(05-16-2024, 01:59 PM)Jaguarmeister Wrote:

(05-16-2024, 01:23 PM)flgatorsandjags Wrote: You make less when you start getting fined and miss games.  That wouldn't be very smart.

Yeah maybe not this year more so due to the fact that it wouldn't count as a year of his contract if he sat out the entire year if it came to that, so he'd be right back in the same spot next year only a year older.  I could definitely see him sitting out next offseason though and perhaps into the season.  The 5th year option salary on RBs is still relatively peanuts and he could sustain a career ending injury during the season and never even see the tag or the salary that comes with it.  Forfeiting or threatening to forfeit a $6M salary in an effort to get a (practical) 3 year deal with 2+ years guaranteed isn't being stupid if it works and if it leads to $10M+ annual salaries during that time.  It would probably wind up being something less than the tag whatever it is, so the team is getting some type of savings out of the deal and would also allow the team to likely part ways when he's 28 or 29 once his usefulness as an NFL RB is very likely over.

It may depend heavily on how much Tank asserts himself this year and if he commands a significantly increased role.  If that doesn't happen, ETN will have increased leverage next offseason assuming we don't go RB early in the draft next year and assuming he has another good year this year.   I'd probably be advising him to hold out in that scenario if I were his counsel.  He'll be shouldering way too much risk still in his prime producing years as it stands.

The only player I can think of that sat out a whole year is Bell and that was the worst mistake of his career, he lost a ton and was never the same again. 6 mil for 1 year is good money for a RB.  Even if he did sit out he would still have the 1 year contract left on the Jags, the year doesn't disappear. Justin  Blackmon was on our roster for like 10 years because he didn't finish the contract, the years on the contract don't go away until you play them. 

Etienne isn't going to sit out, I think RBs have learned sitting out doesn't nothing but cost you money in the long run and the time off from sitting out usually hurts their play as well which will cost them money on their next contract. I can think of one RB that sat out that it actually helped them. Sitting our is one of the dumbest things a player can do.

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