Key Contract Squabbles

Took a little time off after that last article, because honestly, asides from football, I don’t feel like writing about much else. During this downtime, I’ve decided to look a bit further into some players contract situations, offer a bit of insight, and then keep waiting for training camp (a month away!!!).

Because it's widely publicized that athletes are selfish that sometimes it's easy to forget that owners are too (probably even more, they didn't get rich by giving away their money), so that when a few actually deserving players ask for some, they're skewered.

Let's face it, NFL players have a small window to get their money before they suffer a career ending injury or are considered "out of their prime". Here's five players that need to get paid now (in order of importance of the matter being settled to their respected club).

#1. Larry Johnson--The Chiefs don't have a choice. Period. Their season depends soley upon LJ playing well, let alone at all. With Brodie Croyle rumored to be the season-opening starter for their offense, they might want to have a guy who's run for 3,539 yards and 37 touchdowns. While he's probably asking for a little too much in guarantees right now, expect for him to get paid before training camp. He's a 28 year old running back. LJ gets that he needs to get paid now, because the contract after this one won't be nearly as nice. Running backs just don't get huge paydays at over 30 years old. (Note: The Texans are exempt, because they love overpaying for players like Schaub and Ahman Green)

#2. Asante Samuel–Sure, they might be able to get by in the secondary without him, but do they really want to find out? The guy comes out with a league-leading (tied with Champ) 10 interceptions, and even though they're willing to throw out their franchise tag on him, they're not willing to keep him in town for much longer than this year apparently. None of this sits well with Samuel as he's threatening to charge the Patriots one game per interception last year and sit out the first 10 weeks of the season. What I don't get here is that he's only 26 years old and is clearly in his prime. Why not lock him up for about five years?

#3. Tony Romo–At least he’ll show up this season regardless if a new deal is done beforehand. However, this one's particularly tricky because of how badly Houston screwed up Matt Schaub's contract. The only bright side for the rest of the league is that they can opt out of the it three years in and only pay him roughly $7 mil a season instead of the six-year $48 million deal. With that said, I'm in the corner of paying Tony Romo now (Dallas is committed, see Brady Quinn) and not having to have to worry about him cashing in on a big year, which he'll probably have. Furthermore, he's 27, lock him up until he's 32, and Jerry Jones will have his franchise quarterback for the first time since Troy Aikman.

#4. Lance Briggs–Sure, their defense is good, but when it needs to be even better to get them a ring, why not keep your better players? Thing is they probably will, because that $7 million dollar tender is looking mighty good to Briggs right now as his hold out is looming over upcoming training camp. For a guy who loves to play and loves his teammates, he’s probably the most likely out of these players to sign the franchise tag. What I don't get is that the Bears are nearing extensions for Vasher and Tillman, but certainly not Briggs. There's obviously a belief that he's a product of working with Urlacher, but he's coming off of his third consecutive 100+ tackle season, and he's 26. Why not lock him up now before he's on Urlacher's level and he needs even more money for longer time. I'd have signed him by now, but that's only becasuse I like good linebackers.

#5. Alan Faneca–If they don’t extend that contract just a little bit, Roethlisberger might be seeing a whole lot of defensive linemen coming from his backside. The only reason not to lock this guy up for the next four or five years is going to be his age (he turns 31 in December). With that said, the guy has been a fixture in Pittsburgh over the past nine years, and I don't see why they can't work something out here. For a guy who has been a six time pro bowler and is still one of the top guards in the league, (and with the inflated contracts of lesser linemen signed to bigger and better deals), maybe Rooney could help him out, although it's not likely.