Atogwe one step closer to free agency

I ’d still feel much, much more comfortable with Atogwe. First of all, he is the only true FS on the roster and he is proven to be a playmaker. And I like having backups that are actually good and can go in at times in a rotation and not be so much of a downgrade that it completely hurts the team for a change. Payne/Butler and Dahl provide that. Safety is the one position on the field I am completely comfortable with, but I think I lose a lot of that comfort when we lose our best S.

Is somewhat similar to the Barron issue, in the fact that it weakens our depth.
The difference is that Atogwe is actually good.
But when it come down to the nitty gritty, it’s all about
the Benjamin’s…….
It may just be the case that it’s not in the best interest
of the team to tie up 7 million on this player.

He’s gotta get signed, he was arguably the best player our defense had and a good stable locker room presence in a team full of newbies. I wish he’d take less money to stay with us, but it’s not realistic. If he leaves I will be significantly less excited/confident in Devaney and Spags, means nothing to them, but still cmon guys.

However these thing take time. They have tried to cover this issue by trades and draft.
We unfortunately don’t know the financial status of this organization.
I myself would love to see them pay for some “big name” players.
Although in all honesty, it’s never been their M O.
Right now….we may have to trust the fact that our GM actually knows what
he’s doing and that Spags is going to work his (blog prclaimed) magic on some of
these lesser known players.
If it was a perfect world every team would have Jerry jones money.

When we couldn’t get a long term deal done last year when he was franchised it always looked likely he’d be on his way. I don’t actually believe this is all about the money but rather that Atog wants to go to a team that can contend for superbowls. I’m not sure that there is a great deal the front office can do to keep him bar breaking the bank and potentially ruining next years free agency (provided there is a cap in place), and that’s assuming we even have the finances to offer a mega deal. I love seeing Atogwe in the blue and gold but realistically you don’t break the bank for a safety, even if he is one of your best players.

… then we offer him the higher tender and then trade him (if he’s healthy).

I imagine there’s either a health issue or he wants to play for a winner while he’s still good (and therefore will only stay for an inflated contract).

I’m not sure I can blame either side. But we can’t let him leave for free.

Nevertheless, I doubt the Rams will even offer him a long term deal at anything close to what he wants. Maybe they’ll offer him a short term deal at a decent price with incentives, or a long term thing at a lower price, but I’d be surprised if they do long and rich.

But Atogwe, as VanRam noted, will have a much better chance at a Superbow elsewhere, so in return for denying himself a SB in the longer term he’ll probably want to at least try to get a bigger payday than the tender. Afterall, h’s 28 now….so how many contracts does he have left? 1 long or 2 short, max. He has to be thinking get paid or get on a winner.

Football contracts are never about what the guy deserves. Teams don’t pay (and players don’t play) on sentiment or fairness or what’s been earned. Its always a “futures contract”, from rookie to old timer. His market was halfway established when they tendered him low and still no one came calling. I bet he goes all the way into FA now.

…and a humble guy who has ALWAYS played hard through these last three years of shit.

Not cool if you ask me. Last year, people weren’t throwing Atogwe’s way because of his knack for picking it off. Aaron Rodgers talked about avoiding him in pregame vs the Packers. No link, but it was on the Fox broadcast.

Big mistake. If we’re willing to give an untested rookie 50 million guaranteed despite a looming rookie pay scale next season, then we should be willing to give a contract to a guy who has PRODUCED at a higher level than anyone at his position the last 3 years IN THE NFL, and never complained about a contract till now.

Rough estimate?