More Branden Albert talk: Why we should give him a fat contract if he plays guard
 

I think at this point the Chiefs need to go this direction with him rather than working to trade him. He's a valuable offensive linemen whether you think he's top 5, top 15, or even just meh. The Chiefs as of late haven't exactly been very lucky with drafting guards and finding replacements via free agency. The interior line needs to either do some gelling or we need to seek out replacements. Albert at LG (or RT) would help out tremendously.

I think we can afford to pay Albert what he wanted to play LT in Miami, and just make him one of the highest paid guards or RTs in the game. From the sportrac link that patteeu posted, here are the average salaries of the top 5 guards:

Carl Nicks (Bucs) $9,500,000
Logan Mankins (Pats) $8,500,000
Jahri Evans (Saints) $8,100,000
Andy Levitre (Titans) $7,800,000
Davin Joseph (Bucs) $7,500,000

I can't remember the exact figures Albert was supposedly seeking from Miami, but I believe it was around 5 years 50 million? 50-55 million?

Andy Levitre signed a 5 year 60 million with 27.5 million guaranteed. Depending on the guaranteed money, Albert would still receive less than that.

We also need to pay other players. However, perhaps not quite so immediately. We're in fairly good shape for the next two years. 2016 is a cluster****ing mess, but we're doing okay in the meantime:

Without any knowledge of how the cap will lay out in the coming seasons and what player contracts will do, it's impossible to know what kind of position we'll be in. A lot of the players on these lists are pretty interchangeable with rookies/free agents we bring in and out. Many of them could be cut immediately in Reid's first training camp.

However, given the expected ages of some of these players in 2016, I still think we're in okay shape. An extension wouldn't be as big of a deal if we still wanted to keep them around at a lower veteran salary. Or, we could just let them walk, which may need to happen especially with Hali, Johnson, or even Charles (no telling what wear and tear a RB will sustain in the coming years)

Essentially, I think it boils down to two MUST re-sign players: Eric Berry and Justin Houston. It's possible to keep guys we (may) like such as Asamoah, Hudson, Schwartz, and Poe. But for only two players that will demand some sizeable contracts, that's not bad.

It's why I think especially after some rich deals like Hali's and Alex Smith's are either re-structured or taken off, we can afford to keep Albert on a fat deal. And given the headache of trying to trade his ass, we could also just let him walk after this year, but I think he can still be pretty damn valuable to this team.

The key is of course if Albert is content with hush money. Time will tell if he backs down from his stance of "I'm a LT, damn it!"

Lots more money will come on the cap in 14 due to the TV deals.

Joseph got a 7 year, $52 million dollar contract. I'd give Albert a 5 year, $40 million dollar contract to play LG or RT.

That's a point that isn't being made nearly enough.

Will he do it though?

there is money and there is ego


If Albert would be ok at competing with Fisher for LT/RT as long as he gets his 9 million per then i'm ok with it.

but if he is going to reluctantly take the deal and then pout about it ... **** it.

If Albert goes to LG then what happens to Schwartz/Asomoah?

I think what needs to happen is Dorsey and Reid need to actually negotiate with BA in good faith. Can't help feeling they have a part in the negative tone of all of this as well. Of course maybe they did, but we'll probably never know what has actually taken place between the two sides.

Pay the man !


I don't care what it costs, it's not my money !

We need the best line we can get and keeping Albert makes our line better.

unrelated, but i look at those 2014-15 lists and see 2 maybe 3 people that i give a shit at all about keeping...thanks, scott

so you think the past GM/Coach and the current GM/Coach have all screwed over Albert?

why would they?

Schwartz DOES play tackle. He prefers guard, but I doubt he's going to pass up a starter's job.

What the (potential) Albert contract does is fills that hole at LG once and for all. No more old man Liljas, and no more worrying about rookies who can't hack it.

We could also play him at RT if it's that big of a deal.

Or, the other option is to simply play the best linemen we have. Asamoah has been good, but if Schwartz is an improvement over him and Albert is an improvement over Schwartz, we may have to just let Asamoah go to another team.

In any case, both Schwartz and Asamoah are done with their contracts in 2014. They have one year left. If we can save some money in not having to give people new contracts, that might be where we concentrate our effort.

We have no clue. Just thinking about the current regime though, you have to think at least part of this is on Dorsey and Reid. Did they even try to negotiate with BA or did they just simply tag him and focus on moving him? I don't think it's all BA being a whiner or baby. I believe he wants too much money based off of the talks with MIA, but did we even offer a long term deal in all of this? BA is trying to do what every NFL player does, he's trying to maximize his $$. Hard to fault him for that. Without knowing details it's also hard to only hold BA's feet to the fire. We have no clue what they told him in all of this. I almost always side with ownership in these situations, but BA signed his tag and has basically gone silent...isn't that what he's supposed to do? If he were truly being a total ass he would not have signed his tag. He called their bluff, now it's on them to me.

It could come out that BA is totally at fault in all of this, but we hardly have all the facts.

but negotiations didn't work out with either regime so i don't see how you can just focus on one. It's a trend.

Was there even any negotiations with this one? I know he was offered a deal from Peeholy, but turned it down taking his agents advice. I wasn't aware that there were any real negotiations with the current regime.

worry about replacing terrance copper?

more like "bye"

why would they not negotiate?

Maybe the initial offers were so far apart they didn't negotiate for very long, but i don't see why they wouldn't negotiate at all.