platelets
10-31-2009, 10:16 PM
:roflmao:
Stewie
11-01-2009, 02:29 AM
... and this is why mike singletary is a good coach. Whether or not he's right, he's proving that the size of your paycheck doesn't matter if you're not producing on the field.
Dude, Nate will be their starter for 99% of the year, one game doesn't really matter, he is still a good player.
Yes, he is a good player but like here is not a shutdown corner like he was marketed as. This clearly demonstrates that as any elite player will be on the field no matter what even if the coach doesn't like the matchup. It's the reason we let him walk because he wasn't worth all that money being tied up in at the front end of his contract with him only being a "good player" then and then dipping down into the averages at the back end. They sign guys to those types of contracts actually thinking they are getting a deal you know!
Buddo
11-01-2009, 05:35 AM
Clements pretty obviously was all about the money. Now he's got it, it's been foot off the gas. Maybe his ego will make him get motivated properly again. At the time, he certainly wasn't worth what he was asking, from the Bills at least. Cover two corners aren't required to be 'shutdown' corners, which is what Clements advertised himself as.
Good player, and no real trouble at all when he was with the Bills, but it cannot be coincidence that his best years were, iirc, contract years.
I also think Bills fans can be 'blamed' for being upset when he was let go, as he obviously wasn't worth the money he was getting from the 49ers. I don't believe either, that there was any hint of a 'hometown discount', or that he even gave the Bills the opportunity to actually make a decent offer - he just took the money and ran.
Imho, he comes from a type of NFL player, who only sees himself respected in terms of money. Peters was the same. They only seem to be able to see themselves as great players through how much they are getting paid in relation to the rest of the league.
thenry20
11-01-2009, 05:40 AM
Let me be the first to say: hahahahahahahahaha.
I'm so glad we didn't try to re-sign this guy.
That's a dumb statement. The niners were desperate/stupid enough to overpay him tho. If his salary demands were more reasonable, we should've kept him.
Yasgur's Farm
11-01-2009, 05:46 AM
He coasted the 1st half of his last season in Buffalo... He was terrible. Then I guess he reallized he was hurting his value on the market... He was outstanding the rest of the way. I guess my point is that Clements has a stiff throttle... And he doesn't always keep the juice on.
TacklingDummy
11-01-2009, 06:00 AM
Only HHurrican was. Oh, and many Tacklingdummy.
:huh:
Find one post from me saying letting Clements walk was a bad idea.
BillsWin
11-01-2009, 08:59 AM
49ers bench "$80 million" cornerback Clements
Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on October 31, 2009 3:31 PM ET
The 49ers say they aren't starting cornerback Nate Clements on Sunday (http://blog.pressdemocrat.com/49ers/2009/10/browns-promotion-prompts-quesions-about-clements-future.html) because he doesn't match up well with the Colts. Or at least the 49ers coaches believe that Tarrell Brown matches up with smaller receivers (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/31/SP5O1AD5KU.DTL&type=49ers) like Reggie Wayne better.
No matter how the 49ers want to spin it, it's telling that the team's high profile free agent signing from 2007 isn't one of the best two cornerbacks on the team.
Shawntae Spencer has rebounded well after ACL surgery. Brown was signed to a long-term deal (http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2009/10/28/niners-lock-up-cornerback-tarell-brown/) earlier this week. Clements is a solid cornerback that can tackle and he'll wind up playing most snaps Sunday because the Colts usually go three wide. But Clements' demotion is a reminder how phony splashy free agent deals can be.
Clements' contract was essentially a seven-year, $64 million that had a fake final season tacked on to make it 8 years for $80 million. That way, Clements and his agent could say he was the highest paid defensive player in NFL history. Now there are questions whether he'll make it to year four of the year contract.
Clements is due $6 million next season and he's not worth that money unless he plays every snap.
:funny:
ParanoidAndroid
11-01-2009, 11:45 AM
A kind of think this is a little game they are playing with Clements.
I do the same thing as a coach. Some players play better pissed off. One of my cross-country runners (Ryan) ran like crap at a meet when we really needed him, so I made a comment about another fast runner of mine (Shaquon) strategy-wise. I said, "Well next week, you're probably going to be by yourself again, Shaquon, so.... blah blah blah... Ryan's face turned red, he was the first one out of the room after the meeting. He set a new personal best for himself the next race, by far.
I have a hard time believing that Singletary will actually keep him off the field for very long.
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