I think this sets the market for Shields at about $7 million per year, and that's still a bargain. Grimes is 4 years older and no better. Sherman is damn good, but he has the advantage of playing on a team with a lot more pass rush. I'm not so sure he's worth much more than Shields.

5 years for $35 million sounds about right. We can save $4-5 million or more by redoing Tramon's contract, and Shields' first year cap number should be no more, maybe even less than that if they handle the bonus right.

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Grimes deal was for 4 yrs 32 mil, with and here it is, 16MIL GUARANTEED.

Ted still has until March 8th to make Shields an offer, but reports are now saying Sam and his agent have cut off negotiations and are going to test FA.

To bad Ted let this one play out, Shields all but gone.

Browns have 96+Mil to spend, watch and see if they don't throw a bunch Sams way, and you can't blame him when he takes it.

Gonna be interesting though just how much guaranteed money he gets, Agents like Rosenhaus are going to try and inflate his clients contract, because he gets his % whether the player gets paid the whole amount or not.

Sam could sign a 4yr 44 million dollar contract, but if only 14 million is guaranteed, well that's just about all that contract is worth.

Getting ready for silent Ted until around March 18th.

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I wish they could make these players sign with small amounts and make it with big money in incentives. Make them EARN the "big bucks".

I hope we can keep him, as our D is horrible with him and would be even worse without him.

But once again the over inflated ego will probably prevail.

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You can't do that, of course, unless everybody does that, and agreeing that way would be collusion or something like that - not legal.

The Miami/Grimes contract seems to mean the Dolphins have a lot of cap room, and are front loading the contract. Cleveland might be in that situation too, I don't know. A confident/younger player maybe would prefer a longer term higher dollar contract - thinking that he will stay at the top of his game for the duration of the contract. Just because a player COULD be cut the last year or two of a contract doesn't mean he WILL be cut, and he could use that contract to parlay it into an advantageous restructured deal. Tramon may do something like that; Champ Bailey with Denver too. If I was Shields, I think I'd be thinking more that way than "get the guaranteed money cuz I'm probably gonna get hurt or slow down".

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