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AJ no show/now back to work

Carr Bombed said:
He got like a 15 million dollar signing bonus, both parties benefited from it (the Texans benefited from it, because they were able to move all the money towards a new signing bonus)......Andre didn't have to sacrifice anything. It was just a restructure.....and now he's about to get another signing bonus. Why do people act like he did without coin to sign that contract, when he's about to get another one?

The man hasn't done without and won't do without, so the "he signed a team friendly contract" argument falls on deaf ears.
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I tell you, and provide a link, that he was set to make $21 million in 2007 alone, You tell me that he received a $15 million bonus to cover the years 2007, 2008, & 2009, and expect me to believe he wasn't missing anything? :tiphat:

Help me understand.
 
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Runner said:
How should Andre Melton be more media savvy? I thought players or their representatives running to the press were hated around here.
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From a player/agent standpoint. Andre Melton has been killing it. Name another agent who has been able to get a #3 ovrl pick 3 contracts in 7 years.

Say what you will about the guy, but if he pulls this off.....he's been one of the best agents as far from a player perspective goes.
 
Carr Bombed said:
From a player/agent standpoint. Andre Melton has been killing it. Name another agent who has been able to get a #3 ovrl pick 3 contracts in 7 years.

Say what you will about the guy, but if he pulls this off.....he's been one of the best agents as far from a player perspective goes.
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Yep. He represents the player, not the team.
 
thunderkyss said:
I tell you, and provide a link, that he was set to make $21 million in 2007 alone, You tell me that he received a $15 million bonus to cover the years 2007, 2008, & 2009, and expect me to believe he wasn't missing anything? :tiphat:

Help me understand.
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With all the bonus money and yearly salaries he got from that new deal.......the man wasn't shorted money. It's really not that hard to understand. Especially when you add in the fact that he'll get another huge bonus if he gets a new deal

It's not that you don't understand it, you just refuse to.
 
Runner said:
Lot of venom was spent on Andre. Skipping three voluntary OTAs and coming to work - that's about as classy as a pseudo-holdout gets.
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I think people were psychologically preparing for his departure, like the feeling you get when you find text messages from your girlfriend to another guy.
 
Johnson had two seasons remaining on the original contract he signed as the Texans' first-round choice in the 2003 draft, at base scheduled base salaries of $5.25 million for 2007 and $7.75 million for 2008. Those base salaries were reduced, replaced in part by the signing bonus, and the Texans gained much-needed cap room with the maneuver.

It is believed the extension, which essentially created an eight-year deal counting the two season remaining on Johnson's original contract, carved out more than $6 million in new 2007 cap room.

"This is a great thing for us, because Andre is our best player, and he's going to be a Texan for a long time," general manager Rick Smith told the Houston Chronicle. "Not only are we ensured of keeping Andre, but we cleared some room under the cap, so it was a win-win situation."
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http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2786880
 
JB said:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2786880
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And that's pretty much everything I said above. They reduced his base salary, by restructuring everything into a new signing bonus. Hence AJ didn't lose coin and now he's going to get paid again only a couple of years later.

Which is why I don't entertain the thought that some people have around here that Andre made great sacrifices. The guy got paid and now that pay is only going to increase.
 
I still think he wasn't really holding out, and this was all to distract the media away from Cushing's situation. I remember hearing something a couple of weeks ago that Dre would be missing the start of camp to finish up some classes at Miami or something. And go back and look at Rick Smith when he's discussing why Dre isn't there. He's kinda smirking, like he's in on a joke that the rest of us don't know about.

I think they had a deal done verbally, possibly even offered by the Texans themselves, that Dre had some personal things to take care of, and they used it as a ploy to bury the Cushing story.
 
Rey said:
I think a few were worried that he may be trying to force a trade.
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How would he do that???

He has/had no leverage, the guy would literally have to sit out 5 years and even if he sat out one year, other teams would seriously have questions about trading for a receiver who sat out a whole season (seeing how nobody does that), because he's upset with a contract that he just signed and a contract that still has 5 years left on it.

Andre wouldn't be able to force anything....with 5 years left on his contract he can only do what we allow him to do, and we're allowing him to possibly rip up his contract.
 
DerekLee1 said:
I still think he wasn't really holding out, and this was all to distract the media away from Cushing's situation. I remember hearing something a couple of weeks ago that Dre would be missing the start of camp to finish up some classes at Miami or something. And go back and look at Rick Smith when he's discussing why Dre isn't there. He's kinda smirking, like he's in on a joke that the rest of us don't know about.

I think they had a deal done verbally, possibly even offered by the Texans themselves, that Dre had some personal things to take care of, and they used it as a ploy to bury the Cushing story.
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I remember the same. I wish I could find that link. And combine that with the comments JJ made about AJ finishing school.

I think the new PR guy pulled off a masterpiece. (or maybe one final one from the dude leaving.)
 
If this was really some sort of ploy to get the heat off of Cushing, then bravo Rick Smith/PR Dept. Truly a masterstroke.

I bet AJ isn't that happy with his contract though.
 
Carr Bombed said:
How would he do that???

He has/had no leverage, the guy would literally have to sit out 5 years and even if he sat out one year, other teams would seriously have questions about trading for a receiver who sat out a whole season (seeing how nobody does that), because he's upset with a contract that he just signed and a contract that still has 5 years left on it.

Andre wouldn't be able to force anything....with 5 years left on his contract he can only do what we allow him to do, and we're allowing him to possibly rip up his contract.
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You really think teams wouldn't trade for a wr because of character concerns? LOL

If someone traded for Marshall and Pac Man Jones has a job, I think teams would take on Dre

If dre really was in the trade me or I sit mode, I think there is a possibility that the Texans would go ahead and get whatever value they could. I don't know how many yrs Cutler had on his deal or why that matters, but he forced a trade while under contract
 
Carr Bombed said:
With all the bonus money and yearly salaries he got from that new deal.......the man wasn't shorted money. It's really not that hard to understand. Especially when you add in the fact that he'll get another huge bonus if he gets a new deal

It's not that you don't understand it, you just refuse to.
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Ok, if you agree the bonus money was "restructured" taken from what would have been his salary in 2007, 2008, and 2009 then paid to him as a bonus, you're basically saying he got nothing out of the deal, because it is what he was scheduled to make in 2007, 2008, and 2009.

In 2009, his base salary was $2.825 million
In 2008, his base salary was $2.825 million
I'm assuming his base in 2007, was $2.825 million

Add the $15 million bonus, and that's $23 million.

According to the link I posted earlier, he would have made $21 million in 2009 alone. 2007 & 2008 would have been another $12 million.

The only thing the 2007 extension did, was allow the Texans to spread his salary out further than the 3 years he had left on it... 2007, 2008, 2009.

2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016 is where the new money comes in.

Far as Andre is concerned, he's just been playing out the end of his rookie contract. The $15 million bonus was part of that deal. When you add that to the $13 million from his first bonus ($28 million) he would have had to average $1.8 million in base salary from 2003-2009 to equal the $39 million he was supposed to make.
 
Rey said:
You really think teams wouldn't trade for a WR because of character concerns? LOL

If someone traded for Marshall and Pac Man Jones has a job, I think teams would take on Dre

If Dre really was in the trade me or I sit mode, I think there is a possibility that the Texans would go ahead and get whatever value they could. I don't know how many yrs Cutler had on his deal or why that matters, but he forced a trade while under contract
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First of all the Texans would have to accept a trade (They wouldn't do that, unless a team gave up a king's ransom for him and a team wouldn't do that if Andre really sat out a entire year of football).

Second, Andre is not a QB. If you want a good opinion on the difference between the ability to force a trade of QBs and non QB positions, go look up what Chad Johnson had to say about the subject.


There was no danger of Andre getting cut or traded, the Texans have him dead to rights if they wanted to.....they are being extremely nice in trying to accommodate him with 5 years left on his contract.
 
b0ng said:
If this was really some sort of ploy to get the heat off of Cushing, then bravo Rick Smith/PR Dept. Truly a masterstroke.

I bet AJ isn't that happy with his contract though.
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Absoultely he is not happy with his contract. Nor should he be. But I would not be surprised to learn that there was a secret agreement that his contract would be re-evaluated at this point. We were kinda set up for it last year.
 
Carr Bombed said:
There was no danger of Andre getting cut or traded, the Texans have him dead to rights if they wanted to.....they are being extremely nice in trying to accommodate him with 5 years left on his contract.
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I thought the rule in the NFL was that if you sat an entire season as a holdout, you were automatically released as a free agent. If that's true, the fact that he had five years means nothing. It could be 1 year or 10 years.
 
DerekLee1 said:
I thought the rule in the NFL was that if you sat an entire season as a holdout, you were automatically released as a free agent. If that's true, the fact that he had five years means nothing. It could be 1 year or 10 years.
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I don't think that's true.....I believe Houston would still have his rights.
 
thunderkyss said:
Ok, if you agree the bonus money was "restructured" taken from what would have been his salary in 2007, 2008, and 2009 then paid to him as a bonus, you're basically saying he got nothing out of the deal, because it is what he was scheduled to make in 2007, 2008, and 2009.

In 2009, his base salary was $2.825 million
In 2008, his base salary was $2.825 million
I'm assuming his base in 2007, was $2.825 million

Add the $15 million bonus, and that's $23 million.

According to the link I posted earlier, he would have made $21 million in 2009 alone. 2007 & 2008 would have been another $12 million.

The only thing the 2007 extension did, was allow the Texans to spread his salary out further than the 3 years he had left on it... 2007, 2008, 2009.

2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016 is where the new money comes in.

Far as Andre is concerned, he's just been playing out the end of his rookie contract. The $15 million bonus was part of that deal. When you add that to the $13 million from his first bonus ($28 million) he would have had to average $1.8 million in base salary from 2003-2009 to equal the $39 million he was supposed to make.
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Do you have any other links to his rookie contract, besides a PFT piece that was posted before Andre ever played a down in the NFL? And what were the "incentives" on that rookie contract to get that big pay day his last season?
 
DerekLee1 said:
I thought the rule in the NFL was that if you sat an entire season as a holdout, you were automatically released as a free agent. If that's true, the fact that he had five years means nothing. It could be 1 year or 10 years.
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The most games a player can sit out is 10 to still get credit for the season. They would only get paid for 6 games but it would count against their contract years. If they sit out more than 10 games it is as if the year didn't happen with regard to their contract.
 
Carr Bombed said:
Do you have any other links to his rookie contract, besides a PFT piece that was posted before Andre ever played a down in the NFL? And what were the "incentives" on that rookie contract to get that big pay day his last season?
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Do you? Not only is none of this making sense from your point of view about his rookie contract, but you also believe his current contract was front loaded, paying the majority of what is owed to the player up front.

His current contract steps up every year, starting at $5.8 million dollars this year.

The three previous years, he played for a base salary of $2.825 million dollars. $8.4 million. add the $15 million bonus and it's $23.4 million, leaving $36.6 million to be paid over 5 years.

$7.3 million/year for the best wide receiver in the league... Just doesn't sound right to me.
 
thunderkyss said:
Do you? Not only is none of this making sense from your point of view about his rookie contract, but you also believe his current contract was front loaded, paying the majority of what is owed to the player up front.

His current contract steps up every year, starting at $5.8 million dollars this year.

The three previous years, he played for a base salary of $2.825 million dollars. $8.4 million. add the $15 million bonus and it's $23.4 million, leaving $36.6 million to be paid over 5 years.

$7.3 million/year for the best wide receiver in the league... Just doesn't sound right to me.
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About half the value of his contract has already been paid to him over the first 3 seasons of that contract....so yes, he's gotten more money during the start of it.

And sorry, but shoot me if I need a more reliable link for the rookie contract and the yearly payouts that were due for that contract.
 
Carr Bombed said:
About half the value of his contract has already been paid to him over the first 3 seasons of that contract....so yes, he's gotten more money during the start of it.
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23.4 is 39% of 60... and 2007 & 2008 were actually a restructure of his rookie deal, where he took less money to help the team get under the cap. He would have earned between $26 million and $28 million his last two years under his rookie contract. With the restructure, he only earned $10 million under the new deal, if nothing else changes. $1.8 million from the pro-rated bonus, and $2.825 million as his base salary. (x2)

Carr Bombed said:
And sorry, but shoot me if I need a more reliable link for the rookie contract and the yearly payouts that were due for that contract.
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Sorry, but shoot me if I expect you to do your own research to back up what you are saying.

You said his contract was front loaded, and he received the lions share of it already, and now wants a bigger contract once it got "team friendly".... prove it.

You said he didn't lose any money by restructuring his rookie contract. prove it.

I provided a source, you don't like it... find your own disproving mine.


Actually, it's not easy to find anything referencing his rookie contract with more detail than that one... I tried.
 
I'm ehh with the entire thing.. it is voluntary...walk thru's, running..etc... so what, not like he needs to get into shape.. This entire thing has been blown out of the water too darn much..
I thought voluntary meant just that... and it's news.. geeez !!
 
Thorn said:
Well, damn. What the hell do we have left to panic about now?

Need. More. Controversy. LOL
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chicken-little-sky-falling.jpg


Wait, why isn't the sky falling? OMG! THE SKY ISN'T FALLING! THE SKY ISN'T FALLING! HELP!
 
BIG TORO said:
So does this mean that they have come to an agreement?
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From what I could tell, they're starting discussions for restructuring his deal.

As for the previous comments, yes it is voluntary workouts but since when has it been the norm for AJ to miss those???

Yes, we are probably a little premature and overblown on our reactions but when a player of this calibur and previous track record show none of this ever happening.....thats when the panic button gets warmed up.

This was not meant for Big Toro, meant for Hobie.
 
BullNation4Life said:
Who held their breath to begin with? If someone held their breath about a nothing situation, they may need to seek stress help....
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Just one less distraction to deal with this off season. Coming off the whole Cush drama, having contract/diva issues with your #1 player is the last thing this team needs.

As for exhaling......:sarcasm:
 
hobie said:
I'm ehh with the entire thing.. it is voluntary...walk thru's, running..etc... so what, not like he needs to get into shape.. This entire thing has been blown out of the water too darn much..
I thought voluntary meant just that... and it's news.. geeez !!
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I've kinda felt the same way about the whole situation. IMO, we've been lucky he's attended every OTA since he's been here. Teams across the league have players not show up to OTA's all the time.

That said, it did take a lot of heat off Cush's back. So we have that going for us.
 
thunderkyss said:
What do you mean "Exactly."

Your point is in direct contradiction to what Infantrycak is saying. We are not going to be trying to throw the ball less. We haven't moved to a pass first offense. The rush attempts have pretty much been the same since Kubiak got here.

There is no reason to believe we will pass the ball less. There is no reason to believe Andre's role will be reduced. Running the ball better, will have no affect on the number of passes that will go Andre's way.
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TK I said that ICAK's "we rushed poorly" was exact. Kubiak admitted that our previous philosophy of the run setting up the pass was changed during last season. He said they were not going to a pass first mentality but it was obvious the running game was not successful and he would do what it took to win. Schaub passing and Andre's stats reveal that. As I've posted Gary's philosophy is to run the ball. This has been discussed for years. A #2 was used on Tate whose rep is running the ball with power and speed as an every down type back. I do expect to see a balanced offense this year with a nod to the running game if our backs prove to be up to it.
 
Carr Bombed said:
Jeez, why do people keep typing this?
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Because it's true? :um:

What part of "creates salary cap room for 2007 that will permit officials to pursue some free agents" do you not understand?


Carr Bombed said:
LOL, Andre didn't do us any favors contract wise. He's about to get his 3rd contract in 7 years and people are acting like he made this great "sacrifice" for the betterment of the team. LOL. 3 contracts (and everything that goes along with them...such as signing bonuses) in 7 years....We've literally spared no expense with Andre Johnson.
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He did make a "great sacrifice" for this team. He committed his HoF career to a perpetual mediocre franchise. Dude could have played out his rookie contract and signed with any of the 31 teams. The market would have been his for the taking, and he would have been well compensated wherever he landed. If you don't think that's sacrifice for the team, then we'll just have to leave it as an agreement to disagree.

Besides, it wasn't a second contract. It was a six-year contract extension to his rookie contract.

NitroHonda said:
Then Andre's a friggin' moron. Hiring a bonafide shark ain't all that hard considering his earning potential.
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If he had a shark for an agent *cough*ScottBoras*cough*, he would have advised AJ to get off the loser team and sign with a championship caliber team that would compensate him, as well (Indy, NE).

I'm glad he doesn't have a shark for an agent as a Texans fan. :shades:
 
Geez, it doesn't appear that AJ lost any size so far this off-season.

AJ = President of HOU-TEX's Beast Club
 
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