Tommy to the Saints

[Bobcatsinmso]

Amari Cooper announces his retirement from the NFL before the season starts. Did the Raiders picking up Amari play a huge part in Tommy being waived? Do they wish they had him back now that Amari is gone or will they just try to grab another veteran?

No. They could have easily kept him on the practice squad if they wanted to.

FTR

[PHAT CAT]

Amari Cooper announces his retirement from the NFL before the season starts. Did the Raiders picking up Amari play a huge part in Tommy being waived? Do they wish they had him back now that Amari is gone or will they just try to grab another veteran?

No. They could have easily kept him on the practice squad if they wanted to.

FTR

Every day, all day!

[RUACAT]

Amari Cooper announces his retirement from the NFL before the season starts. Did the Raiders picking up Amari play a huge part in Tommy being waived? Do they wish they had him back now that Amari is gone or will they just try to grab another veteran?

No. They could have easily kept him on the practice squad if they wanted to.

Yes, but they also have 3 other wide receivers on their practice squad

[Mrs TrackCat]

Seems strange to me that a player would have to pay taxes in every state they played in. I have worked for an engineering firm in Colorado, branch office in Montana, I did projects in Montana, Washington, Colorado, Georgia, and Michigan and only paid taxes in Montana. I then worked for another firm in Idaho and did projects in Idaho, Nevada as well as in Sweden and only paid taxes in Idaho.

When I worked for accounting firms and had out of state work I had to pay taxes to the other states. I'm guessing your employers just didn't overly document where there employees were every day like mine did. Tommy's situation is common for highly visible (high payroll) companies.

The headquarters for the company that my husband worked for, is in Montana. When he worked out of state, he had to file taxes in the states where he worked. I believe, we received a credit on our Montana return.

[BLACKnBLUEnGOLD]

He should get the Raiders signing bonus but I kind of doubt he got any salary since his was released before the final cuts. With the Saints he might get a signing bonus but his salary will be the practice squad rate which is much lower than the rookie active roster rate.

Correct. It was a Mon-guaranteed contract contingent on making the 53. He does keep his signing bonus along with whatever money they get to be in camp. Unsure if there is any signing bonus for practice squad other than perhaps moving expenses.

Practice squad Minimum is $13,000 a week. So he will make roughly $234,000 if he stays on all year.

Not bad for a little over 4 months.

Quite a bit more than a working sector job in Montana for sure, even in financial engineering!

He's worked so hard for a chance. Really hoping the best for him! He's easy to root for!

The fees players in all the major professional sports leagues have to pay the owners/organization is astronomical. I bet, including taxes, they only take home about 55% of that.

What fees are they paying to their teams Tom? I follow closely and have never heard of that.

Agents. My understanding is that they have to pay for all their equipment. Just about everything the team does for them, such as meals, rooms, PT, etc.

***Upon further review…that doesn’t appear to be the case anymore, if it ever was.***

Agent fees are paid to the agent, not the team. Those are two completely different entities. Some players, like Lamar Jackson, have chosen to not have an agent so they don't pay any fees. Not very common though.

The players aren't paying for their equipment.

They still have to pay for anything they want to keep or give away, Jerseys, gloves, shoes, footballs ect...
The team owns it, if they want to give a kid their gloves they got to pay for them.

Does the team really own the shoes and gloves? I don't know about football specifically, but in baseball the players sign an equipment deal with an equipment company for their own equipment. A minor leaguer only gets a limited number of bats, but they own them and don't have to pay to give them away. (Source on that is Matt Antonelli)

The biggest professional expense for NFL players is staying in NFL shape. Gym fees, trainer, personal chef, supplements, massage/physical therapist, pseudoscientific "medical" treatments for recovery. Some athletes pay in excess of a million a year. (Source on that is James Harrison)

[ClowderUp]

Amari retires? The Raiders are messed up. Top to bottom. Glad Tommy found a new place.

[Gorak]

Amari retires? The Raiders are messed up. Top to bottom. Glad Tommy found a new place.

There's a reason my fantasy team name this year is "Gold is better than Silver"

[nanacat]

Amari retires? The Raiders are messed up. Top to bottom. Glad Tommy found a new place.

Ya what a mess!! So glad Tommy found a new team to play for!

[nanacat]

https://www.nola.com/sports/saints/sain ... the-latest

[Wrangler]

Unfortunately, I see that Tommy was cut from the Saints practice squad earlier today.

[CatBlitz]

What a ****** shame

[SparkCat]

Bummer. I thought once in a practice squad he’d be able to relax and adjust. I’m pretty surprised, but he obviously is struggling.

[Montanabob]

well, with the sht show at raiders qb, maybe they pick him up as qb2...

[coloradocat]

well, with the sht show at raiders qb, maybe they pick him up as qb2...

Or the Browns.

[BLACKnBLUEnGOLD]

[MTnative]

Both the afraiders and saints are **** teams anyway. Hoping Tommy can land with a team that has an upward trajectory that will invest in his development.

[MSUBRONCO]

Pissed

[SparkCat]

Both the afraiders and saints are **** teams anyway. Hoping Tommy can land with a team that has an upward trajectory that will invest in his development.

As a proud lifelong Lions fan, I would be thrilled to see him land there, I actually think their coaching staff can and would make use of his skills.

[PapaG]

Both the afraiders and saints are **** teams anyway. Hoping Tommy can land with a team that has an upward trajectory that will invest in his development.

Or, the worst teams don’t see it, and it’s time to either try the CFL or a career that doesn’t involve playing football.

It’s not like Tommy ran a 4.24. The video I saw of him on the Raiders showed he could not separate as a WR, and he must not have flashed as a returner.

Not everything is a conspiracy. He is 23 and trying to learn a position that the guys he’s against have bigger size or same/better speed (or both!), and they have been doing it most of their lives at the position.

This is not a failure. Sometimes you’re just not good enough to compete at that level.

[MSU01]

Both the afraiders and saints are **** teams anyway. Hoping Tommy can land with a team that has an upward trajectory that will invest in his development.

Or, the worst teams don’t see it, and it’s time to either try the CFL or a career that doesn’t involve playing football.

It’s not like Tommy ran a 4.24. The video I saw of him on the Raiders showed he could not separate as a WR, and he must not have flashed as a returner.

Not everything is a conspiracy. He is 23 and trying to learn a position that the guys he’s against have bigger size or same/better speed (or both!), and they have been doing it most of their lives at the position.

This is not a failure. Sometimes you’re just not good enough to compete at that level.

Or in the case of guys like Ty Okada and Alex Singleton, you're not ready to compete at that level yet. I'm still confident that Tommy has a great career ahead of him if he chooses to stick with football. He'll find a spot that works for him.