I agree with you most of the time @DeadStroke, but we have very little money invested in the WR position, if Chark has a great year, I could see bringing him back or maybe franchising him if he has a real good season.
St. Brown, Cephus and Jamo all on rookie deals and Reynolds is on a very team friendly deal.
Ultimately though, this is all what if!? Chark has to stay healthy and have a great season first for any of this to actually matter. He does have speed and talent, sure hope we can keep him healthy.
I’d like for us to stay disciplined so that we have the money to re-up all of the young guys that pan out. I’m hopeful that we’ll have a lot of deserving candidates in the next few years.
First and foremost we don’t know if Jamo will ever be a good nfl WR, let alone great.
We have a 2-3 year window with a solid veteran QB, above average to good TE, talented RB, a full DL of young talent, and some depth in the secondary-
It’s quite possible Chark could be the best WR on our team-
I say we offer him an extension week 8 if he’s playing like “Lions Marvin Jones” or better and we are playing good competitive football.
I’d love to have our ENTIRE OFFENSE locked up for next year with lots of picks.
Guys like Von, Chandler, etc wouldn’t fit our time window.
If Hock has 900 yards and 8 plus tds we need to extend him.
If Amani has 4-6 picks and plays solid overall we need to extend him.
If Chark balls out and has 900 yards and 8-9 TDs we need to extend him.
These contracts will all be reasonable in price for 2023 and if we move on from Brockers and Okwara will will be nearly able to pay for all 3 with the savings-
Yeah, if Chark has a good year, I dont know why we wouldn’t pay him. I guess I’m not understanding what others are laying down…unless there’s another receiver we’d want to bring-in and pay instead.
I’m right there with you. After we re-up Hock and Amani, why not reward a guy like Chark that when coupled with Jamo would make our offense truly dynamic?
If we have a bunch of cap space I don’t see Brad breaking the bank on an “outsider” when we are cultivating an environment where the entire organization wants to reward players that are all-in on being a Detroit lion led by Dan Campbell.
Chark took less money to come here because of the culture. Hopefully he signs a reasonable deal to stay if we offer it. Of course if his asking price is too much then let him walk.
I see it kinda like Charles Harris from last year. Signed a one year prove it deal, had a good season and then got rewarded by B. Holmes with a new contract. Holmes has shown he will bring guys back on new contracts that fit the culture. The key here is Chark staying healthy and having a good season first though. We are probably getting ahead of ourselves, he hasn’t even played a game yet for the Lions.
1:) Chark performs at 2019 levels with a slightly lower target share
2:) Due to the dearth of WR options in FA a needy team will give him Kirk like $.
3:) Brad is going to be mindful of the comp formula in his '23 free agent approach. Given skyrocketing WR costs that gives us a comp 3rd in '24
4:) College WR trend continues to put out a plethora of WR options in '23
5:) Chark loves it here and will give us a 15% discount
Option A:
Franchise him -
Pros: - One more year of Chark syncs up well with timing of our St. Brown extension after 2023.
- if we show improvement (particularly Jared) then rolling it back makes a ton of sense
- theoretically you could trade him for draft capital in '23 but that seems unlikely to me
Cons: - you’re playing a good player great player money for a year
- to an extent you are rewarding your own but guys generally don’t love the tag
- you’re not allowing St. Brown and Jamo the target share they likely need to turn into big
time stars
- assuming that the hype on Reynolds is legit you’re not taking full advantage of a moneyball
steal in year 2 of his deal
- the 2024 free agent market is unlikely to have him as the number 1WR. So you may not be
getting a comp 3rd and it’s one year further back. So potentially a 2 round loss in value
when accounting for the commonly used draft capital time decay
Option B -
Extend him long term -
Pros - WR continuity and big time speed fir several years
- Showing the locker room that you’ll take care of your own (though he’s a new guy so )
- High end quality Veteran WRs seem quite scarce given current market dynamics
Cons - passing on fairly premium draft capital (also if you’re superstitious, the 3rd round has been
kind to us)
- Playing high end money for a solid but IMO unspectacular player
- you’re not allowing St. Brown and Jamo the target share they likely need to turn into big
time stars
- assuming that the hype on Reynolds is legit you’re not taking full advantage of a moneyball
steal in year 2 of his deal
- money could be rolled over to future years and used on more imperative extensions or used
on multiple solid veterans
Option C -
Let him sign elsewhere for top dollar -
Pros - WR depth in recent draft classes is likely to continue to be extraordinary. A second or third
could get you an excellent prospect. He could be number 4 behind Josh R for a year before
becoming number 3 in '24 That would allow for an affordable high end WR room for several
more years. Also Brad seems to have an eye for WR talent
- save high end money for truly high end players. Also saves cap money for when we’re
truly in our window
- allows other young talent a target share more commensurate with their talent level
Cons - depending on who you add in the draft, Jamo may be the only true deep threat left
- sacrificing some continuity
- one year removed from being devoid of playmakers and you’re letting one walk?
If you agree to the assumptions at the top of the post then I think Option C is clearly the way to go. I don’t feel that strongly enough that any other approach will piss me off though. And of course those assumptions have to bear themselves out.
Find another 6’4”, 4.3 40, decent hands, humble, good teammate, former pro bowler who wants to sign a prove it deal? They don’t grow on trees.
I’m assuming you mean just find another bargain player that is willing to sign a prove it deal, but I’m willing to bet we won’t get a guy with that size/speed ratio that puts team culture ahead of making as much money as possible.
The more I hear, the more I like this guy and the more I want him on the squad long-term. St. Brown, Williams, and Chark as the big three? That’s crazy good and tough to cover.
Exactly. Having two guys with Chark and Jamesons speed is going to do wonders for this offense. Putting them out wide on opposite sides of the defense will cause issues for defenses.
I want to see him play … and especially see him and Jamo together.
If Chark is a difference maker, and somewhat durable, no reason not to extend him a few years.
Probably 3/4 of the way into the season will be a good time to evaluate the situation.
I don’t think teams will want to risk the big play so I expect to see a lot of soft boxes once Jameson comes back. I really think we have built an offense that can be extremely dangerous. It’s almost exactly how I would build the perfect offense, minus Goff.
If you give Goff a run game and good offensive line he can absolutely play like a franchise quarterback. He just needs to be surrounded by a lot of talent for that to happen. If this offense plays up to its potential teams are going to have to pick their poison defending the run or pass.
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