Green Restructures Contract [Chronicle]

[Keith]

Verrrrrrrry interesting...

Green's base salary will be 1.8 million, which frees up 2 million in salary-cap dollars.

To get Green to agree to redo his deal, the Texans are giving him $200,000 for every game in which he's active this season, starting with the second game of the year. That means Green can make three million if he stay's healthy for every game. ...

The last two years of Green's contract were not changed. In 2009, he has a 4.8 million base and $500,000 bonus. In 2010, he has a 4.3 million base and a $500,000 bonus.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/5970987.html

Green was obviously threatened with being cut, and the Texans were obviously threatened with having a squad of RBs without even a half season's worth of starting experience combined.

Bolded part is mine... makes me think Green is out for Week 1...?

[painekiller]

Sorry guys he is not going anywhere now. At least not this year, next year is a different story...

[Arky]

.. makes me think Green is out for Week 1...?

Maybe not "out" but perhaps they are saying, "OK, we'll give you week 1 but you gotta earn it after that".

Sounds like he's going to be game-by-game and year-by-year. They probably didn't even do the math for 2009-2010 because (like many of us) they don't think he'll make it. I know I'll be surprised if he makes any type of worthwhile contribution this year...

[mussop]

Maybe not "out" but perhaps they are saying, "OK, we'll give you week 1 but you gotta earn it after that".

Sounds like he's going to be game-by-game and year-by-year. They probably didn't even do the math for 2009-2010 because (like many of us) they don't think he'll make it. I know I'll be surprised if he makes any type of worthwhile contribution this year...

It must of been a mistake. Its been changed.


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/fb/texansfront/5971192.html

Green, who hasn’t played since suffering a groin injury on the first play of preseason against Denver, is expected to start the first regular-season game at Pittsburgh.

[Arky]

Green, who hasn’t played since suffering a groin injury on the first play of preseason against Denver, is expected to start the first regular-season game at Pittsburgh.

Right. He's going to play against Pittsburgh. From McClain's blog:

Green has assured Smith, coach Gary Kubiak and everyone who'll listen that he'll be ready to go when the Texans start the season at Pittsburgh.


http://blogs.chron.com/nfl/2008/08/greens_restructure_is_fair_to.html

[KJ3]

sweet. i guess if you can't play a whole year then just get paid per game? see ya later ahman, next year you're getting cut.

who is next? weaver or greenwood?

[Keith]

It must of been a mistake. Its been changed.
What a ****ing surprise. The Chronicle Sports team makes another error. :mad:

I was ready for Green to go, but I still think he gives the Texans their best chance to win IF he's healthy. I obviously like the financial aspects of the game, but I try not to get too worked up in the money since it isn't mine at the end of the day. If Green earns his pay, so be it.

Hopefully this doesn't mean the team is thinking of floating Darius Walker to the practice squad. With Jameel Cook gone though (and Jon Abbate is a scout teamer), I suppose that clears a roster spot to keep Taylor as the second fullback and maybe first down and shirt yardage backup to Green.

[Keith]

who is next? weaver or greenwood?

This convo is for another thread, but Weaver ought to be next, not Greenwood, assuming the team can stomach the dead money.

I had an article for the site on this worked up a couple days ago but haven't gotten around to posting it yet. Maybe this weekend. Anyway, it dealt with the cap aspects of saying goodbye to Weaver and Colvin.

[KJ3]

What a ****ing surprise. The Chronicle Sports team makes another error. :mad:
i guess my hatred for the chronicle isn't alone? john mclame and the dick have too much bad writing for one paper to handle...

I was ready for Green to go, but I still think he gives the Texans their best chance to win IF he's healthy. If Green earns his pay, so be it.
two statements i could not agree more with. ethically there is no way kubiak can start ahman who hasn't played in the preseason without maybe his reputation taking the slightest of hits...but at the same time...who is better? slaton, if he can prove it.

Hopefully this doesn't mean the team is thinking of floating Darius Walker to the practice squad. With Jameel Cook gone though (and Jon Abbate is a scout teamer), I suppose that clears a roster spot to keep Taylor as the second fullback and maybe first down and shirt yardage backup to Green.
i don't think they can float him down...he's earned something more than practice squad to me. between him, slaton, and taylor he's really the only one who has done anything in a game, let alone looked decent. if it comes down to him or taylor i think i'm going with walker.

[Xetuoh1836]

So, he's scheduled to play in the Pittsburg game, yet the terms of the contract begin in the game against the Ravens?

In addition to his $1.8 million base, beginning with the second game — the home opener against Baltimore — Green will get $200,000 for every game in which he’s active.

I wonder why it effective game 2 and not the opener?

[RunninRaven]

Unless Slaton's turf toe is serious, in a way I halfway secretly hope Ahman is either great when he gets in the game, or completely terrible, because if he is great then I have no problem, the offense will look good. If he is terrible, then he won't last long before Slaton will take most, if not all, of his reps. But if Green is just sort of mediocre, then Kubiak might keep trotting him out there most of every game because he is the veteran and has the track record when Slaton could potentially be giving us more. I suppose on things like this I should just hope that Kubiak knows best and will play those that deserve it and can best help the team.

I just have this feeling that Slaton could be something special. Of course, I had the feeling about Jacoby last season as well.

[Mike]

KJ

Your hatred is not alone. RJ is a sad excuse for a writer. He does have a great job, when things go well, he praises (see all the early articles about Ed Wade and Tejada), then when it goes bad, then write a piece that rips everyone. Do that repeatedly for the Astros, Texans and Rockets when he is not salivating over VY and Mack and namedropping Bud Selig.

Johnny Mc - this is a family board so we will leave out anything about him and Anna-Meghan. I actually feel bad for her. He needs to push back from the buffet and mix in a few veggies.

to the matter at hand, good move for the Texans. Let's hope we can get through the season with Ahman playing 12 full games healthy. I would take that in a New York second. Good move my management freeing up some room on the cap, maybe there is a player(s) about to hit the breadline that can help us, and this $ makes it less tight on the cap.

[KJ3]

I wonder why it effective game 2 and not the opener?
obviously he'll be active for the first game. they probably just gave it up in the base salary, said here is for the first game up front and anything beyond that is earned.

clearly ahman knows that he is pressing the texans with his injury situations, i just hope that when he does line up he shows that he can still run instead of showing that the injuries have gotten the better of him.

Unless Slaton's turf toe is serious, in a way I halfway secretly hope Ahman is either great when he gets in the game, or completely terrible, because if he is great then I have no problem, the offense will look good. If he is terrible, then he won't last long before Slaton will take most, if not all, of his reps. But if Green is just sort of mediocre, then Kubiak might keep trotting him out there most of every game because he is the veteran and has the track record when Slaton could potentially be giving us more. I suppose on things like this I should just hope that Kubiak knows best and will play those that deserve it and can best help the team.

I just have this feeling that Slaton could be something special. Of course, I had the feeling about Jacoby last season as well.

i know it's semantics but when you're talking RB's something "special" is adrian peterson. steve slaton could be a good NFL back on a good team.

i don't think kubiak would allow shenanigans to go on concerning who is playing what position. i mean if slaton is better than green, he'll play.

MIKE (or really anybody) have you ever actually met someone who thinks they're worthy sports writers? aside from the awkward, seeping-through-the-radio inuendo of mchut and how dickie hates the teams he covers and loves ESPN's 24 hour analysis...is there actually any merit to the positions they hold anymore?

we should have our own forum dedicated to making fun of these two

[RunninRaven]

i know it's semantics but when you're talking RB's something "special" is adrian peterson. steve slaton could be a good NFL back on a good team.

Well, it is semantics. Maybe to you Adrian Peterson is the level you have to be at to be something special, but I was thinking more in terms of Brian Westbrook type ceiling, which compared to what we have put up with at RB in the 7 years the Texans have been here, is something special.

[papabear]

ethically there is no way kubiak can start ahman who hasn't played in the preseason without maybe his reputation taking the slightest of hits...but at the same time...who is better? slaton, if he can prove it.



The reason why Green will see time week one is his pass protection. It's something he has always done well and taken pride in. I say see time because even though he may start....I think slaton and/or Taylor see a fair bit of action, but Slaton is a rookie who has probably never been asked to do much blocking at any level. Pass pro. was a big issue for Taylor early on. It doesn't always get the pub, but with our history of high sack numbers and Scaub getting hurt it's something that I guarantee is on Kubiak's mind.

Pittsburgh should have a pretty good defense and they like to get after the QB. With the pressure the Cowboys were able to generate(so I've been told, still in Germany :mad:) you can be sure they will have plenty of blitz packages ready.

[barrett]

plenty of RBs sit the preseason. They have very little to gain from preseason games in comparison to other positions. There is nothing wrong with a RB missing the preseason and then starting (that is why so many "hold out"/skip training camp). If a RB is in shape we could sign one off the street and he could be plugged in by pittsburgh. Football may be an intellectual game to varying degrees for the other 21 positions, but RB is about 99% instincts.

[cadams]

this is true, i think LT sits out the entire preseason.

[coloradodude]

Any RB who is a threat to run to endzone any and every carry is special. Slaton is definitely that kind of RB. He was that way in college. But turf toe certainly doesn't help.

Compare Chris Brown. Never was that kind of threat in college or the NFL.

But time will tell.

As far as the Green contract, good. Let's get this offensive machine running and then we can tweak it.

[KJ3]

The reason why Green will see time week one is his pass protection. It's something he has always done well and taken pride in. I say see time because even though he may start....I think slaton and/or Taylor see a fair bit of action, but Slaton is a rookie who has probably never been asked to do much blocking at any level. Pass pro. was a big issue for Taylor early on. It doesn't always get the pub, but with our history of high sack numbers and Scaub getting hurt it's something that I guarantee is on Kubiak's mind.

if ahman is so good at pass protection why isn't he the 3rd down back?

this is true, i think LT sits out the entire preseason.
um....let's not go comparing ladanian tomlinson to ahman green. two very, very different situations.

[cadams]

um....let's not go comparing ladanian tomlinson to ahman green. two very, very different situations.
you are too serious there. i was commenting on running backs in general.

[KJ3]

oh...sorry...i kind of figured you were talking about LT.

[cadams]

was using him as an example

[Keith]

Well, the Chronicle seems to still think the roster bonuses begin in Week 2, so maybe that's not a mistake after all...?

Regardless, something else from McClain's article and blog is confusing me... and I'm not sure if it's because he's in the media and doesn't really understand this stuff or if the roster bonus is somehow treated as a NLTBE bonus.

From the blog link from an earlier post:

By agreeing to reduce his base salary this year from $3.8 million to $1.8 million, Green helped the Texans come up with an extra $2 million in cap dollars.

So does this mean the new $3mm roster bonus(es) are not counted on the cap because they are though to be Not Likely to Be Earned? Normally roster bonuses are LTBEs, which then should actually increase Green's cap hit by $500,000. (It's not $1mm - - Don't forget the $500k in roster bonuses Green had before the restructuring.)

The CBA is tough to decipher when it comes to incentives. It basically says that any incentive bonus based on a per game occurence automatically will be deemed as LTBE to the extent the performance was achieved by the player in the previous year.

So, does that mean since Green was not active for 15 games last year that the entire $3 million bonus is NLTBE? Or is it prorated based on the # of games he was active in 2007? ****.

My understanding was that the roster bonuses before the restructuring were LTBEs, so I'm not sure why that would change under the altered agreement.

Still, getting Green to lower his base by $2mm is a pretty good move any way you slice it. If the roster bonuses are LTBE and Green doesn't earn them, then they ought to be added as additional cap space in 2009.

We'll see. Anyhoo... I'm working on the cap page updates if you can't tell, hopefully I'll have them done on Sunday.

[painekiller]

Well, the Chronicle seems to still think the roster bonuses begin in Week 2, so maybe that's not a mistake after all...?

Regardless, something else from McClain's article and blog is confusing me... and I'm not sure if it's because he's in the media and doesn't really understand this stuff or if the roster bonus is somehow treated as a NLTBE bonus.



We both know the answer to that question. It is LTBE. And Green is going to gain us some extra cap so we can cut him next year. (By not playing every game we will be adding 200K to the roster next season for each missed game).

[Keith]

We both know the answer to that question. It is LTBE.
I hear ya.

Checking in with another capologist since I posted, and he thinks it is prorated. Given Green was active 6 games last year, I think that means 6 games * $200,000 = $1.2 million is LTBE and $1.8 million is NLTBE.

I think the NLTBE isn't reflected in the 2008 cap for now. If earned, it will eat up remaining space in 2008; if the team is out of 2008 cap space, then it reduces the available 2009 cap by that amount unaccounted for in 2008.

Kind of a pain on the cap page. For now, I'll keep showing it as all hitting the 2008 cap and reduce it game by game each time Green is inactive.