Jags breaking the bank on Mack

[Robjr83]

6 years averaging 9mil a year...... paying close to 20mil over the first two years.... two bad teams fighting over a very good center. You could get several quality players and have a much better team, than a team with a great center and piss poor players around him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2014/04/alex_mack_agrees_to_a_five-yea.html

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Browns Pro Bowl center Alex Mack has agreed to the general terms of a five-year offer sheet from the Jaguars that would make him the highest paid center in the NFL, league sources told cleveland.com.

Mack would average somewhere in the neighborhood of $9 million a year, a source said. The deal would also include roughly $22 million guaranteed.

Final details of the offer sheet are being ironed out, and once that happens, Mack will sign the deal, which could be Thursday or Friday.

The Browns will then have five business days to match it under terms of the transition tag.

For Mack to replace Carolina's Ryan Kalil as the league's highest paid center, he'd have to surpass Kalil's average of $8.186 million a year. Other top centers in the league are in the $6 million to $7 million a year range.

At $9 million to $10 million a year, Mack would be the highest paid center by far, and he'd be making left tackle money. Browns seven-time Pro Bowler Joe Thomas averages $11.5 million a year, and has a base salary of $10.9 million in 2014.

Sources have said the deal is structured in such a way that the Browns might not want to match it, but the club is committed to wrapping Mack up to a long-term deal and it would take a lot to make them walk away.

Profootballtalk's Mike Florio reported that the deal pays out $18 million to $20 million over the first two years, and $27 million over three, which is in line with the approximate $9 million a year average reported by cleveland.com. Florio also reports that Mack can void the deal after two years, meaning he can walk away after pocketing $20 million for 2014 and 2015.

But the Browns are unlikely to let Mack go for the extra few million dollars a year.

Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, who flew to California last month with other key members of the organization to try to sign Mack to a long-term contract, indicated Tuesday that he'll match any offer the Jaguars come up with.

“We remain optimistic that Alex Mack will be a Cleveland Brown for a long time,'' Haslam said on the "orange carpet'' at the local premiere of Draft Day at Cinemark Valley View theaters. "We want him to be. I think we’ve made it very clear that he’s the kind of person, the kind of player we want in our organization.”

Asked specifically if he'd match any offer the Jaguars devise, he smiled and said, "We want Alex to be a Cleveland Brown.”

Mack's close friend Joe Thomas, who also attended the local premiere of the Browns-based movie, was also confident his linemate will be wearing orange and brown again in 2014.

"Well, there’s no doubt that he’ll be here at least this year,'' said Thomas. "I think that’s for certain. I certainly hope we can sign him to a long-term deal and keep him here for much longer than I'm here.''

ESPN's Adam Schefter and CBS Sports' Jason LaCanfora have reported that Mack wants out of Cleveland, but sources have told cleveland.com that that's not necessarily true. He did enjoy his meeting with Jaguars general manager Dave Caldwell and coach Gus Bradley and would love to play for them. But if Mack signs the offer sheet, he's well aware that the Browns can match, and he's fully prepared to return to Cleveland and play out the contract.

But he'd have to overcome some of the bad blood that's occurred throughout the negotiation process. For starters, he wasn't thrilled that the Browns waited so long to approach him about a new deal last season instead of wrapping him in the summer. When negotiations didn't go well, the Browns shelved talks and planned to revisit them in January. But those plans were derailed when the Browns fired coach Rob Chudzinski and then CEO Joe Banner and general manager Mike Lombardi.

The meeting in California, which included coach Mike Pettine, general manager Ray Farmer and team president Alec Scheiner, also didn't go well and may have made things worse, a source said. Upon returning home, the Browns designated Mack as their transition player, which rankled him. Not only was he unable to hit the market as an unrestricted free agent, the Browns chose the seldom-used transition tag instead of the franchise tag, which would've paid Mack a guaranteed $11.6 million for 2014 instead of $10.039 million for the transition tender.

Had the Browns franchised him, Mack would've been more motivated to negotiate a long-term deal with the club. Instead, he sought to solicit offers from other teams, and now the Browns are in jeopardy of losing him -- unless they pay up big.

The Jaguars, who don't have any big contracts coming up that they need to extend, have about $25 million in cap space. The Browns, who have about $31 million in cap space, are renegotiating with Pro Bowl cornerback Joe Haden and will be looking to extend tight end Jordan Cameron and receiver Josh Gordon next.

Will they be willing to tie up a ton of cap room for their two-time Pro Bowl center? Within the next six or seven days, Mack will find out.

[cravnravn]

And if the Jags draft Johnny Football, and get Mack, that could give that fan base something to cheer for...

[Robjr83]

I'm sure London will love them.

[cravnravn]

They are not going to london

[papasmurfbell]

Yeah they are. There is way to much smoke down there.

[RavenMad]

They can't fill the stadium in Jax so why would they pass up the mega money on offer in London? There are plans to expand the London series even further so you can expect to see it get to 8 games per season sometime soon and then a franchise will be permanently exported there.

[papasmurfbell]

It goes to 5 games. Jax has I think 3 more yrs to do a game there. Kahn is setting it up like crazy.

[Robjr83]

I still cant get the logistics of a London team. Would the Jags play a West Coast team? They'd have to if they were in the playoffs. Image the Ravens in the playoffs having to fly to London win then in immediately fly to Denver?

[papasmurfbell]

Sure they would. They woudl do a run of away games and go to a US training complex during that time.

[Robjr83]

And if the Jags draft Johnny Football, and get Mack, that could give that fan base something to cheer for...

 

Johnny Football's going to Leaveland

[vmax]

Jacksonville and Cleveland....