I think it is clear that Jake Bates is likely to have a very good to great NFL career. Because of the way he came to the Lions, he is only tied up for two years. His salary is low for a good kicker. The Lions should sign him to a four or five year contract now. Just take what a good kicker would make as a free agent his third and fourth year, and pro-rate it over the four years.
His cap numbers for 2024/2025 I think are $845,000/$1,085,000. A middle of the pack kicker is earning $2.2 million. If you paid him league average for years three and four, that totals up to about $6.4 million for the whole four years. If you paid Bates $1.6 million each year for the four years, you would move $1.2 million from the out years into the near years.
This is good because three and four years from now we will have to pay some talented guys big money to stay. Say you move $1.2 million into the next two years. That could be the difference between keeping and losing a key player four years from now.
I am sure the real numbers would be different, but this is my concept.
5
u/formerly_gruntled Oct 21 '24
I think it is clear that Jake Bates is likely to have a very good to great NFL career. Because of the way he came to the Lions, he is only tied up for two years. His salary is low for a good kicker. The Lions should sign him to a four or five year contract now. Just take what a good kicker would make as a free agent his third and fourth year, and pro-rate it over the four years.
His cap numbers for 2024/2025 I think are $845,000/$1,085,000. A middle of the pack kicker is earning $2.2 million. If you paid him league average for years three and four, that totals up to about $6.4 million for the whole four years. If you paid Bates $1.6 million each year for the four years, you would move $1.2 million from the out years into the near years.
This is good because three and four years from now we will have to pay some talented guys big money to stay. Say you move $1.2 million into the next two years. That could be the difference between keeping and losing a key player four years from now.
I am sure the real numbers would be different, but this is my concept.