Thread: Clady.

Clady's body is breaking down, he may make a miraculous recovery, but doubtful
We got a 7th round pick for Chris Clark and now he is starting for Houston and playing good.

He's our best lineman but I can see Elway trying to get him to take a paycut. We really needed him this year.

I think Elway restructures Clady due to injuries.

Can't pay him that if he is not on field. Probably change to more incentives and option to earn more overall.

Originally Posted by NightTerror218

I think Elway restructures Clady due to injuries.

Can't pay him that if he is not on field. Probably change to more incentives and option to earn more overall.

That's what I'm hoping for. An extremely team friendly incentive laden contract.

We might have a little leverage to ask him to restructure. All of his guaranteed money was in the first 3 years.

Originally Posted by Joel

All the prognostication I've seen from people with a record good enough to make a living off it say pretty much the same: Huge cap hit, odometer nears 30 and THREE major injuries to the SAME leg in six years. After the first, Clady started every game but visibly underperformed his previous seasons' All Pro level; he was an All Pro again the NEXT season, but then missed most of 2013 and was again substandard in 2014. With an extra offseason to rest and recuperate, I expected a 2015 like 2011-2012s resurgence: He tore the same legs ACL instead.

Clady plays a premium position and has had as many All Pro years as leg injuries, so probably needn't take a paycut if unwilling: As Rav says, there are enough teams (and QBs) desperate for even mediocre blindside protection that he can find a buyer. Hell, Beadles is making $5 million/yr to play INSIDE, and he's not half the blocker Clady is (especially not as a mauling run blocker.) Yet it's also hard to see us paying $10 million/yr for a 29-year-old whose leg is hamburger at a position where mobility and agility are prerequisites. Especially since he needed TWO full years to return to form after the other leg injuries.

Unless Sambrailo's awful (and it's worth noting his own injury's keeping him out of tomorrows game) Kubiak and Dennison will likely rely on their experience and record coaching up many mediocre talents until they were reliable if unspectacular blockers. That might prove a bit hubristic, but they HAVE repeatedly shown they don't need an elite versatile player with pre-injury Cladys strength AND agility to succeed.

Perhaps this storys real moral is that highly-paid 300+ lb. All Pros shouldn't risk it all on offseason game of pickup basketball. If his four injuries were in unrelated places, I'd feel differently, but only the pec tear was. Paying $10 mil/yr for an OT to pivot and push on a shredded leg when he's nearing the age injuries become common and careers abruptly end just seems a bad investment.

Name one mediocre talent they've coached up.

I originally assumed he was done in Denver. But with all of our line issues, I could see him back if he takes a big pay cut / restructure. He's not playing here at $10 million next year. I just can't see it.

The average salary range for starting veteran LT in the NFL is between $8M to $10M. People are not realistic thinking that Clady won't command that kinda of deal.

He never should have cut off his dreads. He's never been the same.

Originally Posted by NightTerror218

I think Elway restructures Clady due to injuries.

Can't pay him that if he is not on field. Probably change to more incentives and option to earn more overall.

If you are a player that can get upfront money, why would you take a paycut.. incentive laden... contract? Especially if you are a player that has had to deal with injuries. You think the player doesn't know he's had injuries?

Originally Posted by Ravage!!!

If you are a player that can get upfront money, why would you take a paycut.. incentive laden... contract? Especially if you are a player that has had to deal with injuries. You think the player doesn't know he's had injuries?

It will be interesting to see how it plays out. The guaranteed money is all in the first 3 years. None of 2016 or 2017 is guaranteed. Personally, if he's even 80% of what he use to be I think they should keep him.

Originally Posted by Jaded

Name one mediocre talent they've coached up.

We drafted Chris Myers, but he barely played except when Nalen was hurt, then we traded him to Houston (reuniting him with Kubiak) for a 6th round pick. That suddenly made him a starter, then a two-time Pro Bowler. Eric Winton's been mediocre since leaving Houston, bouncing between 3 teams in as many years and losing the starting job last season, but was good enough IN Houston to get $22 mil over 4 years from KC. Wade Smith also bounced between 3 teams, in 6 years, and only held onto the starting job throughout 1; then he came to Houston, kept the starting job, and even made a Pro Bowl.

In Denver, there were Dan Neil, Ben Hamilton and Tony Jones (a career-starter, so not mediocre, but his sole Pro Bowl was under Shanny, Kubes and Dennison in '98.) Ben Hamilton may be the best Broncos example, a severely undersized LG who became a solid pulling lead blocker in our ZBS under Kubiak and Dennison. Call him a puffed up FB if you like, but he never would've been a starter without coaching giving him the required skills and a system in which to apply them; he remained a Broncos starter even after Kubiak and Dennison left, but when McDumbass cut him he was out of the league a year later.

Understand, I'm not saying all (nor any) of those guys were scrubs, nor that Kubiak and Dennison made them all HoFers, only that most were below average talents but above average players thanks to developed skills and a system that took advantage of them, both of which reflect coaching.

Sometimes I worry Kubiak and Dennison believe their own hype a little too much, so we end up trying to make starters out of guys like Cooper Carlisle and George Foster (though Foster was an underperforming 1st round bust, and I personally think that was because of him, DESPITE coaching.) It's fine to make bad players decent, but much better to make good players great. Regardless, our HC and OC have a long record of doing both, just as Kubiak's gotten at least one Pro Bowl season out of EVERY permanent starting QB he's ever had, even Griese and Schaub.

Going back to Clady, it's hard to imagine a former All Pro taking a paycut on a contract he got after a franchise tag, but it's equally hard to imagine Elway would keep paying $10 mil/yr to a guy with a shredded leg at a critical mobility-intensive position, especially since each time that leg's been hurt in the past he's needed MORE than a full year to play decently again.

I don't think we can count Ware's money as a free up anymore. Before the season I would have said yes, this is his last year and we can use his money next year. He keeps playing like he is now I don't see how we let him go, I don't care who we have as a backup.

I think Clady will be gone.

Originally Posted by Rick

I don't think we can count Ware's money as a free up anymore. Before the season I would have said yes, this is his last year and we can use his money next year. He keeps playing like he is now I don't see how we let him go, I don't care who we have as a backup.

I think Clady will be gone.

Well, for the sake of argument, whom would you rather see starting: Sambrailo or Ray?

I think most people suspect any offensive line issues we have are due to development and lack of chemistry, not an inherent lack of talent. I tend to agree from what I've seen.

I also think the coaches like Ty Sambrailo, and Clady's roster status for next year will depend on where Ty is at later this season in terms of his player evolution. If he does enough to just establish confidence that he can be the franchise LT, then I don't see Clady coming back (though I don't think his career is over, he'll find a spot somewhere). I like Clady and I think he can still be very good, but age/injuries and a young early round draft pick coming in is just the natural circle of life in the NFL.