quote:
If he's the generational player they think he is it will probably be better to be able to negotiate his 2nd before he's in his prime. They have the franchise tag if they need it.
But the problem is leverage. In four years we will have to franchise Smith to get any leverage at all. At that same time, everyone else in this draft except Elliot will also be up for another contract. Byron Jones will be coming off his 5th year option if we don't work out a long-term deal. If we franchise any of our 2015 draft picks, then we can't franchise them a second time.
Due to the 5th year option, you will always have less leverage with a non-1st round pick. Again, picking a guy who can't play for a year makes it extremely difficult to justify a 2nd round pick, and it almost guarantees that you are paying market value on his second contract as you have no leverage. In the cap era, you need good players on their rookie contracts, and veteran players who play better than their cap number. It will be very difficult for Smith to do either. Not impossible, but I'm not holding my breath.
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