Quote:So the only reason not to do it, in your opinion, is in case he gets injured and the money becomes guaranteed. Which is understandable, but...


You can't live scared like that. Who knows if an injury will occur. Let's say you decide to go the franchise tag route and then he blows up his knee the day after signing it. Now you're out an additional $3ish million for a scenario that's just as likely to happen as getting hurt under the option.


While I understand the thought process there, I personally don't see "risk of injury" as a good reason. If he doesn't get hurt and he plays well, we save $3mil. Can't live in fear of injury.

 

It's callous disregard for the owner's money.  You don't risk $19 mil when you can commit nothing and only have to pay roughly $3 mil more or approximately 15% more on his total salary in 2018 IF it becomes necessary to tag him and that's a big if.  He could play so poorly that the decision is easy to part ways.  He could also sign a long term contract if he plays well enough for one and the team feels ready to commit and give him a mulligan for 2016.  $3 mil over the course of a QB's entire contract is chump change and $3 mil for one season is worth the freedom from risk of injury especially given the financial situation of this team.  It's not living scared, it's mitigating risk.  They had a clear choice for limiting that risk and they went the opposite direction.  It wasn't the financially prudent thing to do.  If you want risk, go to a casino.  Everything else is about managing risk and getting the biggest bang for the buck.  I could make a case that picking up the option is living scared.

 

I'm beginning to not like the way the power structure of the front office is set up unless Khan is treating them all as tied to the hip.  Bortles could play lights out and render the point moot though.  Hopefully that's how it plays out, but even if he does, the smart decision given what we know right this moment before he plays in 2017 would have been to not pick it up.

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