Antonio Gates lead blocking for Vernon Davis?
by smileyman on Jul 29, 2010 7:00 AM PDT
in Player Salaries
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PrintYesterday the Chargers agreed to a five year deal with Antonio Gates. The deal is worth $36.175 million. It includes $20.4 million in guarantees and averages just over $7 million per year, making him the highest paid TE in the league. Dallas Clark earned $6.77 million making him the highest paid TE in the league last year.
This is an interesting deal for several reasons. First off there's the obvious implications regarding Vernon Davis. Secondly there's the whole issue with the contracts for Vincent Jackson and Marcus McNeil who must be furious right now. Join me after the jump for some number crunching.
Let's compare stats first:
Antonio Gates
| Career Stats | |||||||||||||||
| Season | Team | Receiving | Rushing | Fumbles | |||||||||||
| G | GS | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | FUM | Lost | ||
| 2009 | San Diego Chargers | 16 | 16 | 79 | 1,157 | 14.6 | 56 | 8 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 0 |
| 2008 | San Diego Chargers | 16 | 16 | 60 | 704 | 11.7 | 34 | 8 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 1 |
| 2007 | San Diego Chargers | 16 | 16 | 75 | 984 | 13.1 | 49T | 9 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2006 | San Diego Chargers | 16 | 16 | 71 | 924 | 13.0 | 57T | 9 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2005 | San Diego Chargers | 15 | 15 | 89 | 1,101 | 12.4 | 38 | 10 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2004 | San Diego Chargers | 15 | 15 | 81 | 964 | 11.9 | 72T | 13 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2003 | San Diego Chargers | 15 | 11 | 24 | 389 | 16.2 | 48 | 2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 1 |
| TOTAL | 479 | 6,223 | 13.0 | 72 | 59 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | |||
Vernon Davis
| Career Stats | |||||||||||||||
| Season | Team | Receiving | Rushing | Fumbles | |||||||||||
| G | GS | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | FUM | Lost | ||
| 2009 | San Francisco 49ers | 16 | 16 | 78 | 965 | 12.4 | 73T | 13 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2008 | San Francisco 49ers | 16 | 16 | 31 | 358 | 11.5 | 57 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 11.0 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 2007 | San Francisco 49ers | 14 | 14 | 52 | 509 | 9.8 | 31 | 4 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 1 |
| 2006 | San Francisco 49ers | 10 | 8 | 20 | 265 | 13.3 | 52T | 3 | 2 | 5 | 2.5 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| TOTAL | 181 | 2,097 | 11.6 | 73 | 22 | 3 | 16 | 5.3 | 11 | 0 | 4 | 3 | |||
Now Antonio Gates has been productive for longer than Vernon Davis but I think it's safe to assume that if VD has even close to the same kind of year in 2010 that he did in 2009 we'll be locking him up fast. He's younger, more talented and has more upside to his career so there's no reason we can't pay him more.
My guess it'll be six years $45 million. with $25 million guaranteed. We've talked about this before, back when Celek extended and when we extended Patrick Willis and I think this is the most realistic figure, however I wouldn't be totally shocked to see a 7 year deal worth close to $50 million.
The way I'd structure it is to split the bonuses up over 2011 and 2012, with the rest of the money coming in 2013-2016. What do you guys think? Personally I think we extend him before the end of the regular season.
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I say they sign him during the season
They powers that be probably want to see just a little more from him to justify what he will get, but they’ll sign him, I’m not worried about that. If he was the best receiver on the team last season and looks to be right up there this year, they’d be on some pretty good crack not to! :)
17 days to go!
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Thank you for the stat comparison
Vernon’s last two seasons look almost identical to Antonio’s first two seasons. If the pattern continues we should get over 1000 yards from him and 10 TD’s. Anything remotely close to that should get him a comparable contract to Gates with ANY team in the league. I believe it’s in the 49ers BEST interest to sign Vernon now before the price tag goes UP. I can fully understand why Vernon isn’t sweating the contract issues. He’s going to be rich no matter what.
Gates has earned that salary
Vernon still has some proving to do. Hopefully he gets a nice and fair contract.
Coach Boone: And who's team is this, Gary? Is this your team? Or is this your daddy's team?
Bertier: Yours.
Coach Boone: Now get on the bus. Put on your jacket first and then get on the bus.
I'd be happy to see 8 years 50 million
With 30 million guaranteed. Vernon has the offseason work ethic where little nicks don’t keep him off the field and he’s turned into a leader. He doesn’t need the highest avg pay for a TE but make him secure and give him a lot guaranteed.
Gimme 1 round!
It’s hard to say if I would pay him that much. If we were to sign him now, I would expect to pay a little less than Gates, because of the fact that Vernon hasn’t been consistent. By his 4th year, Gates was already an elite player having 3 900+ yard seasons, one of which was 1100.
If they DON’T sign him until the regular season starts, and use the “wait and see” approach, well, it could come back to bite us in the ass. If Vernon shows he can remain consistent this year, he’ll definitely be worth as much or more than Gates.
The CBA will complicate a lot of things. The Niners might not want to sign Davis until a new CBA is signed. And Davis might want to sign during the current CBA because he might make more money under the current format.
"Dodger fans aren’t happy when foul balls get into their section, because it interferes with their playing with the beachball"- Mike Krukow
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