SmokinwithWilly

38 sacks in the past 4 seasons ranks 9th in the past 3 seasons. Might want to fix that.

31 teams kill to have Burns. Yes. 31 teams pay him 30m a year, for a below average run defender, hoping he'll take over a game defensively, and maybe 15 sacks. Nope

At some point these contracts are going to end just like the ones did for rookies. It's not feasible to pay less than 20% of your players 80+% of your salary cap and expect to be a perennial playoff contender.

Those would be Absinthe Boone's Farm Crown Royal And 151.

A team trying to trade sets the value. The Panthers value Burns more than 2 1sts and a 2nd. That's an all pro/DPOY type value at a high value position.That's elite level pay grade. That's the value the Panthers set when they refused the offer. If a team had only offered a 3rd and 5th for Burns, that offer doesn't really show a huge desire to acquire that player. Burns wouldn't be able to legitimately demand a Bosa type contract and not get laughed out of the room if that had been the offer the Panthers turned down. Every year players demand contracts for what they think they're worth and every year we see players sign for less than their own perceived value or are out of the league completely. Look no further than Nuke, Jacobs and Dalvin Cook this year. All signed for less than what they were asking for because the league dictated they weren't worth what they thought.

When the mortgage payment is due and you're moving in a couple days, things change. Situation dictates what you will and won't accept. My last 3 properties were all acquired for 20% under asking price because the seller needed the money immediately to put elsewhere. His need was an opportunity for me to my advantage. Burns is going to get paid. This is simple supply and demand. The season starts in a couple of days. The Panthers have to have Burns to have any chance at winning games. That's a powerful bargaining chip and his agent knows it.

A buyer looked on your Facebook page and saw that you had posted that you're relocating and need to sell so you can buy a new house in the next month. They lowball because you need to free up the cash to make a down payment, offers aren't coming in, and you can't carry 2 mortgages. That's leverage.

He may have been willing to but now he knows he doesn't have to. The Rams offer established value. Typically when you enter a negotiation you have a bottom line you're willing to accept. If you know the other side has a bottom line higher than yours, you move yours. You don't have to settle for less because you know they will pay more. There's a lot less pressure when you know their numbers.

Because he knows we value him as a Bosa level player which means he doesn't have to sign for less because he knows that we're willing to pay more. You can't say you're only willing to pay 25 when your actions say you'll pay more.

Not that he would have asked for less but he knows exactly how much we value his skills. That's a valuable piece of information.

My opinion is based on experience negotiating contacts. You always keep your cards close to the chest and never look eager. When you can smell desperation the only real question is how much is it going to end up costing them. We're desperate, Burns' agent knows it, we've established his value at 3 1sts, that's Bosa level money. We lost the negotiations before we even sat down.

The Panthers were offered a 2nd and 2 1sts for Burns. You don't make that offer for any less than what you feel is an elite level player. By turning it down, Fitts showed he values Burns higher than that. That's Bosa trade value and he wants to set the bar for edge rushers. You can't come in and offer less when you've already showed you value him more than that. That's why they're over a barrel.

Serious question though, if Evero's defense balls out this year, is it not realistic to expect him to be in the running for a HC position? Then it's a new DC and a new defensive scheme. Things can change in a hurry.

I understand he's gonna get paid, but the situation itself was foreseeable. It's a massive fuggup by Fitts. Burns and his agent see him as a Bosa level player. Burns is not that level of player based on his production. He's never been an all-pro much less a DPOY. He's more in line with a Maxx Crosby than a Bosa or TJ Watt. Hurney gave contracts based on potential and less on production and we've all seen how terribly so many of those turned out. At the time of the trade offer, several people on this board recognized that if we didn't take the trade we were going to have to pay Burns massively and we were going to lose any leverage based on the offer that was made. The closest trade offer to what the Rams offered was Khalil Mack a couple of years ago when he was in his prime and feared as a defender across the NFL. Burns has never been that level of player yet. We knew he was going to want a Bosa level contract when he's never had Bosa level production. Part of Fitts job is to be able to recognize this and he hasn't done a good job in this case. I've been a Fitts supporter but I'm really starting to think he's in over his head. A couple panic trade ups in the 3rd back to back years and now this contract situation just doesn't give me a warm and fuzzy feeling moving forward.

I get what you're saying. But that also means that the Lions should sign Goff to the highest NFL QB deal ever because that's just the way it is for premium positions. You have to take into account the actual skill level of the player. Goff isn't a Hurts, Lamar, Mahomes type level of QB just as Burns isn't the same level of player as Watts or Bosa. Fitts fugged up by not taking the trade and then thinking he could get Burns at a reasonable contract. You have to know the value of the player based on what he was doing at that time. Burns is a very good edge rusher that's a liability in the run game. You have to know that at the time of the trade or you're going to have to be prepared to pay him as a premium all pro edge rusher. Fitts fugged up. Now we have to pay the man. This has all the feels of another Hurney deal though, betting on the potential and not the actual production.

Franchise QBs are harder to find than a very good pass rusher that is a liability against the run.

This is the Huddle after all

It is. We're going to massively overpay. I just hope we don't hamstring ourselves for future negotiations.

He pretty much dropped the pants, bent over and assumed the position for trade negotiations when he turned down that offer. I think we all knew this was gonna happen.

Let's quit living in the past and pay a player based on what we hope he turns out to be instead of what he's actually done on the field. Marty is that you?

There are other edge rushers available with the money we are going to pay Burns. It doesn’t have to be done strictly through the draft. Reddick provided what Burns did and signed for a lot less than Burns wants. I don’t care about an elite WR. The SB champions just won with a bunch of WR3s. Pass rush isn’t everything. The kind of money Burns is wanting is for an elite DE, which he is not at this point. He’s a liability in the run game. For 25-30m a year, I want more than 12 sacks a year and a guy that cant play the run. Unless BY is the unicorn of unicorns of unicorns, we aren’t making a serious playoff run this year.

It wasn’t hindsight. We were having this exact discussion when we turned down the trade. How many different ways to replace Burns production.

If you think Burns is the last piece you need to have a legitimate shot at hoisting a Lombardi then you do. Super Bowl trophy is worth more than 2 1sts and a 2nd. McVay has shown he doesn’t give a poo about draft picks and will do what it takes to win now. The Rams window is about to slam shut. 2 trophies would make fans feel a lot better about not having a 1st rounder the next 3 years. Id give up pur next 3 1sts to have a couple SB wins.

As much as I want to keep Burns, that Rams offer was far more than his market value. That offer is more along the lines of Watt, Bosa bros, Mack. Mack was traded by the Raiders for 2 1sts and some other picks and was a far more complete edge rusher at the time of the trade. Turning down that offer guaranteed we will be paying him a top 3 salary and when i think of elite edge in the NFL, there’s no way i can genuinely say he’s that caliber.

You know the Nebraska AD works on his resume every time this guy speaks.