Leonard will soon be the highest paid LB

[CR91]

 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

 

[Colt.45]

When you have a player who's top 10 at his position, pay him.

[GoColts8818]

Good that locks in the big two would be free agents 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

Maybe now he will get back to practice.

[2006Coltsbestever]

Great he deserves it, awesome/great player. 

[Captain_Colts1317]

Will be glad when it’s finalized. He deserves it and hopefully we see him on the field soon now. 

[jskinnz]

31 minutes ago, Wentzszn said:

Maybe now he will get back to practice.

You post about 10 Dear God worthy thoughts every day. This one is not different. 
 

[KB]

He deserves it. Wish he would take a hometown discount but he has earned that money. Going to be hard to build a roster with so many positions being paid top dollar. The again, if you don't pay the ones who deserve it, why would players want to play well for us.

[2006Coltsbestever]

3 minutes ago, KB said:

He deserves it. Wish he would take a hometown discount but he has earned that money. Going to be hard to build a roster with so many positions being paid top dollar. The again, if you don't pay the ones who deserve it, why would players want to play well for us.

Don't worry you will have 2 people that I know of that will say he isn't worth it  . It is coming, give it a day or 2 

[KB]

1 minute ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Don't worry you will have 2 people that I know of that will say he isn't worth it  . It is coming, give it a day or 2 

Every time like clockwork lol

[danlhart87]

[GoColts8818]

31 minutes ago, KB said:

He deserves it. Wish he would take a hometown discount but he has earned that money. Going to be hard to build a roster with so many positions being paid top dollar. The again, if you don't pay the ones who deserve it, why would players want to play well for us.

I get wanting a hometown discount but remember he was second round pick and this is his first chance at a big payday.  Players don’t take hometown discounts in that situation.  Frankly I think it’s more about its structured and Ballard has been very good at setting contracts up so they favor the team.  

[EastStreet]

I'll be happy to get this wrapped up, but if he's setting the market, can't say I agree with the "value". I love DL, but he's top 5ish, not the best in the league. That's not a dig on him, just reality. I'm a lot more concerned with MIKE "play" right now than I am with WILL "pay". Just hoping the salary cap takes some nice leaps the next couple years.

[throwing BBZ]

I will take the Under DL over the next 5 seasons plays in more than 65 games. Im looking forward to our front 4 being better going forward and that should help him be less of a target in pass coverage.

Of course i'd guess i'm 40/60 being above ground in 5 to see it!

[Mackrel829]

9 hours ago, Wentzszn said:

Maybe now he will get back to practice.

 

You think Leonard is skipping practise because his extension isn't sorted yet?

[Nickster]

I don’t think this will be a good contract unless DL improves significantly in coverage.

If there was no cap, it wouldn’t matter, but there is a cap.

 

cap should go up so maybe it will take care of itself, but I too think this is too much of the pie for Darius even though I like the guy.

[Nickster]

7 hours ago, throwing BBZ said:

I will take the Under DL over the next 5 seasons plays in more than 65 games. Im looking forward to our front 4 being better going forward and that should help him be less of a target in pass coverage.

Of course i'd guess i'm 40/60 being above ground in 5 to see it!

Are you an older guy man or health issues or both?

[Colt.45]

9 hours ago, EastStreet said:

I'll be happy to get this wrapped up, but if he's setting the market, can't say I agree with the "value". I love DL, but he's top 5ish, not the best in the league. That's not a dig on him, just reality. I'm a lot more concerned with MIKE "play" right now than I am with WILL "pay". Just hoping the salary cap takes some nice leaps the next couple years.

I agree with you and @Nickster however we know how these things work. The guy who becomes the highest paid is just the guy who got his contract last. Wasn't there a time Jared Goff was the highest paid QB? My thing is, if this is what it takes to keep a player who's top 5 at his position then you do it. The Colts dont have that many players who're top 5 at their positions. The cap will take care of itself.

 

I'll trust that the Colts will give themselves an out of sorts in case they ever need to abandon the commitment. Darius isnt the best in the league but he desperately wants to get there so i can only assume he'll keep working harder and hopefully keep improving. We'll see what he does this season.

[Nickster]

1 minute ago, Colt.45 said:

I agree with you and @Nickster however we know how these things work. The guy who becomes the highest paid is just the guy who got his contract last. Wasn't there a time Jared Goff was the highest paid QB? My thing is, if this is what it takes to keep a player who's top 5 at his position then you do it. The Colts dont have that many players who're top 5 at their positions. The cap will take care of itself.

 

I'll trust that the Colts will give themselves an out of sorts in case they ever need to abandon the commitment. Darius isnt the best in the league but he desperately wants to get there so i can only assume he'll keep working harder and hopefully keep improving. We'll see what he does this season.

With the lower cap this is probably the year to lock guys up long term too.  Of all the unfortunate things that have happened to this team the last couple years, this might be a real blessing for Ballard. 
 

players should be quite a bit more expensive after this season across the board.

[2006Coltsbestever]

- you woke me up, I was dreaming that Leonard led the league in tackles, had 5 INT's, and 10 Sacks. 

[throwing BBZ]

54 minutes ago, Nickster said:

I don’t think this will be a good contract unless DL improves significantly in coverage.

If there was no cap, it wouldn’t matter, but there is a cap.

 

cap should go up so maybe it will take care of itself, but I too think this is too much of the pie for Darius even though I like the guy.

 

  If we played an old style 4-3 i think Darius would cover the flats and his other pass defense duties really well. He is stuck more inside in this 4-2 with Heavy run stopping obligations, so he is instinctively is lit up to go forward.

 His instincts have already proven to be really good, and the great ones just get better. It bodes well that he will continue to be in the right spot and to use his maniacal aggression to make game changing, big time plays.

 That is how he can EARN whatever his wages are.

 We all just want to see him and our TEAM  in AFC Championship games... and BEYOND! 

 

[throwing BBZ]

27 minutes ago, Nickster said:

Are you an older guy man or health issues or both?

 

   I ain't no spring chicken!  It would get me into my seventies.

  My last A1C was 5.4, so the Doc doesn't say much about that extra 50lbs i'm toting. Family history shows considerable just falling over dead, but they were smokers. My dear Mom at 60, and older Bro at 69 were 2 of them. 

 It keeps the warmth, and I Love You good byes easy, particularly with my 3 siblings! 

 For our arm chair foot DR'S... my podiatrist wants to remove the knuckle from my pinky toe to eliminate the inflection south of it. I have a sizeable callous that will not go away, that got infected last year. It healed back as a callous after his removing a half dollar sized one, going through all layers of skin and some sub to that. 

 There are some angry nerves, and considerable soreness in the area.

 Yes i have special shoes and inserts to help mitigate, and they help very little. Walking for exercise is out.  A REAL Pi$$er!

 Thank goodness the spirit is in me and i still have my SUNNY disposition!

  

  

[Nickster]

3 hours ago, throwing BBZ said:

 

   I ain't no spring chicken!  It would get me into my seventies.

  My last A1C was 5.4, so the Doc doesn't say much about that extra 50lbs i'm toting. Family history shows considerable just falling over dead, but they were smokers. My dear Mom at 60, and older Bro at 69 were 2 of them. 

 It keeps the warmth, and I Love You good byes easy, particularly with my 3 siblings! 

 For our arm chair foot DR'S... my podiatrist wants to remove the knuckle from my pinky toe to eliminate the inflection south of it. I have a sizeable callous that will not go away, that got infected last year. It healed back as a callous after his removing a half dollar sized one, going through all layers of skin and some sub to that. 

 There are some angry nerves, and considerable soreness in the area.

 Yes i have special shoes and inserts to help mitigate, and they help very little. Walking for exercise is out.  A REAL Pi$$er!

 Thank goodness the spirit is in me and i still have my SUNNY disposition!

  

  

Yeah dude you sound like you have the attitude about your time on the rock that I do.  No sense not accepting it IMO. It gonna happen some time.  Rock on BBz

[Nickster]

4 hours ago, throwing BBZ said:

 

  If we played an old style 4-3 i think Darius would cover the flats and his other pass defense duties really well. He is stuck more inside in this 4-2 with Heavy run stopping obligations, so he is instinctively is lit up to go forward.

 His instincts have already proven to be really good, and the great ones just get better. It bodes well that he will continue to be in the right spot and to use his maniacal aggression to make game changing, big time plays.

 That is how he can EARN whatever his wages are.

 We all just want to see him and our TEAM  in AFC Championship games... and BEYOND! 

 

But his pass coverage isn’t great and hasn’t improved.

[EastStreet]

23 hours ago, Colt.45 said:

I agree with you and @Nickster however we know how these things work. The guy who becomes the highest paid is just the guy who got his contract last. Wasn't there a time Jared Goff was the highest paid QB? My thing is, if this is what it takes to keep a player who's top 5 at his position then you do it. The Colts dont have that many players who're top 5 at their positions. The cap will take care of itself.

 

I'll trust that the Colts will give themselves an out of sorts in case they ever need to abandon the commitment. Darius isnt the best in the league but he desperately wants to get there so i can only assume he'll keep working harder and hopefully keep improving. We'll see what he does this season.

Not a fan of the amount like I said, but glad it's done. He barely took the #1 spot, so at least it wasn't crazy high. I honestly expected top 3 but a tiny surprised it was number one. Oh well. 

 

As far as outs, there's one after next year I believe. The dead cap drops off a lot after the first two years, so I do like that.

 

On to the next xxxxx now lol... just happy it's done.

[Four2itus]

Two things. First, I am not surprised that a portion of fans want to see things in a vacuum....cut and dried. Well, it just isn't that simple. I respect statisticians...... but I respect team chemistry, goal incentive/reward approach, and critical situation playmaking more. 

 

Reich, Ballard and the coaches (with the backing of Irsay), appear to have created a family atmosphere in the locker room that places a premium on drafting, developing, and rewarding their own. To not take that influence in on the perceived value of compensation piece is ludicrous. One may not like the way the team is operated, but DL's compensation is right in line with the way they have purveyed their operation. 

 

Next, what is not being talked about is critical moment plays. We revered Bob Sanders, Dwight, Mathis....who indeed have deserved it. Darius may have as much critical moment play making ability as any Indy Colt defender ever has. Why in the hell would you not reward that handsomely? In reality...when I think about it.....it could have been more. 

. 

[Nickster]

12 minutes ago, Four2itus said:

Two things. First, I am not surprised that a portion of fans want to see things in a vacuum....cut and dried. Well, it just isn't that simple. I respect statisticians...... but I respect team chemistry, goal incentive/reward approach, and critical situation playmaking more. 

 

Reich, Ballard and the coaches (with the backing of Irsay), appear to have created a family atmosphere in the locker room that places a premium on drafting, developing, and rewarding their own. To not take that influence in on the perceived value of compensation piece is ludicrous. One may not like the way the team is operated, but DL's compensation is right in line with the way they have purveyed their operation. 

 

Next, what is not being talked about is critical moment plays. We revered Bob Sanders, Dwight, Mathis....who indeed have deserved it. Darius may have as much critical moment play making ability as any Indy Colt defender ever has. Why in the hell would you not reward that handsomely? In reality...when I think about it.....it could have been more. 

. 

 

That is all cool. It really is.

 

But I don't think family atmosphere does anything to promote winning.  The best NFL franchises ie. NE Patriots cut dead wood and don't over pay.

 

If I was a player, I would probably prefer to work for Mr. Irsay and Ballard, but as fan I would rather see an efficient business model that does not include much of the sentimentality that many fans are into.  I don't care who plays for my teams as long as we win.

 

Not saying that the family atmosphere doesn't lead to winning, but I sure don't see much evidence of it.  I'm a Cub Fan for instance.  They had a fire sale this year but needed to start turning the roster over a couple years ago, and part of the reason they did not, was likely sentimentality for the guys who brought the title home.  Now the franchise is no where close to competing and the haul they brought in for the fire sale pales in comparison with what they could brought in when guys had a year or two on their contracts.

[Colt.45]

34 minutes ago, Four2itus said:

Two things. First, I am not surprised that a portion of fans want to see things in a vacuum....cut and dried. Well, it just isn't that simple. I respect statisticians...... but I respect team chemistry, goal incentive/reward approach, and critical situation playmaking more. 

 

Reich, Ballard and the coaches (with the backing of Irsay), appear to have created a family atmosphere in the locker room that places a premium on drafting, developing, and rewarding their own. To not take that influence in on the perceived value of compensation piece is ludicrous. One may not like the way the team is operated, but DL's compensation is right in line with the way they have purveyed their operation. 

 

Next, what is not being talked about is critical moment plays. We revered Bob Sanders, Dwight, Mathis....who indeed have deserved it. Darius may have as much critical moment play making ability as any Indy Colt defender ever has. Why in the hell would you not reward that handsomely? In reality...when I think about it.....it could have been more. 

. 

It's what fans do. Folks complained that Manning wasn't 'clutch'. That was within the Colts fanbase.

Heck, I remember getting in debates about the DEs....there were people who thought Freeney was a total liability against the run and just needed to be.....better and teams were gashing us with the run and all this talk. The scheme needed to be better, Freeney and Mathis were too lightweight, all this type of talk. Fans will talk, it's what we do. It doesn't have to make sense.

[Nickster]

1 hour ago, Colt.45 said:

It's what fans do. Folks complained that Manning wasn't 'clutch'. That was within the Colts fanbase.

Heck, I remember getting in debates about the DEs....there were people who thought Freeney was a total liability against the run and just needed to be.....better and teams were gashing us with the run and all this talk. The scheme needed to be better, Freeney and Mathis were too lightweight, all this type of talk. Fans will talk, it's what we do. It doesn't have to make sense.

But man I hear where you are going, but Freeney and Mathis were weak against the run. That isn't really up for serious debate is it?   Their MOs were to rush hard up the field and you could often simply run or screen  right under their upfield push.  All the defensive coordinators knew this.  All the game plans attempted to exploit it. Even HS coaches would do the same thing.  When you have a major upfield rush, you try to run underneath it.  The did it to LT.  But there is a lot of evidence that they were bad against the run or the scheme was bad, etc.  It's not just Colts MB people that say it.

 

And most people would also agree that Manning wasn't clutch too.  On this one the statistics aren't much different he had a 95 passer rating for his career and 87 for the playoffs which could easily be accounted for by the higher level of comp.  However, there were certainly several seasons where he had some pretty bad playoff games compared to his opposite number and even if it isn't empirically provable, Colts fans on this board and fans in general also believe this.  I am certainly one that thinks he didn't rise to the occasion in the playoffs on several occasions.  You will hear plenty of football people say this as well.  You can easily find any number of articles that discuss this.  I am not saying this is set in stone, but it ain't just people on Colts MB that say it.

[Four2itus]

50 minutes ago, Nickster said:

 

That is all cool. It really is. Thanks

 

But I don't think family atmosphere does anything to promote winning.  I was talking about perceived value by fans in a dollar amount. Wins are accomplished at more places than on the field. The best NFL franchises ie. NE Patriots cut dead wood and don't over pay. Personally, I don't care. I wouldn't trade the Colts, their style, and their accomplishments with that team for anything. The way the Pats run things has no bearing on a Colts player contract value to me. 

 

If I was a player, I would probably prefer to work for Mr. Irsay and Ballard, but as fan I would rather see an efficient business model that does not include much of the sentimentality that many fans are into.  That's cool.  I don't care who plays for my teams as long as we win. Here...we are so vastly different, I'll not even share my thoughts. 

 

Not saying that the family atmosphere doesn't lead to winning, but I sure don't see much evidence of it.  I'm a Cub Fan for instance.  They had a fire sale this year but needed to start turning the roster over a couple years ago, and part of the reason they did not, was likely sentimentality for the guys who brought the title home.  Now the franchise is no where close to competing and the haul they brought in for the fire sale pales in comparison with what they could brought in when guys had a year or two on their contracts.

Thanks for responding. My comments in red. 

[Nickster]

6 hours ago, Four2itus said:

Thanks for responding. My comments in red. 

Cool.  Agreeing to disagree.

[2006Coltsbestever]

6 hours ago, Nickster said:

But man I hear where you are going, but Freeney and Mathis were weak against the run. That isn't really up for serious debate is it?   Their MOs were to rush hard up the field and you could often simply run or screen  right under their upfield push.  All the defensive coordinators knew this.  All the game plans attempted to exploit it. Even HS coaches would do the same thing.  When you have a major upfield rush, you try to run underneath it.  The did it to LT.  But there is a lot of evidence that they were bad against the run or the scheme was bad, etc.  It's not just Colts MB people that say it.

 

And most people would also agree that Manning wasn't clutch too.  On this one the statistics aren't much different he had a 95 passer rating for his career and 87 for the playoffs which could easily be accounted for by the higher level of comp.  However, there were certainly several seasons where he had some pretty bad playoff games compared to his opposite number and even if it isn't empirically provable, Colts fans on this board and fans in general also believe this.  I am certainly one that thinks he didn't rise to the occasion in the playoffs on several occasions.  You will hear plenty of football people say this as well.  You can easily find any number of articles that discuss this.  I am not saying this is set in stone, but it ain't just people on Colts MB that say it.

Freeney and Mathis were weak against the run (we agree there lol), having said that their main job was to rush the QB and they are both arguably top 10 ever at doing that. The FO never got us a great NT to plug the run other than 1 year when we traded for Booger and won the SB, that is on the FO. Regarding Peyton being clutch, if people wanted to say Brady and Montana both are more clutch in the playoffs, I agree 100%. Who are we comparing Peyton too? If you compare him to most other QB's he has had as many clutch playoff moments than anyone. His game winning drive to beat the Pats in 2006 was bigtime clutch. The 2003 playoff game at KC, he was flawless and we pulled that out 38-31. The INT vs the Saints will haunt him but he is human, stuff happens. I would hate to see what people would say about Rodgers if we were all Packers fans about being clutch in the playoffs, Rodgers would get lit up like a Christmas Tree  .

[Nickster]

14 hours ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Freeney and Mathis were weak against the run (we agree there lol), having said that their main job was to rush the QB and they are both arguably top 10 ever at doing that. The FO never got us a great NT to plug the run other than 1 year when we traded for Booger and won the SB, that is on the FO. Regarding Peyton being clutch, if people wanted to say Brady and Montana both are more clutch in the playoffs, I agree 100%. Who are we comparing Peyton too? If you compare him to most other QB's he has had as many clutch playoff moments than anyone. His game winning drive to beat the Pats in 2006 was bigtime clutch. The 2003 playoff game at KC, he was flawless and we pulled that out 38-31. The INT vs the Saints will haunt him but he is human, stuff happens. I would hate to see what people would say about Rodgers if we were all Packers fans about being clutch in the playoffs, Rodgers would get lit up like a Christmas Tree  .

Yeah man, finally seeing the light huh?

 

I just looked back through Mannings Game logs for the playoffs.  I was trying to be judicious, but Peyton pretty much sucked in the playoffs like we all pretty much know intuitively as Colts fans.  He had some good games but not many great ones and a whole lot of crappy ones.

 

Just scroll through them.  It's hard to defend his post season record.  And for the record.  Yes.  Absolutely, we are comparing him to the guys that won all the Superbowls.  When in the convo of greatest all time yeah thats who he's compared to.

 

The overall QB rating looks OK, but when I went back through the logs it was more like I remember it. 

 

Peyton often choked in the playoffs.  The SB year he had 3 TDs and 7 INTs the entire post season.