I really don't like the thought of this. But I think Ted is hoping he can allow Davante to walk in the next off-season. Why? Because he drafted two WRs this year. I think Ted wants Davis to step up and play close to how Allison has when Geronimo got his opportunities and capitalized last year. If Davis makes a big jump, along with Allison being steady/Yancey and/or Dupree picking up the offense and making plays in practice early in the season, TT is gonna go the cheap route and let Adams test the market and get a bag from another team. He won't restructure Jordy or Cobb because I think when he signs guys to the second contract he sees that as their one true reward. He would rather be cheap/stingy in how he acquires/retains players than redo a contract once its been made. So yeah, I'm worried about us keeping #17. Unless Ted stops being stubborn in his ways/doesn't feel confident in all the cheap young guys he has brought in as insurance, we might have one more year with the kid and then he'll be gone.
I hope that Ted restructures Jordy/Randall (basically extend them for 2-3 extra years while also lowering their cap #s) in order to give Davante an extension before the end of TC.
That is a rather jaded way of looking at it. I'm more of the opinion that Thompson would like to see all the players play to the best of their ability and be successful.
Unfortunately i dont see how they keep cobb nelson and adams at 30 million against the cap. and that would entail structuring adams to only count about 6 million against the cap in 2018. i dont see how it wpuld be smart to keep cobb at the cost of losing adams. adams is only 24 and the team has no one ready to replace him. while cobbs replacement is ready to go and will be much better than cobb, jotdy nelson. what TT needs to find is a replacement for nelsons snaps on the outside. also i think nelson gets a 3rd contract after 2018
I don't think that Ted doesn't want all the players to perform well. What I do think is that TT, like most front office/administrative guys in sports, makes certain moves/plans for certain scenarios in order to deal with the dichotomy of fielding a competitive team and also run that team as a profitable business. That's the reason why I stated earlier that Ted drafted Davis, Yancey and Dupree in the last two years. If Jordy/Cobb is out for significant time again this season/if Davante has an inconsistent season performance-wise/if Trader Ted decides that it is cost-efficient to not keep around any of those three players, he's keeping the cupboards stocked with young WR talent to replace them.
While I do think that Jordy could provide some late career production as a slot receiver similar to what Larry Fitzgerald has done, people really underestimate Randall Cobb's value. The Giants playoff game last year should have proven #18's worth. He is equally as important as Jordy, because he is a safety blanket. Sure, he may not be as lethal a deep threat, but no receiver is head and shoulders better than him in terms of running short-to-intermediate routes in the league IMO. He has sure hands and QB-level football IQ.
The only issue with him has been a) he's gotten banged up at times, and b) when Jordy/Adams/good TEs are not available to compliment him, his game suffers due to being emphasized more by the defense. With a healthy Jordy/Adams, and 2 athletic pass-catching TEs in Kendricks/Bennett, defenses can't focus on Cobb. Expect him to have some nice stats this year because of it. His numbers are probably gonna go BACK UP, instead of going down due to all the weapons we've amassed, including using #88 as our starting RB/WR hybrid. Cobb will be facing either the worst coverage corner/safety or a LB on most downs. He's gonna feast.
Here's me being optimistic about Ted. The one thing I do see him doing is genuinely making an effort to appease #12 on the field by keeping him loaded with offensive toys. If he's not thinking about restructuring #52 on defense due to injury/performance, then I doubt he's thinking about cutting #18/#87 to save cap space. Tbh, I think those two guys and #17 are the reason why he's holding onto the extra cap space instead of buying more defensive help. What's prolly gonna happen is that Davante gets extended before the end of TC if possible under a lengthy, back-loaded contract that gives him some nice guaranteed $$$ but is cap/team friendly. Say, 5 years, 50 million, 30 guaranteed, huge signing bonus, but 2018's cap # is only like 2 million. The 2019 cap # probably only is around 3-4 milly. That way, they can fit him, Jordy, and Randall together next year. Plus, since Ted has given Jordy & Randall their dough and not tried to take any back (and they play with the best QB in football) they will probably be cool with signing 2 year extensions at the end of this season. I think Jordy will take something near 15 million, and Cobb will take 10 million. They both get nice signing bonuses for having low cap numbers in 2018 and 2019, which gives the team the flexibility they need. Aaron is happy because this means that for the next 3 years at minimum he's going to have his top 3 WRs and Bennett as pass-catching options. So I do see a likely scenario that Adams gets paid like Jordy and Randall did.
