Michael Turner Signing Good for Barber

Michael Turner has signed on with the Atlanta Falcons, and he’s getting paid some bucks. 6yrs for $34.5 million $15million guaranteed. We’ll probably see Julius Jones get snagged up next in free agency, and may end up with a crazy contract in this wild spending spree we’re seeing this offseason.

Do you think Turner is getting overpaid? I think this is in line with the current market, and its kinda the money range I thought Barber would end up with (earlier discussion here)

Here’s a snip of what I wrote several months ago:

This is speculation on my part on the potential size of a new contract, but let’s look at some recent contracts from some of today’s “elite” running backs and make a guess.

Thomas Jones was traded to the Bears this offseason, and his contract was redone. With Drew Rosenhaus as his agent, Jones signed a 4yr deal for $20 million.

Larry Johnson held out this offseason and landed a deal at 6yrs for $45.05 million.

LaDainian Tomlinson has the fattest contract amongst running back at 8yrs for $60 million.

Clinton Portis also hit the jackpot, but Redskin’s fans are not getting the bang for the buck, more like, he’s banged up for the buck. Portis signed a 8yr deal for $50.5 million

Edgerrin James signed a 4yr deal for $30 million to play for the Cardinals

So, that’s a quick background on what some of these other guys are making. If I had to guess how much Barber would make, I would think it would be a 6yr deal for $35-45 million at the minimum, but could easily be higher than that.

Looking at the Turner deal in Atlanta, that falls pretty close to my guess for Barber’s estimations. Now in my opinion, looking at Turner’s new contract, I think Barber is the better back, and had more production, so Barber’s contract could very well be more than what Turner got at 6yrs for $34.5million. I still think Barber gets something in the 6yr range for $35-45million; furthermore, its another reason why I don’t see us drafting a running back in the 1st round, maybe the 3rd round or later, maybe even a mid level free agent like Tatum Bell would be fine.

Another thing to think about is other teams thinking about signing Barber away from his restricted free agent status. This now says that if a team wants Barber, they will give us a 1st rounder and 3rd rounder, AND would likely need to negotiate a big contract in the likes of Michael Turner at the minimum. That’s a whole lot for a team to give up if they wanted Barber that bad.