Backups breaking the bank

On Tuesday, July 14, two career back-up who seem to have always been in the shadow of the best player at their respective position got paid big-time and by big-time, I mean overpaid.

These two guys, Matt Cassel and Marcin Gortat seemed to be in the worst position possible, backing up arguably the best in their league at their position, Tom Brady(QB) and Dwight Howard (C). But one season ending injury and playoff game suspension later, both have fat contracts in hand for the summer.

Cassel, who until this year has not started since high school (7 years) took over center for Tom Brady after he suffered a season-ending injury against the Kansas City Chiefs during the first week of the season. After putting together a respectable (11-5) record with slightly above average numbers, Cassel was traded to the Chiefs in the offseason after being franchised by the Patriots. This past week, he signed a contract similar to 2007 first-pick JaMarcus Russell. Cassel's contract is for six years at $63 million, with $28 million guaranteed for the first two years and more than $40 million through the third year. Russell's contract was for six years, $68 million, with over $31 million guaranteed and more than $44 million over the first four years of the contract.

Given the market, both for quarterback and the economic market, the Chiefs definitely overpaid for the 21 touchdowns the Quarterback threw in 2008, 7 of which came in the last 3 games of the season against Oakland, Arizona (likely their worst game of the season), and Buffalo. Cassel did put up good numbers, but this was in a Patriots system that featured Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Benjamin Watson, a stable of effective running backs, and a great offensive line. Cassel came to the Chiefs upon Tony Gonzalez's departure, Larry Johnson's decline, and a terrible offensive line. The only bright spot on the offense is wideout Dwayne Bowe. Cassel's number were slightly better than average last year, but look for those numbers to decline with a weakened supporting cast.

Derek Anderson threw for 29 touchdowns and 19 interceptions with a 82.5 QB rating (Cassel was 21 TD/11 INTs/89.4 QB Rating) during his lone full season in 2007 with the Browns and signed a 3 yr./$24 million contract extension in 2008. The two quarterbacks had similar numbers, Cassel's $10.5 million/yr., when compared with Anderson's $8 million/yr. renders him overpaid. But the Chiefs, unlike the Browns are putting their franchise's future over the next 5 years on Cassel's shoulders and rewarded him with an unusually high-priced contract for the career back-up. Like Cassel's career, his contract has been anything but the norm.

After Cassel's contract, Jim Sorgi must be praying for Peyton Manning to go down. He has 6 TDs, 1 INT, and a 89.9 QB rating for his career. Before 2008, in 3 seasons Cassel's career numbers were 2 TDs, 2 INTs, and a 71.8 QB rating. Sorgi was also a one-year starter for the Wisconsin Badgers and started 17 games during his collegiate career, already beating Cassel in that department. Sorgi's numbers are better than Cassel's and he's had more career starts (college and NFL) since 2001, so he might just need an opportunity before getting the next big contract for a career backup.


Marcin Gortat was a relative unknown in the basketball world until the NBA Playoffs this past year but had a 5 yr./$34 million deal matched by the Magics on Tuesday. Right off the bat I would have to say the magics overpaid purely because the price for Gortat got bid up by the Mavericks who attempted to make a splash in the 2009 free agent market simply because others were holding out for 2010. They had money to spend and like usual, overpaid everyone (Kidd, Marion) when they really didn't need to. The Magics know they overpaid because they were competing with the Mavs, but they also overpaid because although Vince Carter is an upgrade over Hedo Turkoglu, losing Gortat would have been a step back based on what other Eastern conference contenders did to improve themselves.

Gortat logged only 5,4, and 9 minutes in his last 3 games against the Lakers, proving ineffective. His season averages of 3.8 points and 4.5 rebounds per game is not impressive for someone set to make $7 million a year.

Channing Frye who averaged 4.2 points and 2.2 rebounds signed a 2 year contract worth $2 million a season with the second year being at his option the following day with the Phoenix Suns. Frye, who I believe has greater potential averaged 12.3 points and 5.8 rebounds per game as a rookie. Orlando should have pursued the free agent who would have come considerably cheaper than Gortat and has greater potential to blossom backing up Howard while gracefully accepting the role as oppose to Gortat's desire to start and prove his potential.