[CanuckRightWinger]

So I do not dislike Tyler Higbee. I actually liked his selection by the Rams in the 2016 Goff Draft.

I followed Higbee's Draft story. He dropped in 2016 Draft Value to 4th Round from probably 2nd Round. His drop was due an Off-Field Conduct "issue" including an late night/early morning bar area Assault Charge where Higbee broke a guy's jaw for allegedly insulting Tyler's GF.....oh yeah, and he also tried to allude the cops when they arrived....he ran away and then they found him hiding under a car. Okay....boys will be boys. He goes to Court and his (obviously good) lawyer gets Higbee Probation, and Higbee comes to LA with Goff and Pharoh Cooper as the top 3 Ram Draft Picks of 2016. SO AGAIN, I'VE GOT NOTHING AGAINST
TYLER GoodBlocker,SoSoHands HIGBEE.....BUT,

Here are Tyler Higbee's Ram Total Stats:

YEAR....SNAPS...Tgts….Rec....Yds...TDs
2016.....40%......29...….11......85.....1
2017.....71%......45...….25......295....1
2018.....72%......34...….24......292....2
2019.....44%......22...….17......162....1 (so far)

Okay....so no Kelce or Witten production here.....not even Billy Truax , but hey, Todd Gurley says Higbee is a great blocker, and TH seems durable....so I consider Tyler Higbee "a solid Los Ramos Contributor." Okay...…

BUT....great blocker or not, somebody explain these Tyler Higbee Contract numbers to me, (per SpotracNFL) going forward.....and don't tell me "It's inflation stupid....the Salary Cap is rising next year!"

Higbee signed a 4-year, $29 Million Deal, with $15.5 Million Guarenteed!


YEAR....MILLION$
2019.....4
2020.....8.025
2021.....6.5
2022.....6.25
2023.....6.25......that adds up to more than the $29 Million total , but go sue SpotracNFL…..I'm just the messenger here...…probably includes his Original Contract's paltry 2019 bucks$, right?

and this messenger's message is: How the fook does the Rams braintrust justify such a Mega Contract for such an ordinary NFL Tight End Body Of Work, huh??

Like, if I am Sebastien Joseph or David Edwards or Brian Allen, and I'm getting my head smashed-in every play for $700 or $800K per annum....and I see what Higbee's being paid???!!! I fire my agent and hire Higbee's Agent, because Tyler Higbee's Agent clearly has a video of Demoff boinking a goat!!!

Seriously....Somebody please! Expliquez moi s'il vous plait!!

[aeneas1]

yeah, never ever got the higbee thing....

[R4L]

The Rams have had some signings like this in the past. Austin is one. So was the Ogletree deal. Not sure why they signed him to a big deal.

[/zn/]

BUT....great blocker or not, somebody explain these Tyler Higbee Contract numbers to me,

He actually did not get the kind of 2nd contract you would expect from a TE--his numbers were not up there with other TEs. Normally 2nd contracts go up year to year but he got less than the expected amount. I take that to mean they did not pay him as a top receiving TE.

Guys like Reed and Kelce were getting 2nd contracts in the 9 M range in 2016. (Graham got 10 M in 2018 but that's not a 2nd contract). If Higbee were getting a normal deal for a receiving TE in 2019, it should have been more than the 9 M Reed and Kelce got 4 years ago.

Instead, Higbee's 7 M number in 2019 puts him way behind those guys.

I take that to mean they value him as a run and pass blocker who can also catch some passes, but that looking at receiving numbers won't tell us what he's worth to them. He did not get paid like those kinds of TEs.

Here's VB on Higbee from his Q&A this week:

https://theathletic.com/1311748/2019/10 ... =twittered

Higbee is very valued by the team for his blocking in both the run and pass game. I think it’s getting overlooked a bit because the run game hasn’t been as strong – though not his fault.

[AltiTude Ram]

I guess Higbee is going to go off for a couple of TDS this week.

Canuck just called him out like he did with Fowler last week.

[AvengerRam]

If the contract is evaluated based upon his receiving stats, then it certainly seems like an overpay.

The logical conclusion, therefore, is that the Rams view his blocking role and skills to be worthy of the price they paid.

I think that we, as fans, are constrained by our reliance on stats. Some things that teams deem very valuable don't show up on the stat sheet.

[Elvis]

Higbee was looking sharp in camp, and early in the season. Then he got his lung injury and the focus went to Everett. I guess we'll see if Higbee makes a 2nd half of the season run or not but i was expecting big things from him this year. The contract extension told me the Rams were too.

There was one interview where Demoff talked about it a little and he said, among other things, that the Rams set some money aside, a rainy day fund, in case something comes up and they need to sign someone then once they're past the time when that might happen and don't need the fund they look around and see what else they can do with that money, who can they extend and Higbee fit the bill. I'm paraphrasing from memory but i'm pretty sure that was the gist of it...

[CanuckRightWinger]

Never being the one to second guess the wisdom of spending the DRDF (Demoff Rainy Day Fund) on a non-receiving threat TE (but apparently stellar blocker) like Higbee........BUT,

wouldn't it had been less rainy for Los Ramos if they had spent that DRDF on a 2019 veteran Free Agent OLineman??!!

Also, which NFL Team's braintrust was going to pony-up $29 Million with half GUARENTEED to lure Tyler 2017NFCPlayoffTD-Drop Higbee away from LA huh?

Just askin' a coupla questions here....

[/zn/]

Never being the one to second guess the wisdom of spending the DRDF (Demoff Rainy Day Fund) on a non-receiving threat TE (but apparently stellar blocker) like Higbee........BUT,

wouldn't it had been less rainy for Los Ramos if they had spent that DRDF on a 2019 veteran Free Agent OLineman??!!

Also, which NFL Team's braintrust was going to pony-up $29 Million with half GUARENTEED to lure Tyler 2017NFCPlayoffTD-Drop Higbee away from LA huh?

Just askin' a coupla questions here....

They couldn't have done that. Higbee's extension does not count against the 2019 cap. It starts next year. This year TH is under his rookie contract, which counts 1.75 M against the 2019 cap. You can extend your own FAs in advance and do what they did with TH--his rookie deal covers 2019, and then the extension kicks in next year.

But you can't do that with a market FA. Any FA they signed would need to be paid out of the 2019 cap and once they signed Weddle and Matthews, they had shot their cap space.

PLUS of course Kromer is a top OL coach and they are counting on him to bring the young guys along. That might mean growing pains at first, but Kromer has a long good record building OLs, so showing patience with him and the process of developing this OL is not a crazy thing to do.

AND because TH is what they say he is as a pass and run blocker, that means he's a 6th OL. Arguably these early, in-development type OL issues would be worse without him.


....

[scramsfan]

Pretty good explanations as to why Higbee may be valued and paid so high. However, when he was drafted, his pass catching skills were being praised. That has yet to materialize. I am not sure I am convinced he is being paid properly.

I hope that they draft a tight end who can block and pass catch. If his skill set is primarily as a blocker then it clearly limits him as a weapon that can benefit the offense. Everett’s receiving skills are why they drafted him so high. At least he seems to be coming around.