I wonder what the contract will look like, compared to Jamarcus. Certainly a smattering of egg on PFT's face on this one.

According to PFT, the deal is for around two to four million dollars less than the JaMarcus Russell did a year ago. However, it's also a year shorter (five instead of six).

It sounds like both sides got what they wanted. Parcells paid out less money than Russell got last year, and Long and his agent got one less year on the contract.

The real question mark about the contract is going to be just how this affects the length and the value of the contracts of playing two and below.

A few thoughts by a Dolphin fan:

1. Getting Long allows Miami to pick the BPA on defense at the #32 pick. Miami had to address the OL. If we picked Gholston or C. Long, we'd be forced to pick an OT with the #32 pick, even if the best guys were gone (as some have predicted).

2. Long is the safest pick. If he's no good at LT, switch him to RT or guard. The guy will be able to play in the NFL. If C. Long or Gholston don't cut it, there's no where else to stick them.

3. I think its a great pick cause he's a great player. 2 sacks and 2 penalties in 4 years!??!? Better measurables than Joe Thomas!?>!?! I'll take him.

4. Bill Parcells entered into good faith negotiations with Long's agent and got the job done. No drama. No smokescreens. No bullshit. I like that. A lot.

I believe this won't change Emmitt Smith's draft prediction for the Dolphins.

He's still making more per year than Russell. Kind of expensive for a right tackle.

If it's true, I can't believe it's only a five year contract. Since players picked #1-16 are eligible for six-year deals, negotiations are going to be a NIGHTMARE for those picks now.

#5- Tony Sparano, Miami's Head Coach who is a former O-Line Coach said in the press conference that he'll play LT. In a debate between Sparano and Fourth, I'll take Sparano. The guy is a Left Tackle.

#6. Good. The NFL needs to reform the way NFL rookies are paid. Hopefully, this will shake things up.

This is where St. Louis really makes things interesting. You read the mock drafts about the Rams taking Chris Long or Dorsey. If New Orleans really wants to move up, and St. Louis needs help along both lines, do you do the deal? Keep in mind St. Louis has to show improvement or the coaching staff will probably get cleaned out. This leads me to believe they will draft players who can step in now and contribute. Chris Long is my guess...

As #6 stated, he was drafted to play left tackle, and he will play left tackle. I don't care who said he is going to be at right tackle, he's a left tackle and that's final. Ireland was very open about that fact earlier in the PC.

And also as #6 stated, great news for the rookie pay system. Hopefully this will be a deal that causes some backlash in the system, and maybe, one day, lead to a new system for paying a bunch of guys straight out of college.

Long isn't playing LT for a pass happy team like the Rams. He can get the job done though if the Dolphins are going to run 60% of the time. Jumbo Elliot wasn't going to win any agility contests at the Combine.

How does this effect Jason Taylor? Makes me wonder if he'll still be traded now.

As for Long himself, its a good move. If nothing else, let him get his feet wet and if Beck improves/tanks, the Fins know if they need a QB and/or O-line help next draft.

But I am pretty sure I recall seeing Jumbo Elliott catch a TD late in his career. Long's got THAT to live up to....

Wow, I guess I touched a nerve. Of course the coaches/GM are drafting him to play LT. No one in their right mind would pay that kind of money otherwise. I was sort of kidding, since obviously the Dolphins coaches and scouts know more than some sportswriter/blogger. And that's nice to be able to say, since it hasn't been true for nearly a decade until now.

How does this effect Jason Taylor? Makes me wonder if he’ll still be traded now.

I would think they would keep him around after this move.

After all, Taylor can certainly still contribute at his age, and he may very well be the best defender at that age. I think it would definitely be in their interest to keep him around.

Also, and while this shouldn't be interpreted as "win now," we all know how Parcells loathes paying huge money to all of these unproven college kids. With that in mind, he needs to improve their record a fair amount in 2008 or they will be picking at the very top of the first round again. If they go 3-13 or 4-12 and they end up picking in the top five again, that's bad news.

I say keep Taylor, try to add a few more players on defense, hope Long can contribute ASAP and hope Brown can get healthy. With that, hope you can get to 5-11 or 6-10 and end up picking late in the top ten or lower.

#13: Zing!

-- While it's does give everyone something to talk about today, what's the incentive for Miami to finalize (much less announce) the deal 4 days before the draft? Long's price certainly isn't going to go up, and others' prices may very well go down if they believe Jake is the presumptive #1 pick.

-- I fail to see how this is a "good deal," compared to last year's pick, for the Dolphins. They pay out maybe $3.5M less overall, but get one less year? If given the choice, I'm sure they'd gladly give up the $3-4M for one more year of the contract, which leads me to believe that Jake Long agreeing to even the same money as Russell wasn't even remotely possible.

-- Essentially, this looks like last years contract, plus 15% per year, minus 1 year. If you see it that way, I guess that Miami: (1) was resigned to paying the standard +15%/year increase, and (2) decided to limit their overall commitment of that pre-ordained deal by one year.

Re 15: The biggest win for Miami seems to be that the reported guaranteed portion of the contract is $2 million less than Russell's.

So, can the Rams start negotiating contracts with players now?

WHat if this was the greatest decoy in the history of the draft and the dolphins then take chris long haha

Re: 15

Yeah, you're right, the surface numbers reported on this contract vs. Russell's don't make much sense. On the other hand, the details may indicate the Dolphins really did help themselves by neogiating early. If the fifth year contains an bunch of the non-guaranteed money, the effective $$/year would be lower. It's also possible that some of the $57.5 MM is actually incentive/bonus money that will only be paid if Long does very well.

Re: 19 exactly. Even though it's a five year deal and not six, less guaranteed money means it's a little less painful if Jake Long is the next Robert Gallery. If he does live up to his draft status, Jake Long gets to free agency a year earlier. That sure looks like a win-win to me.

I agree that it's really not possible to know for certain how the contracts compare until the yearly details are known.

If the Miami's true motivation was to be able to say they signed him for "less guaranteed money than Russell", then by extension, paying him $25M guaranteed for 1 year would be even better. That may well be Miami's motivation, but it is was, it's a stupid one.

#17: Yep.

I love the idea of signing Jake Long early! This is the biggest single advantage to picking first. Jake Long was the one player I had picked going either first or second. I'm not positive he will be an elite LT (especially right away) and may not be worth the $. However, I like the choice.

QB normally have an extra bit packed into their contracts, so I am not positive that slightly less than Russell's contract is a great deal for the Dolphins. Ideally, you would want your team to be able to give less money to that player now, which could be spread among other players.

Does St. Louis want a high-end, higher risk guy (Dorsey) or do they want a solid pick with a lower ceiling, IMO (Chris Long). I would not be surprised if they picked Dorsey... at which Atlanta should be jumping for joy that they get the option of a safe pick like Long (or Dorsey, I guess, if at 3rd). Teams, like Atlanta, should stay far away from drafting a QB early in the 1st round unless they honestly believe that the QB is the next coming of Peyton Manning. (see above regarding premium paid to QB)

"Since players picked #1-16 are eligible for six-year deals, negotiations are going to be a NIGHTMARE for those picks now."

I doubt this bothers Parcells one bit.

Not that I dislike Jake Long, but IMO every team that passes on Glenn Dorsey will regret it.

I also note that the Raiders are paying Russell essentially $5.33M in "guaranteed money" per year of the 6 year contract. Increase that by 15%, and you've got a little over $6M per year -- basically what Long is getting is "guaranteed money" per contract year. As I said above, this is nothing more than the standard contract, minus one year.

The Dolphins may well be smart to limit the deal to 5 years instead of 6, as it leaves them with less of a commitment. And I imagine they assume they'll renegotiate anyway in the event he's a franchise player. They basically just made a choice between...

1) 5 years, $57.5M total, $30M guaranteed

or

2) 6 years, $69M total, $36M guarantee

...and went with the 5 year deal. I really don't blame them for doing so.

Anyways, now I can get back to wondering about which teams will blow picks on Gohlston and Ryan.

How is this a good deal for the Dolphins? $2m guaranteed less but losing a YEAR off the length of the contract? That seems to be a terrible deal.

Iexpect that when we can see the real number then this contract will look better because I just can't believe that Parcells has been that stupid.

Another huge benefit is having him in camp on time, plus all the mini camps and voluntary workouts etc. That doesn't happen very often especially with a first rounder. Perhaps that is the single benefit of having #1 these days. Too bad the Raiders couldn't see that.

I'm guessing if Jake Long plays up to his draft position that Miami tears up his contract before the 5th year.

If he is more like Tony Mandarich, then Miami saved themselves a year of salary.

With as many busts as there are in the NFL, I would think that it's the players that would want the longer contracts and the teams that would want the shorter ones.

If I were a team, I think I'd be happy to pay guys who are worth the money.

...also, how much money would Jamarcus Russell have gotten if he signed right after the draft? How much of last year did he lose due to his holdout? How damaged is his career due to the holdout?

I think those things have monetary value as well.

I'm with you, Lagfish. Getting him signed now, not after the draft and the dance of contracts, is a huge thing. One could argue that the Russell contract was really only a 5.5 year contract by the time they signed him, and it cost $2M more in guaranteed money.

I've never seen the guy play so I know nothing, but I hope that finally Miami have a competent LT; it's been a while. I'm also amused by the whole "pillar of our defense" storm in a teacup that went on last week.

Now the Miami FO need to get on the phone to Jacksonville and move Jason Taylor, preferably for that 1st rounder of theirs.

How many people of here have seen Chris Long?

I caught a few UVA games last year. Even though he was lined up as 3-4 DE, he was really moving around like a pure passrusher. I thought he could definitely play OLB in a 3-4, and projects best to a strongside DE position in a 4-3. Not your typical space-eating 3-4 DE at all.

33- A FIRST for Taylor?

34- I've seen Chris Long, and I was surprised how good he was. Too many second-generation players are overhyped, but not this one.

34: I saw Chris Long 3 times this year. He was dominant and, I agree, moved all over the place. In the MD game in particular, he disrupted something crazy like half the plays.

JLong is best of a man. Steamroller for R Brown, who ruhes for 2000 yards this year J Back up and coming QB who will brake out this year. Just trade pansy dancing JTayler fr drift piks, and 'Phins go to playofs in 08! Superbowl in 09!

DolphinJim, you aren't related to anyone in Oakland, are you?

#38: Give it up. There's only one Raiderjoe. All the rest are pale imitators.

Well, I'm happy with the pick. Assuming he can perform even decently at LT this will be a huge boost to the line (I know, pretty obvious statement).

Regarding the contract, I think that is a good idea. This way they

a. Get the guy to camp on time.
b. Have a bit more leverage during negotiations. If they had already picked him, the player knows that eventually, the team pretty much has to cave and give him the money he wants. But, because they hadn't actually picked him yet, the team could always turn around and pick someone else if they were getting no where in negotiations.

I bet this pre-signing of the #1 pick becomes a regular occurance from now on. This makes 2 of 3 years that it's been done. (Houston in 2006. Somebody forgot to do it in 2007.)

Hopefully, the NFL creates a way for the next team to start working on a contract after the team before them is done, then the top 10 picks or so can just be a formality on draft day. This way teams have a longer time to work on contracts, the draft goes faster, and everyone wins.

36:
Yeah, a first for Taylor. Jax picks 26th. Rumor, for what it's worth, says the Jags would be willing to part with their 2nd rounder, and the Dolphins want the first. I'm a Dolphins fan so my view may be skewed, but I think Taylor is worth a low 1st round pick. He's certainly worth more than the low 2nd that Jax supposedly is offering.

It really depends on how desperate the Jags are for a DE. This is a team that is trying to win now, so that desperation meter might be a little high...especially since that team is built on defense and has to get pressure on Manning and/or Brady in the playoffs if it wants to make a Super Bowl.

Rams take Chris Long. Please.

Forget about the Jags' first for Taylor.

A second and a fifth is a max.
Maybe a third and two-fifth.

The jags could decide to use one of their third-rounders to move up in the first round. A trade with TB to pass up WAS is possible if Merling is still there.

#43,

But the NFL Network loses its biggest off-season TV event?

Re 47:

They would still have the rest of the draft, just the first few picks would be pre-selected. Plus, it would make the the coverage of the week or two before the draft a lot more interesting.

I saw on an ESPN ticker today that the NFL denied the Rams' request to begin negotiations with potential picks.

What could the reason for this be? Is it just to keep interest in the televised draft?

I think it would be pretty cool if the signings trickled in earlier every year. Next year the first pick gets signed in late March. Then suddenly the #2 pick is "on the clock" and an announced signing could happen any time. That would be exciting. It would probably also keep the NFL in the news a bit more prior to the draft.

Long is the safest pick. If he’s no good at LT, switch him to RT or guard. The guy will be able to play in the NFL.

I think that was what the Raiders were thinking with Robert Gallery. Oops! Not saying Long's not a good pick, but a top 5 contract is a lot of money to pay for an average NFL guard.