How much $ would it take to keep Cooley a Skin

[teamcal00]

I'm interested in what you guys feel it would take to keep Cooley here.

1) It's obvious that the Redskins FO is clearing cap space for a reason....I would hope that some of the cap space would be used towards re-signing Cooley.

2) Obviously the skins FO and us fans were taken back by the Dockery deal. I'm afraid that if the Skins FO waits to long they might struggle to match a deal he would receive from another team in free agency.

So...what will it take? 5 years / 35 mil with 16 signing bonus?

[HEavyJumbo85]

So...what will it take? 5 years / 35 mil with 16 signing bonus?

I think that's more than any tight end in the league makes. Probably a 5 year(really a 3 year) deal worth 25 million and probably 5 or 6 million up front. But then again who knows.

[Mr. S]

I don't think it'll take taht much. They will use Jason Witten's new deal as a standard, as that was the most recent large TE deal I believe. I think his was a 6 year 30 million deal, 10 million guaranteed. If that is what Cooley wants, PLEASE give it to him.

[EnFoRcEr_uPu]

Ehhhh, I'm not entirely sure. A lot of it depends on what other TE's will be FA's at the same time as Cooley. But there are only a handful of TE's(if that) that are any better than Cooley. Personally, I think he's atleast a top 5 TE, so obviously it wouldn't be cheap. But if he hit the FA market as the sole top-tier TE, it would be impossible to re-sign him with the kind of money teams would be throwing at him.

I completely agree that he(along with ST) need to be re-signed this offseason. I think we have plenty of cap space to entertain them both. If not, I'm sure someone else will restructure to help out. So I could see Cooley getting about $35-$40 with a double-digit signing bonus. ST pulling in probably the same amount, maybe even $45-50 with the signing bonus on top.

The thing that the skins have in their favor I believe is that both Cooley and ST WANT to be Redskins. This meaning they could give them 7 or 8 year extensions and stretch out some of the cap hit.

[Siven]

Why dont we, for once, make a real contract that wont have to be restructured every year. I put Cooley in the top 2-4 for tightends in the league. The guy is very, very good, and he's deserving of his money.

[DiscoBob]

I don't think it'll take taht much. They will use Jason Witten's new deal as a standard, as that was the most recent large TE deal I believe. I think his was a 6 year 30 million deal, 10 million guaranteed. If that is what Cooley wants, PLEASE give it to him.

I think that deal would be fair, and a decent deal for both parties. He would get paid a year earlier, but probably not as much if he waited to FA. If he waited to FA he would probably get a larger contract, however the SB would probably be about the same....

[RedskinsSuperBowl21]

sooner we extend him the more money we save:2cents:

lets not let this dockery incident happen again

[Rufus T Firefly]

Graham just got 5/30, with 15 guaranteed.

I would think Cooley would be worth the same. With one year left, and him getting money now rather than in a year, plus the threat of the franchise tag, maybe it could be done for a little less, but not a lot.

[Taylor From DA U]

i'd give him 6/40 million with 15 signing bonus..hes very clutch and does not drop many balls at all..seems to always bail us out on big 3rd downs

[Sec325]

he is young, lock him up for a while...7 years 40 mil with 16 guaranteed.

[909997]

7 year 38 mil

[teamcal00]

Graham just got 5/30, with 15 guaranteed.

I would think Cooley would be worth the same. With one year left, and him getting money now rather than in a year, plus the threat of the franchise tag, maybe it could be done for a little less, but not a lot.


Yeah, see that's the deal that came to mind when I started thinking about this. I'm sure TE money will go up next year, just like every other position in the NFL. I think he'll get more than Witten, and probably more than Graham got this year. He means so much to the offense that it scares me to think that he's a free agent next year.
On the positive side, I also believe that he wants to be here and that the FO realizes how important he is to the team. I don't believe that was the case with Dockery and the team value aspect they attached to him. IMO

[SkinsOrlando]

5 years, 27 million, 10 million guaranteed

[rebornempowered]

Don't know, don't care! Just lock him up for a long time so I can finally get his jersey!!!

[Taylor 36]

We won't know until both parties sit down and talk about it. I would like to think that Cooley would be cool about his price tag because he wants to stay, but you never know anymore with the players of today.

[RedskinzOwnU]

5 years? 6 years? I say give him the 7 right now. We're never going to want to get rid of him, and we can prorate the bonus even more so he will never be a financial burden.

[shagman]

I cant see Cooley playing for any other team in the NFL! Man I would be heartbroken if he ever left. How 6 years 35 mil and sell Cooley wigs at Redskins park with all the profits going to him.

[Warpath81]

I think he'll get top 10 TE money. I hope if the 'Skins learned anything from Dockery - sign your players to an extension before they become FA's. Most of the time you will get them at a reduced rate...

[rebornempowered]

I cant see Cooley playing for any other team in the NFL! Man I would be heartbroken if he ever left. How 6 years 35 mil and sell Cooley wigs at Redskins park with all the profits going to him.

You could also offer to sell those fancy shorts of his. Not sure anyone would buy them, but you could put it in the contract. :D

[Rufus T Firefly]

5 years? 6 years? I say give him the 7 right now. We're never going to want to get rid of him, and we can prorate the bonus even more so he will never be a financial burden.

Signing bonuses can only be amortized thru 2012, 6 seasons from now.

[Bang]

Danile Graham just set the bar.
The Broncos signed him for 5 years, 30 mil, with 15 mil guaranteed.

Basing on that, if we wait til next offseason, he's going to want at least 5 yrs 35 mil with 18 guaranteed.
I say offer him 40 mil over 7 years with a 16 mil bonus and see if he bites. If he hits the open market, he's going to set the bar again, may as well set it here.

~Bang

[ALLWORLD]

I think the FO needs to quit trying to put out fires and start preventing them

basically hook up Taylor and Cooley with something showing we need them.

[SkinsDukes]

You could also offer to sell those fancy shorts of his. Not sure anyone would buy them, but you could put it in the contract. :D

For those of us that visit training camp, I think we should show him the money only IF he agrees NOT to wear those shorts again.:laugh:

[U C S D SkinsFan]

pay dat man his money!

[mojobo]

He will definately not leave without being tagged so I wouldn't worry about him leaving too much.

[Hubster]

Why dont we, for once, make a real contract that wont have to be restructured every year. I put Cooley in the top 2-4 for tightends in the league. The guy is very, very good, and he's deserving of his money.
Because that isn't today's NFL. If you sign a 5 year 30 mil contract most likely it is 3 year 20 mil or so. Look at the one Smoot just signed. 5 yr 21 mil is really probably 3 yr 11 mil. With the back loaded contracts then you can extend it to help on the cap. I know it sucks but to work the salary cap in your favor it must be done.

[Thirtyfive2seven]

Yah, if the skins have a player to tag who's contract is due soon it's Cooley for sure. So even if we can't get a deal done, we tag him for one year and he'll be happy with the money he makes, then we can work out something else later.

[SnyderMustGo]

Cooley is my favorite player right now on the team.
I would be very sad if he left.

Luckily, I don't he will leave because we will place the exclusive rights franchise tag on him. I just hope that wouldn't anger him.

[ST21]

Looks like we should have tagged Dockery!!

[HEavyJumbo85]

5 years? 6 years? I say give him the 7 right now. We're never going to want to get rid of him, and we can prorate the bonus even more so he will never be a financial burden.

you can only prorate the bonus through the end of the new CBA which is in 5 years I think. So unless they extend it even further before the end of next season, any contract that is consumated before then still has to abide by those rules.

[Langford78]

Whatever it's going to take, we need to do it sooner rather than later. We could have locked up Dock fairly cheap a year ago, and now he's gone. The same thing could happen with Cooley if we let him become a free agent.

[Smokeskins]

other than cooley and st are there any other core skins comming into fa andy time soon??

[Lloyds' Mongolian Beef]

After the recent signing of Graham, the bar has been set at $6M per year. Ideally, we want to sign him to a 7 year deal with a slight balloon payment on the last year that will never be realized. So we give him a 7 year, $42M contract with a $18M signing bonus. I know it seems like a lot, but with the #'s breakdown it doesn't seem so bad:
2007:Total=$3.673 (Base=$.510) (SB=3.163)
2008: Total=$4 (Base=$1) (SB=$3)
..then continue with $1M base salary increases + the prorated SB until...
2013 Base=$8.405 with no SB so it's virtually free to release him(as long as we don't restructure along the way ;))

So really it's a 6 year $33.5M deal. But with the $18.5 guaranteed it's pretty sweet. These days, everbody is throwing in roster bonuses, often in the second year so a revised possibility would be to change the SB into $12M and add a $6M roster bonus in 2008. Like so:
2007:Total=$2.673 (Base=$.510) (SB=$2.163)
2008:Total=$8.605 (Base=$.605) (SB=$2) (RB=$6)
2009:Total=$4 (Base=$2) (SB=$2)...
...2013:Base=Total=$8.885*