LB Brian Orakpo Signs Franchise Tender

[Boone]

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
March 27, 2014

LB BRIAN ORAKPO SIGNS FRANCHISE TENDER

LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. – The Washington Redskins announced today that linebacker Brian Orakpo signed his franchise tender. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Orakpo (6-4, 257) returns after leading the Redskins in sacks for the fourth time in his five-year career in 2013 and earning his third Pro Bowl appearance. Last season he finished with 70 tackles (47 solo), double-digit sacks (10) and had his first interception of his career against Chicago, which he returned 29 yards for his first career touchdown.

 

[TomE]

Kinda glad he didn't fool around with it to the point of holdout, hope he explodes this season and achieves what he thinks he is.

 

[tshile]

Kinda glad he didn't fool around with it to the point of holdout, hope he explodes this season and achieves what he thinks he is.

Considering the entire situation, signing the tender tells me things behind the scenes are much more amicable than some of the rumors/reports running around. Which makes me feel better.

I wouldn't be surprised if he receives a real contract a few weeks into the season.

 

[Bulldog]

After seeing what Ware and Allen got in free agency at 32 I think Orakpo in this market could have gotten $60M plus.

 

[Miles Monroe]

Considering the entire situation, signing the tender tells me things behind the scenes are much more amicable than some of the rumors/reports running around. Which makes me feel better.

I wouldn't be surprised if he receives a real contract a few weeks into the season.

I hope not to be honest. I want him to prove he can be all he's hyped to be, and just before the season ends get a long term deal appropriate for his performance.

 

[HOF44]

Considering the entire situation, signing the tender tells me things behind the scenes are much more amicable than some of the rumors/reports running around. Which makes me feel better.

I wouldn't be surprised if he receives a real contract a few weeks into the season.

Can they do that? I thought they had until July 15th to do a long term deal then he had to play the year on the tender and try again next offseason.

 

[SilentThreat]

Considering the entire situation, signing the tender tells me things behind the scenes are much more amicable than some of the rumors/reports running around. Which makes me feel better.

I wouldn't be surprised if he receives a real contract a few weeks into the season.

I was listening to the radio and (I believe it was on ESPN980) and they were saying that in all reality, Orakpo shouldnt and, from what they're hearing, doesn't have any hard feelings that he was tagged. That they're not holding him back or locking him down, because its not like he WANTS to leave.

 

[tshile]

Can they do that? I thought they had until July 15th to do a long term deal then he had to play the year on the tender and try again next offseason.

I don't know, are there different rules when the franchise tag is applied?

Mid season contract extensions are rare, but we gave one to McNabb. Maybe that was a special case for trades or something? No idea, just figured they could do contract extension except when the season ends until they open it back up.

 

[Ax]

Yes, franchise tag is different. We have until July 15th to do a deal this season.

 

[SilentThreat]

Yes, franchise tag is different. We have until July 15th to do a deal this season.

so what does that mean for our franchise tag then? It's it replaced? Teams can withdraw a franchise tender right? If we were to re-sign him prior to the season and the contract contains the current season, but it's a lower cap hit then tender would be, do we then get that difference back towards the cap?

 

[Ax]

My understanding his, since he signed his tender, we cannot withdraw it. We could have at any time before he signed it.

And, if we do sign him to a multi-year contract before the July 15th deadline, we would indeed be able to lower his cap number this year. Since it's hard to imagine a new contract would pay him more, this year, than the tag number he's getting otherwise.

 

[SilentThreat]

My understanding his, since he signed his tender, we cannot withdraw it. We could have at any time before he signed it.

And, if we do sign him to a multi-year contract before the July 15th deadline, we would indeed be able to lower his cap number this year. Since it's hard to imagine a new contract would pay him more, this year, than the tag number he's getting otherwise.

would it be better to write the contract with him making the $11.5 this year and then stair step it down as the contract carries on? You always hear about backloaded contracts with escalators, why not go the other way

 

[Ax]

would it be better to write the contract with him making the $11.5 this year and then stair step it down as the contract carries on? You always hear about backloaded contracts with escalators, why not go the other way

Interesting thought. I'll defer to Allen & Co. in this instance.

 

[Bulldog]

This is the first test case for Haslett and Allen.

They both feel Orakpo was worth tying up almost a third of the available cap room in 2014 for.

But they hedged their bets on #98 by not giving him a multi year deal in large part I think due to his injury history.

Ultimately, the Redskins are going to be able to lock up one of their OLB to a big contract.

Since both Orakpo and Kerrigan were first round picks and much has already been invested in them, the team wants to make sure it doesn't make a mistake and let the wrong player leave.

 

[tshile]

would it be better to write the contract with him making the $11.5 this year and then stair step it down as the contract carries on? You always hear about backloaded contracts with escalators, why not go the other way

I'm a bit out of my element here, maybe someone can add on to this (or correct it if need be) but my understanding is that back loaded contracts are used primarily because majority of players never see that portion of the contract. Due to the way the salary cap works (soft and hard caps, for example) there's a lot of mechanisms that allow you pay players money without it being a 1-for-1 hit on your cap value. There's all sorts of rules about signing bonus money, prorated this and that, dead cap space, etc. The player only cares about actual dollars received, the GM only cares about being able to hide as much of it off the cap as possible. Backloaded contracts seem to accommodate both parties most of the time.

Now if you were interested in making sure a player sees every dollar in his contract, then front loading it when you have a lot of cap space would make sense. But no GM is interested in that, as far as I can tell. If they were then right before the season you'd see every team restructuring deals so that their current roster is using 100% of their current cap space to free up as much as possible down the road - but we don't see teams do that.

 

[Bulldog]

Front loading the money is what teams do to win a bidding war.

That's how Oakland got Penn to sign. They gave him a short two year deal and guaranteed $10M with easy to reach incentives in a Year 1.

No doubt the Redskins were looking to pay him less in the first two years of what likely would have been a four year commitment.