What should Saints do about Sharper's contract?
November, 4, 2009
Nov 4
12:09
PM ET
Posted by ESPN.com’s Pat Yasinskas
One thing I was thinking about as I watched the Saints on Monday night was what they should do about Darren Sharper's contract situation.
The safety is having the kind of season that usually leaves a team no choice but to sign a guy to a huge and lengthy contract extension. But this situation is a lot more complex than the usual situation.
That’s because Sharper is 33, an age when many safeties have already retired. At this age, a safety can break down at any moment.
Sharper has shown no signs of breaking down. In fact, he’s playing probably the best football of his career and that makes you think he can do it for at least a couple of more years. But the Saints have to be very careful with this one.
Sharper’s created a market for himself if he gets to free agency after playing out a one-year deal that’s worth $1.7 million. He’ll be offered a lot more than that if he’s shopped to other teams.
Should the Saints go ahead and eliminate any possibility of that by locking him up now? Tough call because you don’t want to break up the chemistry and continuity of a defense that Sharper has helped so much in its turnaround. But the Saints do have first-round draft pick Malcolm Jenkins, who is playing cornerback but has the potential to slide over to safety.
There’s a fine line that the Saints have to watch here. If they can get Sharper to sign something like a two-year deal, do it. But if the price gets too high and, more importantly, the length of the contract gets too long, you don’t want to lock up a safety until he’s 37 or 38.
One thing I was thinking about as I watched the Saints on Monday night was what they should do about Darren Sharper's contract situation.
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That’s because Sharper is 33, an age when many safeties have already retired. At this age, a safety can break down at any moment.
Sharper has shown no signs of breaking down. In fact, he’s playing probably the best football of his career and that makes you think he can do it for at least a couple of more years. But the Saints have to be very careful with this one.
Sharper’s created a market for himself if he gets to free agency after playing out a one-year deal that’s worth $1.7 million. He’ll be offered a lot more than that if he’s shopped to other teams.
Should the Saints go ahead and eliminate any possibility of that by locking him up now? Tough call because you don’t want to break up the chemistry and continuity of a defense that Sharper has helped so much in its turnaround. But the Saints do have first-round draft pick Malcolm Jenkins, who is playing cornerback but has the potential to slide over to safety.
There’s a fine line that the Saints have to watch here. If they can get Sharper to sign something like a two-year deal, do it. But if the price gets too high and, more importantly, the length of the contract gets too long, you don’t want to lock up a safety until he’s 37 or 38.
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ABOUT THIS BLOG
Pat Yasinskas
Yasinskas joined ESPN.com in January 2008 after covering the Carolina Panthers for The Charlotte Observer for nine seasons. He began his journalism career with The Tampa Tribune in 1990.
