Because the difference between his option price and franchise price is over $10 million (QB franchise tag is 155% of his option salary).
Not saying that I agree or agreed with the move, but that is why.
Hindsight is 20/20
Can someone explain to me why Atlanta has a huge dead cap hit this year for trading Matt Ryan, but this hypothetical trade of Darnold wouldn't cause a similar hit for us? His entire salary is guaranteed and its just 1 year left.
I seriously doubt this is true. Only one of them can have the earpiece to hear the plays (note Cam having to awkwardly use the play sheet on his belt last game). I just don’t think it’s sustainable in the modern NFL.
PJ will probably have a limited set of plus kind of like Cam did last week.
We have been playing few linebackers and a ton of D-backs all year, basically daring the other team to run at us and sending a ton of pressure at the same time. Dallas is built perfectly to counter that. We will match up much better with most other teams, including all of those in our division.
Considering we started with just 8 picks and we also gained a 4th next year in the process, this would be a wildly successful draft if this comes true.
Pretty sure if we released him pre June 1 it would have been $20M dead this year (none next year). Post June 1 release would have been $15M dead this year and $5M dead next year.
Basically, we save $3 million vs the cap compared to releasing him.
Getting off to a good start will be really important in this one. If we are playing from ahead, I can see us running away with it. But even at 5-0, our motto is winning ugly. This week will be no different. Panthers 20, Eagles 17.