Donkeys are in trouble

[brdempsey69]

There starting LT, Ryan Clady has a torn ACL and may miss the season. Please let's get things settled somehow with Justin Houston, ASAP.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000494533/article/broncos-ryan-clady-has-torn-acl-may-miss-season

[ctchiefsfan]

The $978k includes Houston's tag and the dead money already.

This is what confuses me. As I see it what Houston wants is a contract that makes him "set for life" even if he gets injured and his career ends in week 1 this season. I can understand that. The Chiefs want to pay him franchise tag money this year and next. The big advantage for the Chiefs to the franchise tag is the Chiefs have limited their cap exposure against a career-ending injury. Surely would be a disaster if they tied up $60 million in guaranteed money in Houston and then he had a career-ending injury in the first year of the new contract.

So I guess that what the argument is really all about is the Chiefs protecting themselves against the cap problems that a career-ending injury early in the contract would cause.

Maybe the NFL needs to create a way that if a player gets a career-ending injury all remaining guaranteed cap money in the contract gets converted into non-cap money. That would protect both the player and the team.