This one is somewhat of a shocker; especially how bad he sucked the last couple of years and the drafting of Vacarro. I thought for sure they'd release him and recoup the entire $5m he was due against the cap. Instead, he restructures and takes about $1m less, but they added a year to his contract. WTF Loomis? Anyone else see any wisdom in this move? Granted, he's a vet and adds depth to the position, but not at that cost and not in a brand new scheme. I don't get it...at all. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000206084/article/roman-harper-new-orleans-saints-ink-extension
Maybe to actual football experts he's pretty good. Locker room, on the field, as a person, the whole package is what they are looking at. Lord knows he has gotten beat and that gets glorified.
It seems that he took a $1.25 mil pay cut this year and got one year added on to the contract. Adding an extra year means to the end of the contract nothing for the Saints, they can still cut him after this season if they need to and will have paid $1.25 mil less than they would have if they didn't restructure his contract. How does that not make sense for the Saints? He works out well for Ryan's defensive scheme and the rookie needs to learn form someone. Harper isn't horrible objectively. Not elite by any stretch, but far from the worst. Also as a veteran they probably want to keep his leadership in the secondary. I've met him a couple of times and he seems like a pretty good guy, the kind of guy you'd want mentoring a rookie.
I'll tell you how. Despite him taking a $1.25m pay cut, the Saints are still overpaying him, based on his performance the last 3 years. I have no doubt that he's a good guy, but being a good guy alone doesn't win football games. It would make more sense if he restructured to where his entire salary was $1.25m a year instead of just a pay cut. This way, he still contributes in each way you describe and the Saints save over $4m instead of $1.25m, which I bet, is still more than any other team would have offered him if he was a FA.
I was listening to Bobby and Deke yesterday. They said his base salary is 800K, I think. He got a signing bonus of 3M. This way the Saints are saving 4M toward the cap. They were praising him for being willing to work with the team.
Well, if that's the way they worked it, then I don't have a problem with it. I thought the whole amount counted against the cap.
Seems like once again Loomis knows what he's doing much better than we do as fans. I can see Harper making much more valuable contributions in Ryan's scheme in run support and blitzes than pass coverage down field. At least that's my prediction.
It's a lot better then the $5m he was due. Still, any time he is in pass coverage against any eligible receiver for the opposition, no matter who that person is, he will be exposed.
