Broncos, Prater “not far apart” in negotiations

I can’t remember the exact stipulation in the new CBA, so I can only comment on what I wish was the case, and leave it for someone who knows the ins and outs to comment/correct/affirm….

Personally, I think that this July 16th deadline should be set in stone in the CBA where if the player doesn’t sign the franchise tag, or have new deal worked out and signed, then they are automatically held out without pay for the entire season IF and only IF they actually hold out.

Example: Prater’s case…
Prater wants to be paid who knows what… threatens holdout if he isn’t.
whether the Broncos tag him or not, if Prater holds out at any point after July 16th deadline, he’s lost for the entire season, and doesn’t get that year counted against his contract meaning that next year, he is still a restricted free agent, so he’s in the same situation.

I don’t think this would hurt anybody in any way. I don’t think this gives the franchise any leverage, and it also takes away the extreme strong arm tactics of the player. How can I say this? Because, a team will not want to go into the season without a highly coveted player. All this will do is speed up the negotiation process instead of having it linger through training camp and the preseason.

Think about it, the Broncos have a “we will never under any circumstance go above $X” and Prater or more appropriately his agent has a “we will never under any circumstance go below $X.”… well, at some point, there will be a middle area (think of a venn diagram with the overlap being where the negotiations lie).

In today’s world, Prater could hold out through training camp, which causes an unnecessary distraction to the team. Eventually, he will either sign the tender, or get the contract. The only difference is that if you make a hard “do it by this date, or you’re done for the season” deadline, then the deal that will eventually get worked out will get worked out before training camp and thus, take away the negative distractions. The pressure by both the team and player to get a deal done will only expedite the process. The team wont strong arm the player for fear that they’ll lose a coveted player for the year, and the player won’t strong arm the team because he knows that he’s done for the year if he does. Its a win/win.

I’m practically 100% positive that this isn’t in the CBA as the players would hate to have a set in stone date, but it freaking should be! I think the owners as well as players have forgotten that they are paid millions to play a game in front of fans. When players hold out, or owners try to low ball the players, it’s the fans that get hurt. Well, without fans, there is not NFL. Without fans, there is no revenue. Without revenue, there is no paycheck for players, no revenue for stadiums, and no revenue for owners/employees to take in as income. Are these 2 sides really that disconnected with the general population that they can’t see this?

lol, isn’t that Prater’s mug shot from a few years ago?

Creepy mugshot is creepy.

I don’t think he’s worth Janikowski money, but he’s certainly one of the top 8 kickers in the league. $3M is a legit number, maybe a little higher.

I changed it. Too weird and out of context.

I totally agree! I posted one one of the earlier Prater articles that in this “quarterback driven league”, it is still the elite kicker that wins/loses more games than the QB, and therefor should be paid accordingly (although not as high as a QB). I personally think $3mm is plenty if not perfect. Considering that $3mm is more than the franchise number, it would guarantee that Prater is one of the top paid kickers in the league. I’m not sure why Prater wouldn’t be signing it. I’m hoping that it’s just guarantees, length, or something minor that is holding this process up.

We saw 1st hand last year that having an elite kicker is important. How many games do we win without Prater? My guess is “not many”…. Yes, we love that we won so many games once Tebow came in, but man, those games were hard to watch and often times quite boring. Off the top of my head, without Prater, we lose at a minimum of 3 more games, which would have given us a losing record. Who knows how many more we lose because a different kicker might have missed fgs during the game (if we even got on that half of the field before the 4th quarter to attempt a fg). Either way, Prater was instrumental in just as many wins as you-know-who was. I think that even with Manning here, Prater will have an impact. Its the reason why every year, the highest scoring player on every team is the kicker.

While I know that they will never be paid up to their true worth because they only touch the ball a few times a game, elite kickers, of whom I consider Prater to be, do deserve more money than they historically received. With the rookie cap freeing up money to sign vets, I think it’s logical to pay them a little more.

haha no kicker is worth Janikowski money, especially Janikowski.

August, but Kyle took it down.