The Worst Dead Money Deals in the NFL

[jimmifli]

http://www.si.com/nfl/2014/10/29/nfl-20-worst-dead-money-contracts-matt-schaub-desean-jackson

8. Ryan Fitzpatrick (http://www.si.com/nfl/player/ryan-fitzpatrick), former Bills (http://www.si.com/nfl/team/buffalo-bills) quarterback

2014 Cap hit: $7,000,000
Leading up to Fitzpatrick’s first season as Buffalo’s full-time starter in 2011, he had compiled a mediocre 32-25 TD-INT ratio across two years as the Bills part-time first-stringer. But when he helped the downtrodden franchise jump out to a 4-2 record, Fitzpatrick was handed a six-year, $59 million extension midseason.
Buffalo won its next contest to improve to 5-2 – then lost seven in a row to fall out of playoff contention, piling onto the woes of Bills fans. After another lackluster 6-10 campaign the following season, Fitzpatrick was released four years before his contract was due to end. He’s still managed to find starting jobs since in Tennessee and Houston, though neither franchise has found themselves as smitten by Fitzpatrick’s near-perfect Wonderlic score nor his fearsome beard (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Ryan_Fitzpatrick.JPG) as Buffalo’s front-office evidently was.

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2. Stevie Johnson (http://www.si.com/nfl/player/stevie-johnson), former Bills wide receiver

2014 Cap hit: $10,225,000
Even after a few clashes with former Bills head coach Chan Gailey, Johnson’s future with Buffalo seemed bright after signing a five-year, $36.25 million deal with the team in March 2012. He went on to have another stellar year, becoming the only player in franchise history to record three consecutive 1,000-yard receiving campaigns.
But things quickly deteriorated last year, as Johnson caught just 52 passes out of the 100 thrown his way for 597 yards. The Bills drafted Johnson’s heir, Sammy Watkins (http://www.si.com/nfl/player/sammy-watkins), in the NFL draft in May before trading Johnson to the 49ers (http://www.si.com/nfl/team/san-francisco-49ers) just one day later for a conditional mid-round pick in 2015.
Amazingly, two of Buffalo’s top three highest-paid players (Mario Williams (http://www.si.com/nfl/player/mario-williams), Johnson and Fitzpatrick) don’t even play for them anymore.
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Buffalo Bills 2014 Salary Breakdown | FindTheBest (http://nfl-teams.findthebest.com/l/27/Buffalo-Bills)

[YardRat]

4 of our 8 highest salaries are already on the dline, and two of them are going to be looking for big raises pretty soon.

Two big pluses for the dead cap situation = 1)for cap accounting purposes, both are gone after this season, and 2)for actual cash/expenses, neither are a financial burden that was passed on to the Pegs' pocketbook.

[Meathead]

hard to criticize either of those deals at the time. fitz was performing at a probowl level before he decided to pull a jauron. and stevie was by far the bills biggest receiving threat for quite some time before he shimmied his way outta town

i hope stevie ends up back here somehow. he ran afoul of doug somehow, which i could see how a coach would tire of his mild antics. but he seems pretty buffalo to me and maybe after a little time apart he could come home. aww snif

[swiper]

Fitzpatrick has NEVER performed at a Pro Bowl level.

[feldspar]

hard to criticize either of those deals at the time. fitz was performing at a probowl level before he decided to pull a jauron. and stevie was by far the bills biggest receiving threat for quite some time before he shimmied his way outta town

i hope stevie ends up back here somehow. he ran afoul of doug somehow, which i could see how a coach would tire of his mild antics. but he seems pretty buffalo to me and maybe after a little time apart he could come home. aww snif

Actually, I found it quite easy to criticize the Fitz deal at the time. I was adamant about waiting until the season played out or nearly played out. I could not believe they did that.

The thing to criticize about Stevie is that we traded him at all. The timing was horrible with over $10 million in dead money this year. Somebody is not telling us something...why the Bills did this has not been explained to my satisfaction. Can you imagine Orton throwing the ball to Watkins, Stevie, and Robert Woods? As it turns out, we are playing Hogan instead of Stevie, basically. Sitting on that dead money.

[better days]

Well, the good news is that money will be off the books next year.

[Novacane]

Yep. There was no reason to do the Fitz deal when they did it.

[GreedoII]

Thanks Buddy Nix and Brandon......A-holes

[Don't Panic]

Fitzpatrick has NEVER performed at a Pro Bowl level.

True, but seeing what marginal QBs get paid now (Flacco, ASmith), I'd say that was a pretty fair deal for how he was playing at the time.

Bottom line here is $176 million come off the books. Just in time... not having a 1st means having money to spend in FA can help absorb that loss.

[Meathead]

check the stats thru that first half season. fitz would have been a legit probowl candidate if he had sustained that. fax is fax

so yes there was a reason to extend him. if they waited until someone playing at that level got close to facy it would cost a lot more. it appeared fitz had put it together as a low end long term answer. those appearances proved wrong, but based on the data at the time it was a reasonable gamble

[swiper]

True, but seeing what marginal QBs get paid now (Flacco, ASmith), I'd say that was a pretty fair deal for how he was playing at the time.

Bottom line here is $176 million come off the books. Just in time... not having a 1st means having money to spend in FA can help absorb that loss.

It's always funny how people think they know what QBs are good and which are marginal. Russell Wilson, who everybody loves, finished with 3357 yards last year. Smith was within 50 yards of that. And Chad Henne right behind that. And all three were considerably ahead of Griffin and Kaepernick.

Moreover, Flacco passed for over 3900 yards. Better than all of them.

So if Flacco and Smith are "marginal" then Russell Wilson is too and Kaepernick outright sucks.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/player/_/stat/passing/sort/passingYards/year/2013

[/waiting for the "stats don't matter" reply]

[swiper]

check the stats thru that first half season. fitz would have been a legit probowl candidate if he had sustained that. fax is fax

so yes there was a reason to extend him. if they waited until someone playing at that level got close to facy it would cost a lot more. it appeared fitz had put it together as a low end long term answer. those appearances proved wrong, but based on the data at the time it was a reasonable gamble

Which stats are those again?

http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/stats/_/id/8664/ryan-fitzpatrick

[Novacane]

check the stats thru that first half season. fitz would have been a legit probowl candidate if he had sustained that. fax is fax

so yes there was a reason to extend him. if they waited until someone playing at that level got close to facy it would cost a lot more. it appeared fitz had put it together as a low end long term answer. those appearances proved wrong, but based on the data at the time it was a reasonable gamble



They could of waited till the season was almost over. If his good play continued it wouldn't of cost that much more. Even if it did I'd rather pay more for a QB that proves he can play well in the colder half of the season. I feel the same way about Orton.

[swiper]

They could of waited till the season was almost over. If his good play continued it wouldn't of cost that much more. Even if it did I'd rather pay more for a QB that proves he can play well in the colder half of the season. I feel the same way about Orton.

Agree. And agree.

[YardRat]

Hindsight is 20-20. You can't ***** about the team not being proactive in signing guys, then ***** when they do and it doesn't pan out.

[jimmifli]

Hindsight is 20-20. You can't ***** about the team not being proactive in signing guys, then ***** when they do and it doesn't pan out.
The exception being QB where being right is so much more important than saving money.

[YardRat]

'Being right' about a QB is an exception in itself. I really don't think some (not you, jimmi) appreciate how rare it is to get your hands on a P.Manning or T.Brady, let alone have two of them playing at the same time for most of their careers. Not that you have to necessarily latch onto one of that caliber to be 'right'.

[jimmifli]

'Being right' about a QB is an exception in itself. I really don't think some (not you, jimmi) appreciate how rare it is to get your hands on a P.Manning or T.Brady, let alone have two of them playing at the same time for most of their careers. Not that you have to necessarily latch onto one of that caliber to be 'right'.
I mean right in the sense of being worth their contract. Fitz had a history: 7th round pick, traded for a 7th round pick, more INTs than TDs, low completion %, etc, etc, We rushed to sign him after a fast start. If we were right, we'd get a probowl QB for the cost of an average starter. If we were wrong we'd be (over)paying the price for years.

I'd much rather we waited for a full season to see if the new Fitz was really new, or just lucky. Just like today with Orton, maybe he's better now, or maybe he's a borderline starter and worth about what we're currently paying him.

[Goobylal]

That's a net $17M gain in cap space for 2015. I like it. They'll need it.

[MikeInRoch]

They could of waited till the season was almost over. If his good play continued it wouldn't of cost that much more. Even if it did I'd rather pay more for a QB that proves he can play well in the colder half of the season. I feel the same way about Orton.

Yes. Or they could have watched him leave. Why does everyone assume he would have stayed with Buffalo?

[MikeInRoch]

Yes, by ALL MEANS lets wait until the season is over to do anything with Orton. So that he can freely walk away after the season. Because it's completely worth the risk of not having him here next year.

[jimmifli]

QBs don't leave good situations. He's the starter and putting up the best numbers of his career. He'll stay if we're the highest bidder. And we should be.

[MikeInRoch]

But we might not be. You just never know.

[YardRat]

But we might not be. You just never know.

While true, I think Brandon, Whaley and even Nix have shown a willingness, or even preference, to be aggressive. They were willing to give Orton a contract that made him the highest paid back-up in the league, I don't see anybody offering Orton 'elite' money, so I would hope (if things work out well the rest of the season) they would be willing and able to give him a contract set by the market and all things being equal Orton would be willing to stay.

[Goobylal]

While true, I think Brandon, Whaley and even Nix have shown a willingness, or even preference, to be aggressive. They were willing to give Orton a contract that made him the highest paid back-up in the league, I don't see anybody offering Orton 'elite' money, so I would hope (if things work out well the rest of the season) they would be willing and able to give him a contract set by the market and all things being equal Orton would be willing to stay.
Nobody was giving him $5M/year to be a backup because that's a lot more than most backups make. And it's not like he's played well in the past few years. Now that he's looking good, and I stress that it's still way too early to be thinking about giving him an extension, more teams will look at him as a potential starter. Hell just look at Josh McCown.

[MikeInRoch]

There could be 8 weeks left in his Buffalo career - that's too early?

[YardRat]

Nobody was giving him $5M/year to be a backup because that's a lot more than most backups make. And it's not like he's played well in the past few years.

That's why I made the aggressive comment...Whaley wanted him, so he paid for him.


Now that he's looking good, and I stress that it's still way too early to be thinking about giving him an extension, more teams will look at him as a potential starter. Hell just look at Josh McCown.

Potential starter yes (I kind of insinuated he would get other offers), elite money? Not so sure about that, which is why I mentioned Buffalo matching. McCown is only making $3.75 this year, with $10mil total potential...he's not even get paid what Orton is already so I don't understand your point in bringing him up.

[Goobylal]

That's why I made the aggressive comment...Whaley wanted him, so he paid for him.

Potential starter yes (I kind of insinuated he would get other offers), elite money? Not so sure about that, which is why I mentioned Buffalo matching. McCown is only making $3.75 this year, with $10mil total potential...he's not even get paid what Orton is already so I don't understand your point in bringing him up.
I assumed McCown was given more than he was, which was actually a 2-year $10M with $4.75M this year, and a chance to earn an additional $5M in incentives. I guess they could give him a small deal, but it depends on what other teams may be pursuing him.

[djjimkelly]

why are people mad at that dead money i see it as opportunity!

lots of money to pay a few guys who are due and enough to bring in one new serious FA someone on O probably the o line

[YardRat]

I assumed McCown was given more than he was, which was actually a 2-year $10M with $4.75M this year, and a chance to earn an additional $5M in incentives. I guess they could give him a small deal, but it depends on what other teams may be pursuing him.

Yeah, I think I agree with your premise, I wasn't thinking Orton would be looking for a small deal by any means, and other teams will pursue him possibly (again, dependent on the rest of the season). I just think the offers aren't going to be crazy money, but it they will be a lot more than McCown got or what Orton is already making. And, I think Brandon and Whaley will be willing to match if they think they can get a couple more decent seasons out of him.

[Goobylal]

Yeah, I think I agree with your premise, I wasn't thinking Orton would be looking for a small deal by any means, and other teams will pursue him possibly (again, dependent on the rest of the season). I just think the offers aren't going to be crazy money, but it they will be a lot more than McCown got or what Orton is already making. And, I think Brandon and Whaley will be willing to match if they think they can get a couple more decent seasons out of him.
It's hard to say. In 8 games and 5 starts, McCown threw for 66.5%, an 8.2 YPA, and 13 TDs to 1 INT, and only got that deal Tampa gave him. And he's just as much a journeyman as Orton has been. But I know that whatever it takes to sign him, Pegs will do it.