theogt;3054444 said:
Brooking was only 33 when we signed him. He still has plenty of years left in at a high level. He's playing some outstanding football and was going to be inserted directly as a starter.
I don't want to rain on Brooking's parade because he's provided exceptional leadership and enthusiasm to a team that badly needed, but his play is not up the level that it was at in his prime. He knew that, the Falcons knew that, and that's why he was available to sign the contract that he did.
Had he had plenty of years left at a " high level ", believe me, he would have been making some serious dollars IF he had been available at all.
In no way shape or form does Bowen, who would be a backup defensive end, deserve as much money right now.
Bowen is a back up and he's making roughly $500-$700 less than Brooking is on a per year basis. His contract as 3 years for 6 million dollars, 2.5 guaranteed while Bowen's is 1 year, 1.5 millions.
What does that tell you ? It tells me that you can't compare them to each other. Two very different players, at two very different stages in their respective careers.
When Brooking was at the top of his game, he would have been making 6 million dollars in one year at the minimum, not in 3.
I'm not sure how the tender system works, but since he wasn't drafted I assume they have to give him at least the 2nd round tender in order to keep him. The lowest tender would yield a pick where the player was drafted, but since he wasn't drafted I'm not sure how that would work; hence, they may be forced to give him a 2nd round tender just to keep him. The lower tender, which they may think is more in line with his value, is a little better than half of the 2nd round tender.
The way it works is that the Cowboys could have offered him the 4 year minimum tender which, if I remember correctly, was somewhere around 600K for undrafted free agents. However, the risk in that offer is that any other team could have made a better offer for alot more money than the Cowboys would have liked to have payed him this year and lose him outright. So, they offered him the 2nd round tender, which is about 3 times the minimum tender, at 1.5 million.
What that says is that the Cowboys consider him a valuable back up player who they wanted to bring back for at least one more season to see if he was worth signing to a long term contract. IMO, he's proven exactly that.