- If S Nick Collins skips the mandatory June 22 practice because he wants a new deal, we now know how much he should get paid. Because Pro Bowl S Adrian Wilson just got a new five year contract, with $18.5 million guaranteed. Although Wilson is a different type of player; he plays strong safety, closer to the line of scrimmage, and blitzes more while Collins plays deep and is used almost exclusively in pass coverage, Collins' agent will use Wilson's deal as a template. But is Collins really worth it? He had a poor 2007 season and had to play better in 2008 just to hang onto his starting job. Instead he completely exceeded my expectations and had a Pro Bowl season. I expect he'll get a new contract this summer, but I would like to see one more quality season from him before he gets his big contract. Oh, and Andrew Brandt warned us all that Collins was going to raise a stink about his contract because when he was in Hawaii for the Pro Bowl, he was told by agents that he needs to get paid more.
- Just a reminder, although I'm writing a lot about how unhappy Collins and WR Donald Driver and LB Aaron Kampman are with their contracts, I don't think it's a big deal. It's just part of football, and every team has to deal with it. For example, Minnesota's dealing with the same complaints from their players, and currently CB Antoine Winfield is skipping their organized team activities over his contract.
- Speaking of contract extensions, 49ers LT Joe Staley received a six year extension, which added to the remaining three years left on his rookie contract, means he's under team control for the next nine seasons. Fooch thinks it's good to lock up your young talent long-term, which I generally agree with. But Mike Florio makes a good point that this contract is bad. The average salary per season is low, so low that either Staley will have to disappoint to play down to it or he'll be asking for a new deal in a couple seasons. The 49ers are just asking for either a future cap charge or off-season holdout.
- Apparently Chicago's group of wide receivers is so weak that Bears players are publically supportive of signing troubled WR Plaxico Burress.
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