Logan Mankins

The Boston media that’s at the Scouting Combine in Indy cornered Logan Mankin’s agent Frank Bauer today and got a lengthy dissertation on the contract situation:

“A young man came to them as a first round draft choice and played four solid years and made two Pro Bowls and one alternate,” he explained. “After the 2008 season was over, I approached Bill (Belichick) about a long term deal which most of that small group of Pro Bowlers always gets (rewritten). So what happens is that, we were told that because of the uncertainty of the CBA that (they) weren’t going to do anything with any players. Then they started rewriting players in the (2009 training camp). They were the lesser players and (Tom) Brady and Logan were the big contracts and they would take some time to get through. Logan was a little upset that other players were getting rewritten when everyone was told they weren’t going to get rewritten. And then Bill sat with Logan and talked about it and we said, ‘OK, we’ll play the 2009 season and play it out at $1.4 million. When we get to the uncapped yuear, there’s no rules, no regulations…being an uncapped year we can do what we want. Negotiations started and they started low. And it’s been pretty bad ever since.”

Look, none of us fans are going to exactly shed tears over Mankins’ situation because he stands to make $10.1 million dollars in 2011 playing under the Franchise Tag. I won’t get on too much of a high horse (or perhaps “Low” horse is more appropriate) because these guys are putting their bodies on the line every week and they’re just one play away from a wheelchair for the rest of their lives…. BUT…. $10 million is more than about 99% of us will ever make in our entire lives so yeah…

Then there’s also the little contract offer of 5 years, $35million that Bauer and Mankins turned down. So don’t act like it’s a travesty just because they didn’t want to make you the highest paid guard in the NFL. If that’s what you expected out of the Patriots you’ve been asleep for the past decade.

I’m just so tired of this whole situation. Mankins fell into one of the worst possible draft slot situations in history along with Vincent Jackson. Their teams have had them by the balls for a long, long time, and they still have them by the balls. And any time an employer has an employee by the balls it’s never a good situation. So I feel for Logan a little bit. And of course I love him as a player.

But this has just gone on for so long, the time has come for him to sign his tender and for the Patriots to trade him as far from New England as possible. I hear the NFC West is a great place in the fall and it’s even close to a lot of Logan’s favorite… cattle ranches!

There’s just been too much vitriol, too much damage done, to honestly believe that a long term deal could still get done. It’s time for both the team and the player to move on. I’m just happy the Pats will control where he goes.

In what is probably the must unsurprising news of this young off-season, Ian Rapoport reports that the Patriots will tag Logan Mankins as their Franchise player. So yes, that is why you might’ve heard a guttural scream and things breaking from the general vicinity of the Mankins home region of California.

If Mankins thought the Patriots would allow him to just walk to off the reservation to whatever contract tickled his fancy he was surely mistaken. But he’s smarter than that. He had to know this was coming.

The good news is that it looks like they’re taking a similar approach like they took with Vince Wilfork last year. Mankins still hasn’t been officially tagged yet so perhaps they are talking about a new contract. This could be unlikely due to the uncertainty surrounding the CBA, but it’s nice to at least have a little hope they’re only using the tag as a way to extend their negotiating window before someone like the Jets swoop in and offer a $3 billion dollar contract.

Mankins is exactly the kind of player the Patriots (or any football team for that matter) need. Granted the Pats did okay without him early last season, but there’s no denying the effect he had upon his return. Re-signing Mankins long term would lock up a nice young piece to build around for the next decade.

If a long term deal isn’t reached and Mankins has to play under the franchise tag there’s no doubt he’ll play just as pissed off as he was last year. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Maybe the Pats should just keep tagging him every season just to make sure he keeps up his bad attitude and mauling ways.

Either way I hope he’s a Patriot for a long time.

I don’t know what it’s going to take but we really need to re-sign Logan Mankins this off-season. The amount of praise that has been heaped on him since his return, especially from BB himself has been notable. I can’t imagine that’s not on purpose. 

I don’t expect anything to get done before the end of the season, and I’m guessing Mankins is going to want to at least test the waters, but it’s pretty clear the Patriots are well aware of his value to the franchise.