I hate that idiot Alvin Keels. I wish Leon would just fire him. This is the perfect example of an unqualified idiot doing his best to sabotage the career of a potential star. He might as well have hired Master P.
I like how he was using Sproles' overpaid contract as a baseline for Leon last year and the Chargers are no longer tagging him because of his stupid contract.
You have to understand the market and not over value your client based on a false baseline set by someone else over paying someone. Nothing wrong with trying to get him as much money as possible, but you have to know a fair deal when you see one. If Keels recognized the Jets' offer last year was fair, which many people agree it was, Washington would have millions in the bank right now. Instead he has to hope his leg fully heals and he can get a similar offer so he can set his family up for life.
He is a Sproles type of player, of course an agent will try to use that contract for his client. He didn't do anything wrong, ultimately it's up to the player not the agent. if Leon wanted to accept the Jets offer he would have.
If the report that Leon was offered a 5mil per year contract is true, the season before a very likely uncapped season that would make Leon a very low-paid RFA, I think it's pretty obvious what is wrong - he took a gamble as a greedy turd and lost the gamble, especially since Leon got injured. I doubt most seasoned agents would have done that, but since Leon is pretty much the prize pig in Keels' stable, he got very greedy in the equation.
Saying a player should have gone against his agent's advice isn't much different from arguing the player should fire the agent. The agent doesn't serve much purpose, and isn't doing anything to earn his fee, if the player can't rely on their judgement. My guess is the 2nd round tender was used to encourage other teams to talk to Keels as a means for lowering his contract demands. The Jets obviously think Keels was trying to get more out of them than the market will bear, and allowing other teams to talk contract with him will either prove or disprove that point. Other teams certainly will be interested in picking up Leon, but it's doubtful anybody is offering substantially more than the Jets had on the table a year ago. If some other team does extend a contract, unless they do a really bad deal, you can pretty much bank on the Jets matching. It's a good strategy, which is far more likely to result in a new deal with the Jets than any other outcome.
The salary is irrelevant, it's about guaranteed money for NFL players, I don't know what the Jets offered but my guess is it wasn't enough and the Jets knew they had the rules w/ the uncapped year coming so they were in a position of power. If it was a normal year I bet you they would have come to an agreement last summer. The agent's job is to get his clinet as much money as possible. Ultimately it falls on the player to make the final decision.
I agree, it was definitely a mistake to not accept the $5million a year contract. It didn't even make sense to me since he took such a huge risk. Leon could have gotten paid $5million last season, and instead he played for around $550k because of the dispute over his contract.
Let's say that the Jets are offered and accept a mid round second; everyone's talking about how deep the draft is, but what RBs are likely to be top of the shopping list at that point? The only name I've seen mentioned that I like the look of is McCluster, his style looks like it would be the perfect foil for SG's more abrasive approach. Would he still be there? If not, who would? I don't know enough about the draft content.
McCluster should be available for the Jets with their very late Rd 2 pick. Michael Smith, RB, Arkansas would be a good replacement, 5/6 round area for Leon.
How quickly fans forget- Leon is a proven playmaker and under Rex was going to get more touches. He has not had a chance to flourish yet and it seems like most of the board would give him up for a unproven Second round pick. I want to stick with Leon. If some team does offer him a outrageous contract then I would agree but if it's only slightly more Leon is my guy.
While Leon would be dynamic as a 1-2 punch with green, I don;t view him as complete. Complete in my mind is Walter Payton types, not skill level mind you, but the type of back. Payton could run by you or through you. He could catch out of the backfeild. He could block with the best fullbacks of his day. He was the "complete" back of the day. He litterly did everything for the bears. Leon is not an awful pass blocker, but not able to handel a D lineman that breaks free. He's not a great between the tackles runner, but a decent one. He is always a home run threat if untouched and a terror on screens. He's very valuble, but I think therr are a few guys that will be around in the second that could compliment Green just as well with being 28 and looking for big money. We have Revis, Leon, Edwards, Harris, Mangold and Brick due new deals in the next two years, I doubt we keep all of them.
screw KEELS....LEON is a F*ckn IDIOT!! who would have turned down 5 million /year...Leon got greedy and got burned BIG TIME.....Tannenbaum is a shark ...leon is learning alot of lessons in life quick....and may never get out of the NFL with any real$$$ as savings
He's 27 RIGHT NOW and broke his leg last year. Making him sound like a 30 year old injured RB isn't stretching it? Absolutely that's stretching the truth.
We ditched our backup RB and protected ourselves against losing Leon by putting a # 2 pick on him. Can't see the logic of your post. We will have a well known veteran RB added plus some free agent or late round RB's to compete for the # 4 RB. The front office deserves our trust, this is not the old Jets. Mr. T and Rex know what they are doing. And Leon's agent blew it for his client and Leon blew it for his family. I hope he gets to 100%, has a great year and we give him a nice contract but the Jets are not the villan here. They made 2 good business decisions, not over paying for a situational RB and an again backup RB.
Let's not forget that in this off-season we will be negotiating with Leon for a long term contract (if another team doesn't give us a 2nd). I think Leon would be more inclined to sign knowing that if he doesn't he'll make around 1.3 instead of 1.8 mill dollars (the difference in us offering a first or a second round tender)... I absolutely love this move. We get an advantage in negotiations + if he leaves we get a second in a deep draft... love it! Do you think the Vikings could be interested if they can't retain Taylor? They have a low 2nd and need a guy like Leon to compliment AP...
That's crap. These guys often have less than a decade to maximize their earnings in the only field where they're above average. You're the premiere kick returner in the NFL and a threat to score from anywhere on the field. You're going to play it safe, headed into an uncapped year, where some team will throw stupid money at you? Leon lost his bet due to a catastrophic injury, but anyone who only had a few years left to earn would do the same, particularly with a lockout looming. -X-
