Not a laker fan. I am east coast anyways. I do not forget about franchise tags but that all affects cap space. In this deal I have a contract pretty much done. And maybe Snead will. My comparison is Khalil Mack. Within a week bears had him wrapped up. I would expect the same here. Wouldn't you? If not then there are questions.
Firstly, they can't offer him a contract until he's officially with the team. They can't negotiate with him or his reps, either. They CAN talk to them to understand enough to see if the move is worth it. As in, some guys have said that they'd retire if they weren't traded to a playoff team or they'd retire rather than play in Cleveland or wherever. LA/St Louis was like that for a long time. So it's legal and not tampering to ensure that a guy who's traded will actually show up. Otherwise, it's just a giant waste of time and a lot of legal paperwork for nothing.
So, here's the dealio.
This is based on the Rams not "renting" Jalen Ramsey to push out the 1st rounder/s a year or two years.
Snead talked to Ramsey's reps. He said so in his presser. I'm sure he not only asked directly if Ramsey would show, but would he play while they worked out a deal. They had to have said yes, because they made the trade. He also would have asked about the basic framework for what Ramsey would want in a long term deal. If the rep said, "we want 10 years, $200M", then Snead hangs up and says, "well, it woulda been nice". That didn't happen. So it's close enough that Snead feels confident it can get done. They may already have an agreement in principle.
They can't do any more because a) he's still a Jag at this point and b) even in transition, he's not official per the league office, so it would still be some form of tampering to be working on a contract for a player not on your roster. Now, this gets all but ignored just prior to the FA period and no one really complains as it helps both teams and players to get deals done quickly.
Anyway, once he's cleared medical, and I believe he did that today, he's on the team. We'll see based on reporting in the next day or so if the Jags have to pay his salary this week as he wasn't officially in the trade process until later Tuesday evening EDT unlike Peters who was in the process prior to the deadline.
Now, they begin the negotiating. Demoff and Pastoors have to configure a contract with not only gross numbers, but configure bonuses et al to fit their trying to do under the cap as well as meet the player's demands. For parties on the same page, this doesn't typically take long. Khalil became the highest paid defender in the NFL and it took his people a week with Chicago to get it done.
So, based on logistics and how close they start, it could be done in a week, but I'd suspect that they'll wait a couple of weeks to get it done. I don't sense anyone is in a rush.
Now, if the season ends and there's no extension, then I would be much more concerned.
But I would be shocked 11/10 if that were the case. I truly believe we're signing Ramsey for the long term.
