Agreed, I would've made him play under his current contract until I got a better trade offer. However if you think Nuk would've been a clubhouse lawyer I can see why BOB would go ahead and move him. What gets me is BOB did Nuk a favor by trading him so Nuk could get the contract he wanted and Nuk said what he said on his way out the door. This tells me 2 things, 1. BOB/Nuk didn't like each other. 2. Nuk isn't the sharpest tool in the shed.
Not the sharpest tool, yet he got out of a situation in which he didn't like the coach AND will get the contract he wanted. Seems pretty sharp to me
The Tunsil deal still bothers me. I feel like giving up a high pick for a guy like Tunsil at the end of his rookie contract for a chance to extend him for big money is understandable. But giving up the haul of multiple 1sts and a 2nd for a chance to make him the highest paid player is another example of BOB having terrible GM skills. If you are willing to pay big money for a top 10 LT, then go out and sign one in free agency; if you are willing to overpay, you can buy a good LT. But don't give up the farm (mortgage your next two drafts) and then give up the excessive cap space for highest paid at the position. I really feel like that's another example where BOB didn't care about value at all, didn't care about future consequences. A good GM has to be smarter than that. I get that LT's are hard to find, but this move was ultra desperate ...and now Tunsil has us over a barrel on salary. His agent knows that after giving up that kind of a haul we aren't gonna let price stand in the way of long-term extension. Having lost our leverage, we are about to get bent over.
Laremy Tunsil’s offseason tasks: Giving back and negotiating his own contract This is an odd time. The COVID-19 pandemic has left people cooped up inside, sports have halted and Laremy Tunsil has rejoined Twitter. Considering today’s issues, that last point is relatively unimportant, but prior to last week, the Texans’ left tackle hadn’t tweeted since April 2016, when a hacker broke into his account during the NFL Draft. That infamous incident is far in the past, though, and the health crisis facing society called for Tunsil to utilize all of his social channels to spread the word about his efforts to help. Tunsil has committed up to $250,000 toward the Florida Gateway Food Bank and Houston’s Star of Hope Mission, as well as individuals in need who can reach him at laremycares@gmail.com. He said he began thinking about how he wanted to help months ago, before cases of the coronavirus had popped up stateside. By Tuesday afternoon, the email inbox had swelled to 647 requests for assistance. “We’re going to try to help as many people as we can,” Tunsil said by phone. “I go through stories and kind of just pick one. It’s hard because you want to help everybody, but you know you can’t.” Tunsil is encountering hard-to-navigate challenges in his professional life, too, including staying in shape during an abnormal offseason and representing himself in ongoing contract negotiations. He explained how he’s doing both in a recent conversation with The Athletic. That discussion, edited for brevity and clarity, follows. How’s your offseason been? Um, different. But I’ve been enjoying it. Everybody has a moment when COVID-19 became pretty serious to them. What was that moment for you? My mom keeps the TV on the news. Her room, the living room, my room, it’s always on the news. I knew the coronavirus was pretty serious when it was in China and it was making its way over to the United States, so we were already getting prepared for it. We just went ahead and started stocking up on things. We were ahead of the game. Who are “we”? Who are you staying with right now? So, I got my mom, my little brother, my son, my grandmother and my brother’s girlfriend are all at my house in Houston. Last year, you spent your offseason training at Liberty University, where your old Ole Miss coach, Hugh Freeze, now works. But that’s not an option right now, so how do you go about staying in shape? I actually have a mini gym inside my garage. Me and my trainer just kind of get at it inside my garage. Experts say we need to have some sort of routine to keep us sane. What’s been yours? Wake up, eat breakfast, work out, shoot hoops for a little bit, spend time with my son, get in the pool, play the piano and go to sleep. Do you ever lose track of what day it is? It’s funny that you say that. I don’t know what today is. Despite all of our lives taking twists because of the virus, your contract status has remained a much-discussed topic during the NFL offseason. You recently changed representation. Why did you decide to change it, and who’s going to represent you as you negotiate a contract extension? The reason I left my agent Jimmy Sexton at CAA — which was a great agency, don’t get me wrong — was I just felt like it was just time for change and putting matters into my own hands, so I’m actually representing myself. Will you have people advising you? I actually have a full team of lawyers. My finance team is called Life Line. And then I have a manager named Laolu Sanni, who helps me with a lot of things. Who did you consult while deciding whether to represent yourself? I talked to a couple players who have done it. The biggest one was (Panthers tackle) Russell Okung. I talked to him, tried to get some advice. And (Seahawks linebacker) Bobby Wagner is signed to Life Line, so he informed me. What was Okung’s advice? The main thing was just being patient and play your odds and just wait it out. Just be patient. Plain and simple. You have another year left on your rookie deal, so along those lines, you don’t feel rushed into signing an extension this offseason? Yes, exactly. Whenever football comes back, there’s a chance it feels rushed at the start. How might the experience of getting traded just before the season started help you prepare for a season beginning under even more unique circumstances? I’m ready for anything. Last year was crazy. I came to Houston and I had to play in a couple days, had to learn a whole new playbook. So, I’m ready for anything. What did you take away from that experience, in terms of how to learn something fast or quickly adjust? That’s a great question. I’ve never thought about it. I just kind of went with the flow, tried not to stress myself out and just kept pushing. We all could use some de-stressors. Give me a streaming recommendation for while everyone is stuck at home. See, I’m big on music. I don’t know if you’re big on YouTube, but there’s a lot of videos of people playing instruments and a whole bunch of stuff. I’m a big YouTuber. Check out Masego’s channel. He actually just dropped a couple songs.
#1 Tunsil doesn’t have an agent. #2 Franchise LTs do not become available with 2 years left under team control. THAT NEVER HAPPENS. You have to pay a premium to get a guy like that. #3. By trading for him, you get exclusive negotiating rights for 2 seasons with the option to Franchise him to keep control. You don’t have to compete with any other team and get into a bidding war with the risk of losing. He was always going to be the highest paid tackle, but you can limit by how much.
He will get re-signed. It would've cost the same amount of draft capital to trade up into the top 10 to get a LT of Tunsil's quality and even then the new LT wouldn't have been near as good as Tunsil as a rookie. Which would have further exposed Watson to more hits. In other words without the trade Watson would've been getting sacked 50-60 times a year for four straight years at the very least. I'm just glad the Texans now have a talented young OL.
Tunsil on NFL Live: I'm not gonna talk numbers. I'm gonna leave that between me and the club, the Texans but I am looking to be the highest paid offensive lineman of course. I feel like I work my butt off every day just to be in that position and hopefully we can make that happen. What did you make of the recent trade of DeAndre Hopkins? That one hurts. It's part of the business. I was in the same position not even a year ago. I know the feeling. It's all about business. We gotta keep moving and continue to win games and work to be the best. With the exit of Hopkins, Jadeveon Clowney, Duane Brown and guys like that, can you characterize Bill O'Brien's leadership and how he deals with big name players on the team? (Laughing) Billy O, that's what I call him. In my opinion, he's doing a great job by leading the team. He's doing everything in his best ability. Like I said, time for us to win games and close out games. It's all up to the front office what they do trading wise. I'm just here to help the team win games.
That's a staggering amount of money. Especially considering the post just below yours with Lane Johnson's league high 18M AAV. Of course, Tunsil's got great leverage. The Texans can only franchise one guy a year, and they'll have to negotiate Tunsil's new deal while they're trying desperately to make sure Watson stays. What a disaster for "Billy O."
But in 2-3 years, $20+ million won’t look as bad. I think the team needs to get it done before Stanley’s new deal in Baltimore. The price would go up even more if Stanley signs first.
https://www.si.com/nfl/2020/04/09/matt-rhule-carolina-panthers-coronavirus-rookie-head-coach Let’s start with Tunsil. My understanding is that the terms of the deal really isn’t an issue. When it’s done, it’ll likely be a three-year extension to take the big left tackle through 2023 (he turns 29 that August), adding to the $10.35 million option he’s due this year. Right now, the highest-paid left tackle is Indy’s Anthony Castanzo, a good-not-great 31-year-old who just got $16.5 million per year. The league’s highest-paid lineman is Philly’s Lane Johnson at $18 million per year, and he turns 30 next month and is a right tackle. It’s not hard to square where the Texans will wind up at an APY north of $20 million, especially when you consider it’d probably cost them around $40 million to franchise him twice (in 2021 and ’22) anyway. The good news for Houston is if they do, say, a three-year, $60 million extension with Tunsil, they can fold this coming year into the year, and spread the total of over $70 million over four years.
