A day after they signed receiver Davante Adams to a four-year, $58 million extension, the Green Bay Packers took another of their would-be free agents off the market. Center Corey Linsley got a three-year extension worth $25.5 million.
Like Adams, Linsley is in the final year of his rookie deal.
The timing of both deals is significant. Teams have until this weekend to work out contract extensions and have some of that money count against the 2017 salary cap. The Packers were $10 million under the cap and you can bet they used some or all of that up.
It’s a nice payday for Linsley at $8.5 million annually in new money.
If you look at it just from the new money perspective, it would make Linsley the fifth-highest paid center in the league annually.
Of course — and this holds true for Adams, as well — since the Packers have put some of the contract money in 2017, the annual numbers are going to be higher than they actually are.
Linsley's salary this season was $1,797,000 and given the Packers can prorate the signing bonus over four years (including this year), it ends up being a four-year, $27.297 deal.
— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) December 30, 2017
That still pays Linsley an average of $6.8 million per season.
It’s a decent re-up for the Packers. After getting injured in 2016, losing his job to J.C. Tretter and then regaining it when Tretter got injured, Linsley has started every game in 2017. It’s also worth noting that the Packers don’t really have another center on the roster. The backup was Don Barclay, but the team waived him off injured reserve earlier in the season.
Of the remaining Packers’ free-agents-to-be, safety Morgan Burnett has to be at the top of the list, especially with the regression of Ha Ha Clinton-Dix.
EN 
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Demovsky is a product of the Green Bay Gazette, and it shows.
After doing careful research, Linsley was quite the bargain. Only 8.5 mil/year for the 23rd ranked center.
If Linsley is now the 5th highest paid center. It’s business as usual at 1265 Lombardi Avenue.
It should be noted that Linsley isn’t the only center on the roster, but close enough.
Next up…Clinton Dix…5 years 55 million.
Dude. Fuck you, don’t say that and give Ted ideas. If the packers give HHCD $55 million…. I might literally have to put a gun in my mouth
Well listen, if you say fuck you to me again, you better have a gun.
Just kidding :)
Although i wish the lonely boy would threaten me like that, i could help put it out of it’s misery.
I like this signing more than the Adams signing. He is a good run blocker but probably not a better pass blocker than Tretter.
I’m willing to bet Jordy Nelson is not a Packer next year & maybe not Clay Matthews
The utility lineman (i.e., Barclay type) is now Justin McCray, so there’s your backup center.
What about doomzday?
https://twitter.com/doomzday55
Thanks, had forgotten about him. Who knows what we have there…
Well, he’s been in the league for 3 seasons as an UDFA, on 3 teams and hasn’t played in a game yet, that might be our 1st clue.
That is some hilarious Packer math by Demovsky. He realized paying 8.5 million per year for the 23rd best Center in the NFL (by PFF rating — fair and objective, play by play analysis) was on the ridiculous side. That is a lot more than Josh Sitton when the pro bowler was cut and about T.J. Lang money when the Packers passed on signing that pro bowler….
So, time for funny math-bending skills! Linsley was given 25.5 million for 3 added year. 8.5 million per yer if all 3 years are paid and played. Simple, right? Clear, right?
A little too clear…. Sort of embarrassing really….
So Demovsky ASSUMES some of the signing bonus will be put on 2017 — may be so — and decides that is free money and any money from 2017 can just be subtracted from the contract. What what?
He adds 1.797 million — money already paid during this year’s contract — and uses that as an excuse to make this new contract into a 4 year contract! Voila! Amazing!
The money from this year — IF it actually was used as part of this contract — is not free money. It could have been used in another contract. It is better for the team that it is used and, in the sense it COULD have gone unused and into the pockets of the rich at the expense of the team, it was certainly better used than not used. But money is money and, no matter what Demovsky tries to pull, Linsley — the 23rd best Center in the NFL — got 25.5 million at 8.5 million per year to extend his stay with the Packers just three years.
With those Packer math skills out there however, there are likely tens of thousands of Packer fans who now beleive they got the 23rd best Center in the NFL for 4 years for JUST 6.8 million per year.
To make it just a little more clear: If the Packers wanted to use all of the “extra” 10 million from this year then 2/3rds would have gone to the Davante Adams contract, which, for one year longer is double the price of the Linsley contract. Which means 3.5 million of the 10 million would be spent on Linsley. Subtract 3.5 million from 25.5 million and, even in the funny math world of Demovsky, the Packers are still paying the 23rd best Center in the NFL an average of 7.33 million per year over the next three years.
This 10 million in free money is still all an illusion. They did not need new contract extensions to use the “free” money. They could re-write any players contract to subtract future money and repay it as an immediate roster bonus, signing bonus, etc. It is good they used it — if they used it — but in no way did it enable or limit the costs of these two new contracts.
What the lonely boy is trying to say in his novel above is that Demovsky’s math of turning a 3 year contract, to look like a 4 year contract…. is bullshit (which i’ve previously covered already).
Also that they could sign Linsley to this deal, but passed on Lang (which i’ve previously covered already).
The lonely boy also tells us it’s ridiculous to pay the 23rd ranked center this kind of money (which i’ve previously covered already).
Listen…Let me just state the facts….i’m a highly successful commentator on this website.
So it should come as no surprise that some people ^^^^^ out of jealousy and admiration, will take my comments, and pawn them off as their own. It isn’t the first time, and it won’t be the last.
Funny, killer throwing out PFF ratings but then goes on about how great Eric Kendricks is (46th rated ILB in the NFL, according to PFF)
I noted I appreciate Kendricks play but that he was NOT deserving of pro bowl consideration and was not a pro bowl snub. He is better than Blake though.
Kuechly and Wagner are in another world above Kendricks, who himself is a tier or two above Martinez. The only possible pro bowl snub at inside linebacker for the NFC squad (and, really, it wasn’t) was Ogletree of the Rams. He is better than Kendricks and Martinez. My main point was that acting like Martinez got robbed when Kuechly and Wagner made the pro bowl is just ridiculous, a total flight of fancy.
This is beyond stupid. Tretter signed a deal for like 2 million less, is more versatile, and is a bit better than Linsley. Cue the circus music