Somehow my "Applaud" function ain't working; Otherwise I'd have applauded several posts in here.
I too think the asking price is fairly reasonable. When Jennings was asking the equivalent of this or more, and when James Jones wanted a mid to high WR range salary, I was with the crowd who said no, let 'em walk. Cobb, however, has more uniqueness, not to mention being younger. A year or so ago, I was not in favor of keeping Cobb long term, as he seemed fragile. But since then, he looks stronger - at least seems to have bulked up - without losing any of his speed and elusiveness.
What Ted needs to do - not just with Cobb, but in a lot of cases - is to make more use of creative financing (see the Z2C post in this thread) - back loading things. In the case of Cobb, though, I would not be afraid to go more than just 5 or 6 years, as barring serious injury, he should still be in his prime at age 29 or 30 - maybe something like 8 years for $72 million with a $12 million bonus, then $3 million the first year and $5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 12 million. That would be $15 million guaranteed, and with not too bad a cap hit. If he's still going strong at 32, restructure him for the last year or two and beyond; If not, cut him.
Expressing the Good Normal Views of Good Normal Americans.
If Anything I Say Smacks of Extremism, Please Tell Me EXACTLY What.