Originally Posted by
LukeDaniel
No offense, but this is a ridiculous statement. Veteran minimum type players are mainly special teamers. These are guys who don't play downs from scrimmage under anything but unusual circumstances. Occasionally, you will see a veteran minimum type guy who gets some snaps because he was coming off a major injury or interruption from the previous season (basically a low-risk bargain type signing.....Kemoeatu or Donte Stallworth or Ighedibo fall into this category). Essentially, they are players who don't have any real options in free agency, so they sign for the minimum for a year with the hope of getting a larger contract the following year.
If Ed Reed is given a contract in 2013, it's going to be as a starter, and you don't sign or re-sign players of his caliber to veteran minimum type contracts. Reed isn't going to take a 85% pay cut to go to another franchise to be a backup. It's not in his makeup (we agree there). We need to re-calibrate our expectations here. Even coming off a bad year, a player of Reed's pedigree is worth far more than a veteran minimum contract.