Ben Grubbs

[gabefergy]

I was thinking last night what might be a reasonable contract that we could offer Grubbs that would be both cap-friendly and fair to him.

I think a 5 year deal would be appropriate, but I dont see him getting the 6M+ per year range that Yanda got. For one Yanda has played a significant amount of time at Tackle and offers that flexibility that Grubbs does not. Grubbs has been durable, but last year he did miss some time and that could be reflected in the contract.

Here is what I came up with 5 years, 24M with 12M guaranteed. This would give Grubbs a large chunk of change up front and would allow for a smaller cap hit the first couple years.

For instance it could be structured like this:

Base salaries: 1st year 1M, 2nd year 1.5M, 3rd year 2M, 4th year 3.5M, 5th year 4M.

With a 12M dollar signing bonus the cap hit would be:

1st year 3.4M, 2nd year 3.9M, 3rd year 4.4M, 4th year 5.9M, 5th year 6.4M.

Grubbs would average close to 5M a year which I think is fair for a player of his caliber, but the cap hit wouldnt be too bad until the 4th year. It could probably be made even more cap friendly early if a roster bonus or workout bonuses were added in.

Thoughts?

[PWNEDbyDEANO]

If he signed for less than 5M a year, I'd be stunned, basically.

He's going to be given offers that are much higher when he hits the market.

[gabefergy]

[quote name='PWNEDbyDEANO' timestamp='1330022860' post='1000818']
If he signed for less than 5M a year, I'd be stunned, basically.

He's going to be given offers that are much higher when he hits the market.
[/quote]
That's probably true, but he may want to stay in Baltimore where he has been for the past 5 years and has a great shot at winning a championship. Carl Nicks is likely going to set the market, and Grubbs is probably a shade below Nicks talent-wise. 5M is reasonable to me considering that Grubbs is a consistent player, but not elite at the position.

[CapoRocky]

I think that he will get 7 or 8 million offers from other teams. Unfortunately, we will never be able to match them. That's why we need to draft a center and a guard in April.

[GrimCoconut]

[quote name='gabefergy' timestamp='1330024387' post='1000838']

That's probably true, but he may want to stay in Baltimore where he has been for the past 5 years and has a great shot at winning a championship. Carl Nicks is likely going to set the market, and Grubbs is probably a shade below Nicks talent-wise. 5M is reasonable to me considering that Grubbs is a consistent player, but not elite at the position.
[/quote]
I gotta be real with you, bro: even if Nicks sets the market, Grubbs will still be too expensive. I think Nicks will walk, actually. I see him getting taken away by another team. There's a possibility Nicks does set the market, and if he does he will set it too high.

If Grubbs sets the market, which is possible, Grubbs will still be gone because it will be too much.

If we can sign Grubbs to your contract, I will do a backflip because I will be very happy. At this point, I see Grubbsy walking away due to price.

[atlravensfan]

[quote name='GrimCoconut' timestamp='1330025376' post='1000849']

I gotta be real with you, bro: even if Nicks sets the market, Grubbs will still be too expensive. I think Nicks will walk, actually. I see him getting taken away by another team. There's a possibility Nicks does set the market, and if he does he will set it too high.

If Grubbs sets the market, which is possible, Grubbs will still be gone because it will be too much.

If we can sign Grubbs to your contract, I will do a backflip because I will be very happy. At this point, I see Grubbsy walking away due to price.
[/quote]

Yeah grubbs gone esp if we are paying Joe and ray rice this season. Can't keep everyone. Don't really know how effective we will be without our starting center and guard. We will see rays and Joe's production this year. It will be the judge

[gabefergy]

[quote name='GrimCoconut' timestamp='1330025376' post='1000849']
I gotta be real with you, bro: even if Nicks sets the market, Grubbs will still be too expensive. I think Nicks will walk, actually. I see him getting taken away by another team. There's a possibility Nicks does set the market, and if he does he will set it too high.

If Grubbs sets the market, which is possible, Grubbs will still be gone because it will be too much.

If we can sign Grubbs to your contract, I will do a backflip because I will be very happy. At this point, I see Grubbsy walking away due to price.
[/quote]
I kind of agree, I was thinking more along the lines of what is reasonable from the Ravens perspective but it is quite possible he will be offered more to go elsewhere. I dont see him getting the 7-8M a year range. That seems way too high for a player that has never made a Pro Bowl until this year as an alternate. Grubbs is consistent and durable but I wouldnt say he is a top 5 player at his position. Sadly, some team with a ton of cap room will probably overpay for him.

[Sizzlebshu]

Grubbs is going to see the market as the chance of him getting tagged right now is 0 with the way contract talks are going for Rice. He is going to try and use that as leverage to get a better deal, its just good business practice to do this.

[Suggs Package]

[quote name='gabefergy' timestamp='1330025726' post='1000860']
I kind of agree, I was thinking more along the lines of what is reasonable from the Ravens perspective but it is quite possible he will be offered more to go elsewhere. I dont see him getting the 7-8M a year range. That seems way too high for a player that has never made a Pro Bowl until this year as an alternate. Grubbs is consistent and durable but I wouldnt say he is a top 5 player at his position. Sadly, some team with a ton of cap room will probably overpay for him.
[/quote]

Yeah I agree, if you remember Jason Brown, the guy never made the pro bowl either but got a 5 year 37 million dollar contract from the Rams

I'm not too worried too much about resigning Grubbs though because surprisingly, there's a deep class of FA Guards this year. And when there's tons of competition at a position, it naturally drives the price down. There are about 10 really good Guards on the market this year.

I think he accepts a contract averaging around 6 million a year and I think everyone would be happy with that.

[JO_75]

Hopefully we can finish with Rice before Free Agency and get him under contract so that we can slap the Franchise Tag on Grubbs instead of Rice.

[gabefergy]

[quote name='JO_75' timestamp='1330035438' post='1001021']
Hopefully we can finish with Rice before Free Agency and get him under contract so that we can slap the Franchise Tag on Grubbs instead of Rice.
[/quote]
Honestly I would rather not Franchise Grubbs. 9M+ would be an awful lot going against our tight cap situation.

[K-Dog]

Makes me wonder.
What would be the bigger insentive. Money or a potential Super Bowl ring ?

[arnie_uk]

[quote name='K-Dog' timestamp='1330041468' post='1001135']
Makes me wonder.
What would be the bigger insentive. Money or a potential Super Bowl ring ?
[/quote]
youll soon find out

[PurpleReign92]

I think Ben Grubbs is worth at-least 1/2 a mil more then Flacco... Even while I'm playing Madden I notice Rice/Grubbs combo...

[GrimCoconut]

[quote name='PurpleReign92' timestamp='1330042198' post='1001171']
I think Ben Grubbs is worth at-least 1/2 a mil more then Flacco... Even while I'm playing Madden I notice Rice/Grubbs combo...
[/quote]

Lol, what? Are you serious?

[Moderator 3]

[quote name='K-Dog' timestamp='1330041468' post='1001135']Makes me wonder.
What would be the bigger insentive. Money or a potential Super Bowl ring ?[/quote]

Players coming off their rookie contracts are looking for money. This is their best chance to "cash in". Later in their careers they're looking for rings.

[The Raven]

[quote name='GrimCoconut' timestamp='1330043339' post='1001199']
Lol, what? Are you serious?
[/quote]

Yes, he is completely serious! Lol

[jaege]

Ooooooh!!! What else does the Madden crystal ball tell us? LOL.

[Greatness]

I'd love to have Grubbs back, but looking at all this potential in the draft has me salivating just a little bit. The picks will be cheaper and not be a major hit against the cap as Grubbs will be. But it starts in the trenches, so as long as we sure it up I don't care how we do it. Ray Rice is getting tagged. Don't see any other way he isn't to be honest.

[FlaccosFlock]

Pretty interesting that Harbaugh said:

[size=3][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][left]“We’ve offered – I don’t know if we’ve offered it yet – but [/left][/font][url="http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2012/02/23/john-harbaugh-live-on-the-fan/"]we’re in negotiations of offering a lot of money[/url][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][left],” Head Coach John Harbaugh told Jerry Coleman on 105.7 The Fan last night from the combine."[/left][/font][/size]

[size=4][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][left]I would be interested to know what he thinks a lot of money is? I'm saying a 5 year deal worth 28 million.[/left][/font][/size]

[CapoRocky]

[quote name='FlaccosFlock' timestamp='1330097979' post='1001530']
Pretty interesting that Harbaugh said:

[left][size=3][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]“We’ve offered – I don’t know if we’ve offered it yet – but [/font][/size][/left]
[size=3][url="http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2012/02/23/john-harbaugh-live-on-the-fan/"]we’re in negotiations of offering a lot of money[/url][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] [/font][/size][left][size=3][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif],” Head Coach John Harbaugh told Jerry Coleman on 105.7 The Fan last night from the combine."[/font][/size][/left]


[left][size=4][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I would be interested to know what he thinks a lot of money is? I'm saying a 5 year deal worth 28 million.[/font][/size][/left]

[/quote]

I'm pretty sure that it's similar to Yanda money.

[FlaccosFlock]

[quote name='CapoRocky' timestamp='1330098132' post='1001533']

I'm pretty sure that it's similar to Yanda money.
[/quote]

Yeah it's almost exactly the same, just a little bit less. It's like $5.6 mil a year, but obviously it wouldn't be structured evenly over the 5 years.

[Yatagarasu]

Yeah give him the same contract as Marshal Yanda.

5 year $32 Million

Then come draft time!

Draft Peter Konz and Potter and our O-line would be complete.

[JO_75]

[quote name='FlaccosFlock' timestamp='1330099108' post='1001549']

Yeah it's almost exactly the same, just a little bit less. It's like $5.6 mil a year, but obviously it wouldn't be structured evenly over the 5 years.
[/quote]

Would we have the Cap in order to pay him something similar to Yanda? I find it hard to believe we can give Grubbs something close to Yanda while trying to get Rice under a long term contract, with having to worry about Joe next off-season.

[GrimCoconut]

I would be happy if we can keep him. That would be just fantastic. It would be one less thing we need to focus on this year.

We'll have to see how this shakes out. Having to only look at center & left tackle would be very nice. I am worried about who this will hurt us from signing, though. If we sign him, we may not have enough money for Rice, Flacco, & Webb. I would rather have Webb over Grubbs, but I am assuming that if the Ravens manage to sign him it would be for a long-term deal. I would except Flacco, Webb, and Grubbs to all get long-term deals, whereas I see Rice getting a short deal. By long-term I mean something like 6-7 years. Rice would get 5 years maximum.

This could work if we back-load Flacco's contract and load up Rice's contract and make it top-heavy. Then we could make Grubbs' contract about even and Webb would be about even, too. I see Webb being a part of this team for a while, and we will definitely not part ways with Flacco. It just makes me nervous devoting this much money to guards. I like the tandem, and if you get a dominant center in the draft who can maul people and command double teams, then you have yourself a beastly offensive line.

I just hope that whatever the decision is, it allows us to re-sign people like Rice, Webb, Flacco, Pitta, Cody, E. Reed (if he returns) in the coming years.

[arnie_uk]

make all salaries heavy next year and the year after, when reed and ray are likely gone, boldin to, mckinnie. these 4 contracts, webb flacco rice and grubbs, are the last big ones we will have to give out for 3 years or so, until guys like torrey and jimmys rookie contract is up, (if they even get a big contract) so work it that the majority of the hit is in the years when we expect ray and ed to retire, next yr, year after, and before our next big contracts. Ed and Ray alone are worth about 15 mill cap, that would be eniugh to cover rice, grubbs and webb probably

[JO_75]

Don't the salary cap go up in 2013? So would it be possible to give Grubbs a 2 year deal like the Packers just gave Finley? I mean maybe 2 years $13 Million, that way he gets paid and he would still be able to have a shot at hitting Free Agency while he is still young.

[Ravensfan23]

[quote name='JO_75' timestamp='1330103222' post='1001600']

Would we have the Cap in order to pay him something similar to Yanda? I find it hard to believe we can give Grubbs something close to Yanda while trying to get Rice under a long term contract, with having to worry about Joe next off-season.[/quote]

I think the Ravens might be banking on the fact that the Cap is supposed to be sufficiently larger next season.

Flacco's contract will be an extension, so his rookie contract may still be in effect for this season, with maybe a roster bonus to go along with the incentives already tied into his rookie deal. So maybe Pat can find a way to have Flacco's numbers not effect the cap until next season.

Foxworth and Evans contract will probably to terminated or at least restructured. Chris Carr will probably be a part of that as well. As the Ravens should be able to sign Grubbs, Rice, and Flacco this year, while still retaining some low key high impact free agents.

[makaha]

I'm not sure if someone posted a link, so here is another one I saw.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/02/24/john-harbaugh-were-offering-ben-grubbs-a-lot-of-money/

[Moderator 3]

[quote name='makaha' timestamp='1330109965' post='1001700']
I'm not sure if someone posted a link, so here is another one I saw.

[url="http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/02/24/john-harbaugh-were-offering-ben-grubbs-a-lot-of-money/"]http://profootballta...a-lot-of-money/[/url]
[/quote]


LOL! It's the headline on our own front page. [url="http://blogs.baltimoreravens.com/2012/02/24/late-for-work-224-harbaugh-were-offering-a-lot-of-money-to-grubbs/"]http://blogs.baltimoreravens.com/2012/02/24/late-for-work-224-harbaugh-were-offering-a-lot-of-money-to-grubbs/[/url]