Comcast Presents: Andre Johnson Wants More Money, But He's Under Contract...Your Thoughts?

…The sam uncle-agent who negotiated the current deal which I think we were all surprised about at the time it was signed. The current contract was a poor contract. It was too long and should have and could have included more guaranteed money. Last season. AJ’s uncle-agent made an outrageous statement that AJ reacted to with dismissal. Now he is following his advice and sitting out of voluntary OTAs. Rick Smith ha volunteered to sit down and discuss the situation. No matter how badly the uncle-agent negotiated before, the team is showing good faith in meeting to discuss this. But there is potential for backlash for the team.

Is a team required to renegotiate with every player that plays beyond his contract value? Well, what about players that under perform? When a player under performs, the team can cut the player. We saw this in the last year when teams cut aging players just before big bonuses were due. That’s part of the money side of football.

The Texans can take a chance and force AJ to continue playing under the existing contract and chance that he will be unhappy and that will be reflected in his play. The Texans didn’t expect that when they signed the contract.

There may be other repercussions if the Texans renegotiate. If they give AJ more money, that means there is less money for other players under the cap, which is not in effect as of today but may be come league/player’s association later this year.

The current contract will take AJ out to when he will be 34…maybe his last contract.

Because AJ is an elite player and is expected to retain the status, it seems likely that the Texans will move to renegotiate. But, I warn AJ. If he gets what he wants, he will have to beware of the repercussions that other elite players have faced. I think if he gets his raise/bonus, there is a good chance that he won’t be retiring a Texan because if his performance falters, he will find himself getting cut when he finds himself being overpaid.

In one sense Dre is only 2 years into a long term deal that he knew was also heavily front loaded. He knew he would have a relatively low salary after the first few years when he went into this thing so he should just suck it up. On the other hand, even though he’s under contract the Texans are free to cut him at any time. Not that they would do that now, but he knows if he slows down dramatically for some reason he’s got no chance of seeing the last few years of the current deal…that’s not a very comfortable situation to be in when the other party can end a contract at will and you have no options. I can understand him wanting to get as much as possible while he can. Not going to OTA’s mini-camp is really the only bargaining chip he has so I don’t hold it against him for using it….though I hope he’s there for camp. Once you’ve made your statement the only people it hurts are yourself and your teammates.

Dre is easily the best WR in the league, and even without my battle red glasses on there’s no doubt he’s in the top two or three. He should get payed like it, although I think it’s still fair to include his signing bonus from the last extension as part of the calculation to get him to an equitable level compared to Fitzgerald. Even though his deal was front loaded the Texans got a steal on his last contract extension. Dre signed it so that’s not the Texans fault, but Dre’s team easily underestimated his market value…which is why as much as I loathe all those agent/lawyer types, Dre should have used one instead of his Uncle.

My guess is they tack on a roster bonus or two in there somewhere and keep the salary schedule roughly the same. The Texans wanted to front load his deal originally because they had the room to and to allow them some more flexibility when it came time for guys like Mario, Demeco, or whoever to be re-upped. Losing that basic structure now would really put a kink in that plan.

I would say tough shit for Andre, but this is football. Contracts are not guaranteed. I don’t get why a player should be expected to play out the length of his contract without complaining or ever trying to get more money when the front office can basically void the contract at any time. If Andre suffered a career-ending injury in OTAs the team would waive him without a second thought. It’s a ridiculous situation. And Andre sacrifices his body for this team, he plays hard every play, and he’s the best receiver in the game – he deserves to get paid.

I don’t think there’s any question that Johnson has a right to feel he should be one of the top paid recievers in the league, but does it really make sense for the Texans to renegotiate? They have him under contract untill he’s in his mid 30s now, what do they stand to lose with him being unhappy about his pay unless he lays down on the field over it, at which point he’d only prove that his character isn’t deserving of being the highest paid player at his position.

Football is a business too, and it isn’t good business to pay more than you need to for services that are already locked up untill there’ll likely be deminishing returns on the field.

With a 2 to 1 advantage, it’s interesting to see people voting to pay AJ. I wonder what the results would’ve been for Dunta this time last year.

HOWEVER, you can RESTRUCTURE his current contract.

I say change it to be $60M in garaunteed money with $15M in incentives. And maybe knock a year off of the end.