KJ Wright's Contract (Long Post)

[kearly]

He gives up too many plays for my liking. When he was on Gronk the Pats went after him basically every time and made beating him look so easy. He's also been a step slow in run support. Our defense is the best in the league at preventing big plays, but Wright probably contributes to that stat the least out of all the regular starters. He gives up plays. Not because of mistakes, but because a 6'4" 250 pound guy isn't really what you would call an ideal WLB. If there weren't drawbacks to playing that position at that size, you'd see a lot more of them around the league in 4-3 defenses.

He's an assignment sound player and probably a "good example" guy, the kind coaches love. He will occasionally make nice open field tackles. Back in 2011 and 2012, he was outstanding at setting the edge at the line as a SAM LB vs. the run. I wish I had a way of knowing if his quiet contributions outweigh his liabilities, but even if they did, I seriously doubt they would be enough to justify that kind of pay.

Our team runs a 4-3 defense that is built around rushing four. You literally cannot build a defense that puts less strain on LBs, especially when the other LBs you line up next to run 4.4 and 4.5. Like Tical said, draft a couple of mid-round LBs and it's almost guaranteed that one of them will be 90% as good as Wright.

I don't know if Seattle signed Wright for statement purposes, but I do think he is the kind of player who's best features will play into coach biases and therefore cause him to be overvalued internally.

I look at it this way, if you are the GM and you have $5 million to spend, are you giving it to Wright or to Mebane? I can't imagine many people would be saying Wright. And yet, Mebane might very well be a cap casualty this offseason thanks in part to the Wright extension. It's the not the end of the world, but do I think such a decision is optimal? No. And it's hardly the first sup-optimal move JS has made. He's great, but he isn't perfect.

 

[Pandion Haliaetus]

I would love for Wright to drop 10-15 pounds and play at 235-240 to max out his athleticism.

But next year hopefully a healthy Wagner, Kam and KPL will drop Wright's snaps + overall duties. I think he wore out at the end of the year for sure.

 

[MarylandHawk]

Still in shock from this, months later. That money shouldve gone to Maxwell.

 

[Popeyejones]

There is no 4-3 OLB in the NFL currently worth the deal that KJ Wright got.

Absolutely agreed.

It's like giving a center or guard the franchise tag (which nobody does, because the tag if based on all o-lineman, meaing your center or guard gets paid like a top 5 LT).

 

[Popeyejones]

But his contract essentially becomes a 2 yr, 13 mil deal.

Wright currently has the 2nd highest per year contract out of all 4-3 LBs acccording to overthecap.com where Im sourcing all the numbers from. He ranks 21st out of all LBs.

But technically his extentsion still worked the same like Earls and Shermans. Wright recieved a 1m cap hit in 2014 for his signing bonus.

So really the deal that he signed was

5 yr for about 28.6 m = 5.72 apy

Throw out that 7.2m on the last year its:

4 yr for about 21.4m = 5.35 apy

5.35 would have been 6th out of OLBs and 34th out of all LBs.

You're throwing out the last "fake" years of Wright's contract, but not the other OLBs your comparing him too, which artificially makes his number look lower in comparison.

It looks like you're also including next year as part of the deal to lower the number, but he was already under contract for next year. The way people deal with extensions in a clearer way is to take the pre-existing salary for next year and subtract it from the increased money from next year under the new extension, and then distribute that increased money over the other years. That way you take into account that the team could have had him at that salary next year, but the money over that amount for next year is really a way to retain him beyond next year.

None of this helps you to your desired conclusion, but it makes a ton more sense, IMO.

 

[edogg23]

I think Wright got paid for a number of reasons:

1. He's a very good player overall
2. He is a 3-down player
3. He can play all three LB positions
4. He's smart, professional, and a leader
5. He's relatively young and healthy

He's not flashy, and I admit I was really excited to see KPL at the Will linebacker spot - his instincts and athleticism open up a lot of possibilities for the defense - but I think this was a smart signing. KPL to this point has been injury-prone and KJ provides a security blanket to the whole group with his versatility.

I also think that, like the Kam signing, the organization wanted to send a message that if you work hard and are patient and professional you will be rewarded. Just like how cutting Percy Harvin sent a message about behaving the opposite way.

I think KPL will be better than KJ which is why I didn't like this signing. It will be intersting to see how they keep KPL on the field this year if he is healthy. I don't see how he doesn't find his way onto the field with his speed.