antwon blake signs his one year tender contract

He gets 1.54 million, he's a decent backup nothing more. I still say they should draft two cornerbacks, you don't know if Cortez can rebound and be a good player.

 

I'm glad he signed. I think he can get better with time. We definitely need the depth.

 

Me too, I like his game. He is a great gunner and got better every week on defense.

 

God willing, he demonstrates he's a real solid performer, and we can re-sign him next year for say 4 years-$10 million

 

We need him, for depth at the very least. He is only 5-9, but nearly 200 lbs. In other words, while pretty short he is solid. 6-1 CBs are a nice luxury, and the current rave, but short guys are better at defending the quick stuff and are at least serviceable. We've had other guys this short who did well, including Willie Williams, Willie Gay and Deshea Townsend.

 

I agree totally on Cortez Allen. We can only hope the meltdown was a passing thing and he comes in and contributes. I agree also that 2 corners need to be drafted. And not the 5th and 6th round.

Blake came on as the season wore on and I liked his contribution. If Allen has another meltdown Blake may be needed to start. This is the reason I believe a corner needs to be selected 1st and hopefully as the season wears on taking Gay's starting position or Allen's.

 

Blake is quickly becoming one of my favorites. I'd like to see us sign him to a multi-year deal.

 

I love the signing not bad 1.5 mil but I wouldn't go as far as saying he is nothing more then a back up. He showed improvement through the season and I thought got better each week. I agree we don't know what to expect with Allen and I also agree with us drafting 2 CB's. I feel this is a deep class of CB's and drafting 2 maybe we fine one.

 

willie will need signed again after this year. i like blake as a reserve, but i will have to see vast improvement for him to get any type of solid contract down the road. much will depend on cortez. this will be a competitive year for all these guys to get that next contract. it may just come down to gay vs. blake for the contract if we find two in this draft and cortez plays as we thought he would. if gay and blake play well again can we afford both next year?

 

Mac, I think with a very quiet FA this year we are setting ourselves up to have a lot more salary flexibility next year then we have had in many of the past years. Also Gay who had played very well since coming back to us will only have a few years left at the most, I just don't think he will break the bank with his next contract. I do think if Blake and/or Webb have a good year they could be priced out of our range.
As for the whole Allen deal if he bounces back we are in good shape cause once we get past this years contract it get more bearable. For example he will have a 5.7 mil cap number but if we want to cut ties he will only cost us 4 mil in dead money next year.
Throw in a high draft pick at CB(I hope) and I think from the money side we should be good here.

 

gay is too valuable to lose next year. he's got a couple more after this year especially if it's back at the nickel spot. ben's bigger money will start to kick in next year. DD will need signing and possibly a new contract for beachum. then we will have bell and AB looming. wheaton, spence, gay, blake, foster, gradkowski, warren, and whatever we do with heyward this year. none of these should be major problems but it will still eat at what money we have. warren, grad, spence, wheaton, foster could need either signed or replaced. Woodley's dead money should come off the list and help, but the bigger parts of ben and AB should start kicking in too. it will be interesting.

 

We used to do a lot of Gay bashing on here. Now we want to have him play with us. Funny how times change. So to speak.

 

I hear what your saying and agree but really a decision will be made with Allen after this year. If he bounces back he is around 5.5 mil the next 3 years. AB has 2 more years after this at good money(10&12mil) Troy's contract will be gone and so will that worthless Cam Thomas. Most of the guys you mention won't demand big money so that will help us with the other guys you mention like Beachum and Heyward. The one guy we have to be worried about is Bell, id he has anothe big year he is gonna want to cash in, jmo.

All in all with us really not spending a lot this year we set us up pretty good for future contracts and some FA signings next year. The cap keeps going up every year and we are now cutting lose our older big contract guys and we are getting a little better cap wise. There are still young guys that are getting these bigger contracts but we are also letting some go to even things out. It will be interesting to see how this plays out for sure.

 

I never bashed Gay at all. I really did not want him to go to pittsburgh west. He is playing well.. I believe CL coaching is paying dividends.