Does the Joe Haden Signing Effect the Patriots?
Source: The #Browns have cut Joe Haden.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 30, 2017
The #Steelers are signing CB Joe Haden to a 3-year, $27m contract, source said. $7m guaranteed in year 1.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 30, 2017
It was announced that Joe Haden was getting cut by the Browns at 6:56 AM, then at 3:20 PM it was announced he would be signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pretty quick turn-around for him.
Cleveland had been shopping Haden around the league for close to a year, but ultimately never found a suitor.
In his hay day, Joe Haden was a top-10 corner back in the NFL. But recently, he’s fallen off a lot.
As you can see in the photo above (provided by Pro Football Focus), Haden has clearly seen a steady decline since 2010. This regression obviously worried the Browns.
So how does this effect New England at all? Well for starters, they play in Pittsburgh on December 17. If Haden is healthy, they will be seeing plenty of him.
Another way this could effect New England involves the market of upcoming FA Malcolm Butler. Haden, who is definitely not up there with the shut-down corner backs anymore, just got an average of $9M over three years. I think this deal could help gauge what Butler’s pay day might look like come next spring. We expected he would get more than $9M a year, but with Haden now making that much, who knows how much more Butler will end up making.
The highest paid corner in the NFL right now is Trumaine Johnson at $16.7M AVG a year. Could Butler see anything close to that or more? We’ll have to see how he plays this season to find out.
Written By: Nick Cherico (@NickCherico2)