LaFell Playing For His Next Contract

[Happy Panther]

LaFell's getting paid, whether by us or another team. Anyone imagining vet minimum is retarded.

 

This. 

 

You can look around at his peers to see what they are making. He is no Jerry Rice but solid NFL WRs are at a premium and this is a lean year for free agents.

 

Lafell will get $2-3M

[Captain Morgan]

I hope we keep him...he's in the system, Cam knows who he is.... we're almost certain to draft a wr in the

first 2 rounds that should at least be our number 2, hopefully our number one.  We'll probably get one or

two more years out of Smitty ...keeping the Donald and drafting a starter lets us move 88 to the slot, and maybe

steal an extra year for us.

 

that said, if Getty really loves Nicks and makes a deal, and we still draft a wr, money and pt will be tight LaFell 

[Ricky Spanish]

isn't smitty the only receiver we have under contract next year? getting lafell and ginn back will probably count around 5 mil against our cap number next year, then if we draft a rookie who can come in and take over for smitty after he retires, we'd be in damn good shape with our WR corp going forward. 

[rayzor]

LaFell's getting paid, whether by us or another team. Anyone imagining vet minimum is retarded.

 

 

This. 

 

You can look around at his peers to see what they are making. He is no Jerry Rice but solid NFL WRs are at a premium and this is a lean year for free agents.

 

Lafell will get $2-3M

remember that even tho the cap is supposedly going up some, cap space is still going to be tight for many teams so the opportunities will be there, but teams won't have the cap space to pay them what the players would like. just like last year.

 

what has to be taken into consideration also is that the result of last year's cheap buyers market was a lot of players on one year deals, not just here but league wide. those people on one year deals will all be hitting the market once again and will make what was likely going to be another crowded market even more crowded.

 

there will be a handful of dumb teams who jump quickly and overpay for talent but for the most part players will be signing more one year deals hoping that the next year they will be able to get their big payday. the rest will settle for less so they can have some job security.

 

i think lafell will fall into the latter category. in fact i think that most of the FAs we have that the team wants to keep around will likely do that if we do well in the playoffs.

[jtnc]

Steve Smith will probably restructure, I'm sure he'd be more willing for Lafell than CJ would be for Hardy.

[Happy Panther]

remember that even tho the cap is supposedly going up some, cap space is still going to be tight for many teams so the opportunities will be there, but teams won't have the cap space to pay them what the players would like. just like last year.

 

what has to be taken into consideration also is that the result of last year's cheap buyers market was a lot of players on one year deals, not just here but league wide. those people on one year deals will all be hitting the market once again and will make what was likely going to be another crowded market even more crowded.

 

there will be a handful of dumb teams who jump quickly and overpay for talent but for the most part players will be signing more one year deals hoping that the next year they will be able to get their big payday. the rest will settle for less so they can have some job security.

 

i think lafell will fall into the latter category. in fact i think that most of the FAs we have that the team wants to keep around will likely do that if we do well in the playoffs.

 

Yeah, Heyward Bey, a similar WR stat wise to Lafell but with more drops, signed a one year $2.5M this year.

 

Give Lafell 3 years $6M

[cardiackat88.]

At this point he is too good to let walk, compared to the rest of our WRs.

[rayzor]

Yeah, Heyward Bey, a similar WR stat wise to Lafell but with more drops, signed a one year $2.5M this year.

 

Give Lafell 3 years $6M

 

another factor to consider is the rookies coming into the league next year. i am no draft expert at all, but i have heard good things about this upcoming class and iirc, this class is pretty deep. a huge draw for younger WRs isn't just the cheapness, esp. with the rookie cap, but the level of talent coming out of college and how well they mesh with the current climate in the league as far as more spread offense leaning. the NFL is looking quite a bit like college schematically these days, there isn't the separation there used to be between college spread offenses and "pro-style" offenses. there just isn't the major transitition period needed that there used to be (of course this is more of a factor with QBs, but it still works with WRs to a degree..

 

also, teams are now running more 3 and 4 WR sets than they ever have which means more WRs are needed to fit schemes. it's kind of like what is happening with the CB position. getting that one shut down corner isn't that much of a priority anymore since teams are moving away from the "feed the stud" mentality where you have one or two WRs on the field all the time and those are the primary receivers. if you go out and find your shutdown corner and give up a lot for them, it's not going to have near the impact now that it used to have so trying to get those elite talents just isn't the priority.

 

same with WRs. teams used to use just one or two WRs for most of their passing production so where it used to be more of a premium because there were only so many balls to go around, now the ball is being thrown more but it's being thrown to more receivers than before. you don't have to find that one receiver that will catch 100+ passes and get 1500 yards while being double and triple covered anymore. i mean those guys are still there, but you now just have to find guys who can take advantage of a spread out defenses and catch the ball when it's thrown to them. defenses being spread out means you can do more with less, so teams will try to do that. more money may be going to the WR position than in previous years, but that money may be spread out to more receivers.

 

tl;dr-  i don't have a clue what i'm talking about.

[Captain Morgan]

another factor to consider is the rookies coming into the league next year. i am no draft expert at all, but i have heard good things about this upcoming class and iirc, this class is pretty deep. a huge draw for younger WRs isn't just the cheapness, esp. with the rookie cap, but the level of talent coming out of college and how well they mesh with the current climate in the league as far as more spread offense leaning. the NFL is looking quite a bit like college schematically these days, there isn't the separation there used to be between college spread offenses and "pro-style" offenses. there just isn't the major transitition period needed that there used to be (of course this is more of a factor with QBs, but it still works with WRs to a degree..

 

also, teams are now running more 3 and 4 WR sets than they ever have which means more WRs are needed to fit schemes. it's kind of like what is happening with the CB position. getting that one shut down corner isn't that much of a priority anymore since teams are moving away from the "feed the stud" mentality where you have one or two WRs on the field all the time and those are the primary receivers. if you go out and find your shutdown corner and give up a lot for them, it's not going to have near the impact now that it used to have so trying to get those elite talents just isn't the priority.

 

same with WRs. teams used to use just one or two WRs for most of their passing production so where it used to be more of a premium because there were only so many balls to go around, now the ball is being thrown more but it's being thrown to more receivers than before. you don't have to find that one receiver that will catch 100+ passes and get 1500 yards while being double and triple covered anymore. i mean those guys are still there, but you now just have to find guys who can take advantage of a spread out defenses and catch the ball when it's thrown to them. defenses being spread out means you can do more with less, so teams will try to do that. more money may be going to the WR position than in previous years, but that money may be spread out to more receivers.

 

tl;dr-  i don't have a clue what i'm talking about.

 

 

this was a good post

[rayzor]

Yeah, Heyward Bey, a similar WR stat wise to Lafell but with more drops, signed a one year $2.5M this year.

 

Give Lafell 3 years $6M

 

btw, i think this is quite fair. he'd be crazy to pass that up b/c he wouldn't get that anywhere else. for us, he knows well what we do and fits in with it. as a downfield blocker, this makes him a lot more valuable to us. he'll never be a star. what you see this year is probably as good as it is going to get with him. but he's pretty reliable and consistent (with the exception of the few really ill-timed drops) as a receiver and a blocker.

 

[mav1234]

drops arent nearly the concern with lafell.

consistency and explosiveness are the issue.

 

to be fair, his drops relate to his lack of consistency imo

[Growl]

lol at anybody that thinks Lafell is "getting paid" to go catch 2-3 balls a game somewhere.

[wine-o and cheese-doodle]

Signing a NFL player is not like buying a car for the cheapest price. If the Panthers can spot a player they think will  be more effective than Lafell, then let Lafell go. If he is the best they can find because of team familiarity and talent then pay the guy. You don't try to undercut a player you want if he is the one you want.

 

We try to get new players who are untried Panthers for cheap, but not Panther veterans who we know and have seen and can evaluate.

 

I personally think he will be hard to replace. McNutt or the other one? They don't seem to be good enuff to replace Lafell at gametime.

[Growl]

to be fair, his drops relate to his lack of consistency imo

When I say consistency, I mean level of production. As I just posted, nobody is going to dish out sizable dollars for a player who sends the homiest of homers into a tizzy when he puts up a 5 catch game every 4th week. He needs to routinely be more productive, which encompasses every aspect of his game, but most especially his ability to beat defenders which he is downright below average at.