Stamford, CT: I peeked in on the New York baseball scene and it was like walking in on my parents getting it on when I was eight years old. I could not look away fast enough. So what else is going on? Saquon still hasn’t signed his franchise tag in a depressed RB market. Let’s start there. And a few things happened in basketball. Party.
Saquon Barkley and RB Cap Hell
The three yards and a cloud of dust days of yore, with guys like Earl Campbell and John Riggins carrying offenses are long gone. In the cap era of today, even top tier running backs are treated like special teamers. Teams don’t want to spend draft capital or big money on the position.
Christian McCaffrey is the league’s highest paid RB and he signed his contract four years ago. Things are not exactly trending up at this position. The market is more depressing than trying to watch Josh Donaldson hit a baseball. Zeke Elliot is one of the best backs of recent years and he’s only 27 years old. He remains unsigned and is getting the same amount of looks as I got from Jenny Mendlebaum is 9th grade. Bubkus. Dalvin Cook is another 27-year old top back who was cut by his long time team.
Saquon Barkley is the team’s best player and the Giants need him. In the old days, he would have gotten his contract by now. But teams have to be cap smart and the poor guy has absolutely zero leverage. We’ve seen how this movie plays out. It’ll be like the movie 7 for Saquon. What’s in the box? What’s in the box.
It seems insane that the Giants would start the season with Matt Breida as their back. But how could this possibly work out for Saquon? Maybe the Giants start slowly with a tough schedule and panic sign him for $20 million per? Not likely. Sadly, he has no recourse but to take the Giants’ offer. If it gets him more guaranteed money, it’s better than playing on the tag.
I feel like Cook will sign with the Dolphins and then the other dominoes will start to fall. Saquon will eventually sign for about $12 million per.
NBA Droppings
It seems a little nutty that Draymond Green is in position to turn down $28 million option, but here we are. It doesn’t seem as bad when you scroll through the top 30 highest paid players and see guys like Tobias Harris and Kristaps Porzingis on there, raking in the cash. Draymond makes that team go and three of his teammates, Curry, Thompson, and Wiggins, are in the top 25. You could argue that he’s more important than two of those guys.
But at the same time, locking up Green to a multi-year deal seems like a formula for multi-year mediocrity. The roster is aging and it seems like the time to refresh. Better too early than too late.
I don’t think the Suns trading for Bradley Beal gets them over the top of the Nuggets. The formula is two stars to score, not three. They need to build a better bench and not have three guys taking turns playing one on one.
That’s it for me. Come back tomorrow for Angry Ward.
