Playing soccer in the United States has rarely been a path to riches. But it turns out playing in the MLS can pay worse than a lot of regular jobs. There are 26 players on 13 MLS teams that rake in a mere $20,100 per year to play soccer professionally.
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Rich Cimini reports that the New York Jets will likely tender two of their restricted free agents within the next few days. Cimini believes that both Brad Smith and Leon Washington will be tendered at the second round level. That seems more than reasonable for Smith but it’s a calculated risk to put Leon in the same boat.
In Washington’s case, he will earn $1.759 million next season with the second round tender. If the Jets had opted to tender him at the first round level, he would earn $2.512 million (more on restricted free agency here). Personally, I would like to see the Jets give him the $2.512 million. Even with his injury, Leon is probably worth at least $2 million and potentially above $3 million per season. Let’s not forget that last year his agent, Alvin Keels, was trying to convince the Jets to pay him $6 million per year. Clearly, there aren’t going to be any teams that offer him a contract like that. But it seems like the Jets are leaving themselves open to risk by trying to save $800,000.
The most likely scenario is that Leon won’t get any significant offers. He’s coming off of a major injury and other teams won’t have a good read on his current health status. Additionally, there are a couple big name running backs that are already free agents. So the market for Washington’s services is probably very limited. At the same time, it’s not very hard to imagine a team offering Leon a deal close to that $2.5 million per year mark. And don’t be surprised if the Patriots make that offer. It would make sense since their running back depth is pathetic, they have three second round picks, and they’d screw the Jets by just making an offer in the first place.
Sure, the Jets can always match any offer or let Leon go to that team to receive the pick as compensation. But it would be foolish to tender Leon at only the second round level if they actually expect him to receive offer sheets. In the worst case, the Jets will have to pay Leon anyway or receive just a second round pick. Even in the best scenario, Leon doesn’t receive any other offers but becomes even more frustrated with his contract situation.
Tags: Brad Smith, contract, football, free agency, leon washington, NFL, restricted free agent, second round pick, tender
Charles Barkley likes to speak his mind. Typically, he takes a comical approach to his comments and he can be off-color. Sir Charles had some unkind words for Donnie Walsh and the Knicks. But they weren’t funny because they were offensive. They were offensive because they were ridiculously obvious.
Chuck isn’t a fan of Donnie Walsh’s plan to reload in 2010 with a new core of players. To facilitate that move, half of the fourteen players on the Knicks’ roster will be free agents next year. Here’s what the TNT analyst had to say about the Knickerbockers:
“When you set up yourself by basically saying, ‘We’re going to (stink) for the next two or three years,’ I don’t think there is any way that can be good for your team. They’re not going to win because those guys know they’re not going to be here next year. To expect them to give 110% is unrealistic.”
First of all, the Knicks are going to stink no matter what the rebuilding plan is. Second, isn’t it always unrealistic to ask somebody to give 110%? And where was Sir Charles during the whole “Isiah” era? Did he not have criticism for Team President Isiah Thomas, General Manager Isiah Thomas, or Head Coach Isiah Thomas?
Kidding aside, he does have a point. The Knicks will never be successful if half of the team knows they’re going to be wearing a different uniform the following season. Though Donnie Walsh did structure the contracts of Nate Robinson and David Lee so that they receive bonuses if the Knicks make the playoffs. There isn’t really a solution here since extending the Knicks crappy players would probably make them worse. For that reason, Walsh has opted to chase the chicken rather than the egg.
Tags: 2010, basketball, charles barkley, contracts, Donnie Walsh, free agency, free agents, NBA, new york knicks, playoffs
