.The Washington Redskins coach wants Guice — or someone else
— to earn it.How the backfield shakes out is the biggest question the Redskins
face as they open training camp . Guice
Jamison Crowder Jersey , former starter Rob Kelley and 2017 draft pick Samaje Perine are all vying to be the feature back alongside third-down star
Chris Thompson at a position the Redskins desperately need improvement from
after being fifth-worst in the NFL last season."It's a great three-way
competition really with Guice, obviously 'Fat Rob' and Samaje," Gruden said
Thursday after the first practice of camp. "It's very, very important to let
these guys play it out. They've all shown flashes of being good football players
at the running back position."No one flashes more potential than Guice, who
plummeted in the draft from first-round prospect to Washington in the late
second. The LSU product fumbled his first carry of camp but shoulders big
expectations and has already made quite the impression on his new
teammates."He's a stud. He can do it all," left tackle Trent Williams said.
"He's one of them guys that every team wants to have. He's an old-school running
back: hard to bring down, runs strong and is extremely fast @ his size."Guice
should get every opportunity to show he deserves to be the No. 1 running back.
He split first-team carries with Perine and Kelley on Thursday, though Gruden
expects padded practices to provide a better indication of where the race
stands.Kelley came from off the pace to win the starting job as an undrafted
rookie during in 2016 and held it last year until knee and ankle injuries ended
his season. But with Guice's buzz and Perine's pedigree from his time at
Oklahoma, Kelley is again an underdog and is perfectly fine with that."I've been
there before," Kelley said. "I came in as an undrafted guy. It ain't nothing new
to me. It's just about overcoming it, man. I'm not the first guy it happened to,
I'm not going to be the last guy it happens to, so just keep going."Only one
thing is settled with the Redskins' running back situation: Thompson is
entrenched as a crucial run and pass option for an offense that is transitioning
from Kirk Cousins to new quarterback Alex Smith. Thompson is coming off knee
surgery and will be eased back in to the crowded group.As he deals with the
frustration of wanting to be full-go, Thompson looks at the running back corps
of Guice, Perine, Kelley, Kapri Bibbs and Byron Marshall and sees an abundance
of depth."It's ridiculous right now," Thompson said. "All the guys bring
something to the table. So I'm excited about it. We've got a few guys that are
those bruiser running backs, and then the other half of the guys are all good
route runners and stuff. I'm excited about it. It's definitely going to bring
the best out of us."Running backs coach Randy Jordan noticed that right away
during offseason workouts after Washington drafted Guice. All of a
sudden
Cheap Trent Williams Jersey , Guice's high-energy approach to every snap has forced that sense of urgency for the players looking to hold him off for carries
once the season gets underway."The biggest thing is there's a lot of competition
in this room," Jordan said last month. "So when you have that, everything else
takes care of itself."Guice said a rookie minicamp that getting accustomed to
new terminology would be the biggest adjustment from the SEC to the NFL. Once he
gets that down, he'll level some of the playing field with Perine and Kelley,
thought he doesn't want to speculate about how big his role might be."I can't
really predict how me and Chris and Samaje and Kelley and all of us are going to
be used," Guice said. "However Jay or Randy want to use us, that's how it's
going to go."NOTES: LB Zach Brown strained his left quadriceps muscle and was
held out of team drills for the remainder of practice. ... TE Jordan Reed
revealed he had two separate toe surgeries, one on each foot. Reed had a bone
removed from each big toe after lingering soreness that has lasted since before
training camp a year ago.Colt McCoy’s contract extension We heard about it first
on TwitterHogs Haven immediately posted an article that generated over 200
comments.There was a clear split in the fan base between those who were outraged
at the idea of an extension for McCoy and the price tag attached, and those who
wanted to “wait and see” what the details of the contract would be.Twitter
reporting of contractsTypically, early news about extensions leaks from the
player’s agent.Experience tells me that when the terms are favorable for the
player, we tend to get pretty clear details about the contract almost right away
— after all, the agent who is giving the scoop to the journalist wants credit
for putting together a good deal for his client.Red flagsWhen we hear only
“headline numbers” like total contract value and number of years in early
reports, followed by a lot of silence about the details, this is typically a
‘red flag’ to me that the contract is probably very team-friendly. It’ll
probably take a week or so to find out the contract details, and they won’t be
published in a detailed article and trumpeted on Twitter; instead, the details
will be quietly posted on OverTheCap and Spotrac, where only a small number of
fans who follow contracts closely will likely take notice.The initial reports
about the Colt McCoy extension all used the same language — that the deal was
“worth up to $7m”.That use of the words ‘worth up to’ is usually the second red
flag that the deal isn’t likely to be as lucrative for the player as the initial
‘headline numbers’ suggest.In an effort to keep the fan base from open revolt,
someone gave a little bit of information to the press.John Keim’s initial
article stated that “There are void and buyback provisions in the deal, which
could still make McCoy a free agent after this season.”Keim went on to point out
that Colt McCoy’s current contract
Youth Josh Norman Jersey , which had been signed in 2016, had a clause in which the final year -- 2018 -- could void the rest of the contract if he played
65 percent of the offensive snaps.This was to give McCoy the opportunity to sign
a new contract or enter free agency if he had a Nick Foles-type season where he
took over the starting job and did well.Keim seemed to be implying that chances
were pretty good that the special provisions in the new extension would offer
something similar to McCoy while limiting the Redskins salary cap exposure if he
didn’t end up having to do much more than hold a clipboard for the next two
seasons.This isn’t the first time this has happened this yearUntil we hear the
details of a contract however, there’s a certain amount of panic mixed with
outrage that the fan base will experience when Twitter announces the headline
numbers leaked by a player’s agent. Remember the freaking out among the fan base
when we saw the early Tweets for the Orlando Scandrick deal?Eventually, the
details were posted on OverTheCap, and Hogs Haven posted an article titled,
Report: Scandrick contract has only $1m guaranteed; $2.6m against Redskins 2018
cap to review the details.Here’s what that article said:This was a far cry from
the $10m headline number that Mike Garafolo put out on Twitter on March 20th,
and a collective sigh of relief was heard around Redskins nation when it became
obvious that this was a short-term rental of an experienced CB who could help
smooth over the dual-loss of Breeland and Fuller, and offer some insurance
against the possibility that the team didn’t get the expected development out of
Dunbar and Moreau, or if the team’s positional depth was tested by injury.It
certainly wasn’t an ualterable $10m commitment to an aging and oft-injured
former Cowboy defensive back.The Redskins got some low-risk insurance and
Scandrick got an opportunity to extend his career.Interestingly, I have scoured
Garafolo’s Twitter timeline, and I can’t find his later report with the details
of the Scandrick contract.NOTE: I PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE POSTED THIS ARTICLE
YESTERDAY, AS SCANDRICK WAS RELEASED BY THE REDSKINS THIS MORNING.You’re also
not likely to get the details of the Colt McCoy extension from any national
writers either, but — thanks to a Redskins blog and Spotrac — we’ve got the
skinny for you here, today.The structure of the Colt McCoy extensionLast week,
Burgundy Blog tweeted that the details of the Colt McCoy extension had been
obtained:Spotrac published that information in the table format that is normal
for salary info:Highlights:Cap hits of $3.6m and $3.5m in 2018 & 2019No
guaranteed moneyThe only dead cap is $600K leftover from his last contractTotal
value = $6.5m over 2 years + the $600K leftover from last contract = $7.1m cap
hitAssuming that the Burgundy Blog and Spotrac reports (which are consistent
with one another) are accurate, then this means that the outraged comments about
the ‘Skins $7m per year, noodle-armed backup quarterback can probably come to an
end.Based on these reports, Colt McCoy is a $3.55m per year, noodle-armed backup
quarterback.Colt’s money for 2018 and 2019 — if he continues to function
primarily as the Redskins quarterback — will be pretty consistent
Youth Ryan Kerrigan Jersey , and will result in a cap hit of about $3.55m per year.If Colt does more than a typical backup this season, then it could
trigger a voiding provision in Colt’s contract to allow him to be a free agent
in 2019.I haven’t seen a clear and unambiguous explanation of the voiding
provisions, but we’ve seen some indications.John Keim:“McCoy had a clause in
which the final year -- 2018 -- could void the rest of the contract if he played
65 percent of the offensive snaps.”Spotrac: “It voids for... 30% playing time +
certain QBRor50% playing time + a playoff game.”The idea is that, if Colt plays
a significant number of snaps and plays well (or in the playoffs) then he can
get a Nick Foles-type situation as a reward; his contract can/will void,
allowing him to leverage his 2018 play into a lucrative contract for 2019 and
beyond.Much like the Scandrick contract, this provides protection for the
Redskins, who will shell out $3 to $3.5m per year for a player that Jay Gruden
considers to be a reliable backup — a guy who played very well in the first
preseason game against the Patriots, and who has played well enough in relief in
prior years.But it also provides opportunity for Colt McCoy; if he has a season
like Nick Foles with the Eagles or Case Keenum with the Vikings in 2017, then he
has the opportunity to cash in on the open market in March next year.Comparable
contractsOverTheCap hasn’t updated the McCoy contract yet — it’s possible that
they’re waiting for some of the details, or they may just be slow — but this
list of QBs from the OTC website, ranked by APY, shows who is being paid between
$2m and $4m per year.There are still some significant contract details that
don’t seem to have been openly published yet, but the main brush strokes have
been reported by two well-known sites, and there’s enough information available
to draw the reasonable conclusion that Colt McCoy’s contract extension is a
market-rate deal, with protection for the team and upside potential for
McCoy.Unless there’s something unreported that we haven’t seen yet, there
doesn’t seem a lot of reason to freak out over this extension.It looks like Eric
Schaffer is still on the job.
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