Darren McFadden News
McFadden will surpass Tebow in NFL
This article is from arkansasnews.com and is written by Harry King. LITTLE ROCK -- Call me crass, but Tim Tebow can have the here and now and I'll take Darren McFadden's future portfolio.
In other words, a 25-pound bronze statute vs. a bundle of boodle.
Considering the payday prospects of Minnesota's Adrian Peterson, McFadden is in line to make millions during the next few years. I'm not sure McFadden is as shifty as the former Oklahoma back, but comparing those two is the quick and easy approach.
Drafted seventh last year, Peterson signed a five-year, $40.5 million deal in July. He has missed two games, but has still carried 198 times for 1,200 yards and the way his contract is structured, every yard can mean money in the bank.
Peterson is guaranteed $17 million, a tidy sum for starters. I'm a big fan of contracts with performance-based incentives and Peterson's contract has a couple of doozies.
According to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, he can add $2.5 million to his 2010 salary if he rushes for more than 1,000 yards in two of his first three seasons. If he tops 1,300 yards -- remember he's only 100 yards shy with three games to go -- he adds another $1 million to his 2011 salary. Doing 1,300 yards twice in three years is worth a $3 million bump.
Those are just the highlights, and McFadden's agent will be cognizant of them prior to negotiating time. Whoever that agent is, he will be hawking a known commodity in McFadden.
Tebow is something else, but he could be a college game wunderkind. Fun to watch at Florida, he is not the prototypical NFL quarterback and even at 230 pounds or so, he will take a beating if he is quick to tuck and run in the pros.
He almost qualified as a run-only specialist as a freshman, throwing only 33 passes, and I thought he might be a bust when asked to run the entire offense. But, he worked hard on his throwing and surprised many with his accuracy this year, completing 217-of-317 for 3,132 yards.
If he chooses to be a Gator for two more years, he will have time to improve his pocket presence, technique and other qualities high on the NFL checklist. From the pros' perspective, he is a work in progress.
With McFadden, it's hand him the ball and get out of the way.
Those conspiracy kooks who believe the NFL is protecting
New England and its pretty-boy quarterback Tom Brady are really going to scream if the
Patriots take McFadden with a pick they squirreled away back in April. Only a footnote at the time, New England traded out of the first round so San Francisco could pluck offensive tackle Joe Staley.
The
49ers are one of four teams at 3-10 and if the draft was Friday instead of the final weekend in April, New England would have the No. 2 pick. Others at 3-10 are St. Louis, Atlanta and the
New York Jets.
Winless Miami will pick first and the
Dolphins are so bad on defense that they might be obligated to go with LSU defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey. Before they do, they'll want to make sure Dorsey is what he was prior to a crackback block by Auburn.
The health of Ronnie Brown will also factor into the Dolphins' decision. The former Auburn running back made 602 yards through seven games before undergoing season-ending knee surgery. If he's OK, the Dolphins can pass on McFadden.
Already one of the elite -- I'm not willing to concede the Super Bowl to the Pats just yet -- how good would New England be with McFadden? The Patriots' leading running back is Laurence Maroney, a second-year who's he from Minnesota. Maroney, who netted 18 yards on eight carries in Sunday's victory over Pittsburgh, has 529 yards on 126 carries this year. A year ago, he produced 745 in 14 games.
Given those same 175 carries, McFadden will churn out more than 745, particularly if Brady to Randy Moss is still in play.
Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media's Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is
hking@arkansasnews.com.
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