Logan Mankins' Contract Situation Goes From Bad to Worse

Because I don’t see a clear winner in this situation.

Remember how Maroney ran the best toward the left side? Yeah… might not be as great now.

Thank You! Your post was very helpful for me to better understand the circumstances.

Thanks alot SMP for the nice shot. It is a business, but it is about winning and if any professional athlete who has a hard time feeding his or hers family well that is their own fault. I am f-ing pissed at this situation. There is so many good people who can barely stay afloat or are sinking in America right now and many of them rely on their sports teams to lift their spirits. How can this be that a blessed individual is worried about a few million that he also could never spend on what he should and that is charity in his lifetime? Get out of here we don’t need you!

But I wanted to see what people’s opinions were, just yes or no.

when they gave Kaz an extension last yr….all i could remember was Kaz getting owned.

I hope he does sign the deal! But not until he makes some sort of statement of regret. No tearful apology needed, just enough to admit he spoke out of turn and say the Patriot brass are honorable people and his emotions got the best of him. He was upset but “overstated” his emotions.

Either way, I say…………No trade!

If Mankins sits out the year “on principle”, his agent isn’t getting his payday either (up to 3% of the contract max.). I’ve never heard of an agent being that “principled”. Either agent or client is an idiot, or both if they came up with this together. Unless there is something totally unexpected in the contract, I can’t see this stand at all.

If you want to win back public support at this time, Mankins, you have to spell out the terms of the contract and show how you were wronged. You’ve already stuck one foot in your mouth, but it looks like there’s room for another.

I like the way you draw attention to the side we generally don’t see, that is, the role of the agent negotiating the contract and the tactics he decides to use. In spite of that, I’d like to offer a small challenge to your thoughts…. I respectfully ask that you hear me out…

Whenever anybody hires an agent, they’re doing so because of that person’s knowledge of their respective industry as well as the best way in which to negotiate in the current market. It doesn’t matter if it’s a real estate agent, a personal injury attorney, a crimianl attorney, or in this case, a sports agent. All of these job examples are glorified “middle men” that use their training and knowledge to get the best possible deal for the consumer they serve. The average person knows very little of specialized industries (like the NFL) and these negotiators are hired based on ONE FACT….. That is; they can reach a better agreement than the average dude can reach for himself (that INCLUDES their fee).

In my professional career, I have been exposed to a few of these industries as well as the negotiation process. With that said, there’s one common thread among the client and his agent…. that is, the agent will always tell the client to keep his mouth SHUT and allow him to do all the talking. The client can only screw things up for purposes of the negotiation. As soon as the client speaks, wether it’s buying a house, discussing their personal injury, talking to the police about the alleged offense, or in Mankins case, speaking emotionally about the other side of the table, they have compromised the process and made it more difficult 95% of the time.

As result, I can’t imagine Mankin’s agent is not furious with his client. This agent would be the world’s biggest idiot to have approved those kinds of comments. Agent will ALWAYS say…. "let me be the bad guy…. the goal is to make you look as “XYZ” (whatever the case) as possible… your job is just to sit there and do what I suggest". Even if it was a ploy to use this kind of hard nosed position…. The average agent will instruct the client to “let them say those things”.

If the AGENT had said…. “My client is frustrated and upset….. and at my suggestion, he has ask for a trade as the damage to the relationship is very deep… He regrets this stance but that’s where the sides are!”

Allowing the agent to say basically the exact same thing would have frred him up from looking like such an ASS. But…. Mankins chose the ASS route.

It’s just too much of a reach for me to think Mankins acted as a plan between he and his agent. I think he acted IN SPITE OF his agents wishes.

I agree with letting him sit, but that would be it. To add the "franchise tag" would be over the top.

I don’t want to sit here and call the kettle black because I’m 90% right there with you! That is, all the way up to the end of this year. Although it may sound like the Pats letting him sit would indicate they took these barbs personal (which they should), it can easily be explained otherwise.

At this point, they need not center their efforts on sending their message toward Mankins. I think it’s safe to say the organization thinks of him as an a$$ and may have written off seeing him in Patriot uniform this year. Letting the guy sit is a good way to send a message to anybody else who thinks it’s wise to violate the code of respect and silence.

When they let Adalius Thomas go, they didn’t give any indication of what kind of cancer he was…. they didn’t need to. They called it a mutual parting of ways for the betterment of both parties. Letting Mankins sit (unemployed) can always be explained that he is of great value to the organization and his "value outweighed the other options they’ve been presented". They can add it was their hope he would step back up to the table to re-negotiate during camp and during the season. Even though that may be partial bullshit.

Franchising him next year would present the organization as vindictive jerks who are getting back at a disgruntled employee (thus proving, in part, his point). That would be difficult to explain otherwise!

I know it’s sorta like splitting hairs, but in makes a difference in public opinion.
The Pats are too classy to take steps like that!

but the Pats are a run-first team, so it’s a lesser position. Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t want a Mankins-quality player – I do – but I won’t lose sleep if a decent backup (Connolly? Kaczur?) takes over.

but because of the rule change, he is restricted and the Patriots had every right to franchise him – which they did. He can negotiate with other teams, but they would have to give up a first and a third round draft pick to get him, which is a bit too steep a price for teams to want to give up to get him.

…and then have to settle for 6 mil a year.

Cassel isn’t the QB that Brady is; he doesn’t have the arm-strength, nor the control, nor the play-reading ability of Brady. That means he can’t do Brady-like touch passes or long bombs or jam it through the same windows Brady can. What Cassel could do is stretch out the play with his legs – and often enough his movement around the backfield meant that Welker had that extra time to get open. I’m not saying Cassel is better than Brady or anything ludicrous, I’m just saying that Cassel’s mobility in the backfield (and coming forward, too) meant he (and Rodgers and Roethlisberger) can sometimes ‘salvage’ plays that would otherwise be blown up by extending time on their feet. When and if they do, they’re likely to get up more sacks, but they’re also potentially able to make more plays instead of throwing it away. It’s riskier and might not look great on the stat sheet in the ‘sacks’ column, but it can (and will and has) won plenty of games, and in Roethlisberger’s case, even Superbowls.