Bo Levi Mitchell takes $95,000 pay cut

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B.C.FAN
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There are some fascinating details in a 3downnation.com report about Bo Levi Mitchell's contract restructuring and its salary cap implications. Mitchell signed a four-year deal in Calgary last year for $2.8 million, after Mike Reilly set the bar with his four-year, $2.9-million free-agent deal in B.C. Mitchell has agreed to take a $95,000 pay cut for 2020. He will receive a $50,000 bonus up front to count against the 2019 cap, saving Calgary total of $145,000 of cap room for the 2020 season. Mitchell will be on the books for $550,000 in 2020 instead of the $695,000 in his original deal.

Mitchell and Reilly both had subpar 2019 seasons. Reilly passed for a four-year low of 3,897 yards and 20 touchdowns. Mitchell passed for a five-year low of 3,464 yards and 19 touchdowns. Mitchell's drop in production was due to injury that limited him to 11 games. Reilly's season was also shortened by injury but his drop in production was due more (IMO, at least) to coaching issues and player-personnel decisions by Ed Hervey, forced in part by the impact of Reilly's contract on the salary cap. Mitchell's pay cut begs the question: Will Reilly be next?

Bo Levi Mitchell restructures contract with Stampeders
JohnnyMusso
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No! I doubt Reilly will do the same and I doubt Ed Hervey will ask him. I still think his big contract will hurt the Lions and they will go cheap in other areas to fit under the cap. He should, but I just don't feel it will happen and Lions will suffer again for it.
Odie
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Complicated question.... on one hand, Reilly has been a warrior and signed his contract in good faith based on what the market was at the time...remember that there were at least 3 other teams - Edmonton, Saskatchewan and Toronto - who were reportedly offfering similar money to him. On the other hand, it seems some teams, including the lions, might have been banking on a salary cap increase that never happened.... and the prices for a QB have fallen. Calgary is addressing this to stay competitive...Reilly could take a 100 k cut and still be the highest paid player in the league, which says something about the valuation....

Hervey preaches never putting a player above the team and the cold reality of the business and the market being the important , guiding factors for decisions .... if that is the case it would follow that Hervey is plotting a similar course of action to that taken by Calgary.

Look, I’m a Reilly fan and want to see him play in a lions jersey until he retires, but I also want to see my team win. With Nichols, Masoli, the backup in Calgary and a handful of other QBs either available or on the move and all for a great deal less than 600k, the lions might have a strong argument and a very plausible back up plan if Reilly doesn’t want a pay cut...

But then again, this brings up that debate on whether or not teams should live up to the contracts they sign....

No easy answers, but with Levi Mitchell doing something like this, you have to think it has at least crossed hervey’s mind a few times....
maxlion
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It comes down to interests and power. Is Hervey willing to gamble on another QB signing here who offers better value than Reilly? Would Reilly be willing to take less to play in BC? Can't really compare with BLM. Each situation is unique. My guess is that the contract holds for this year at least. Reilly is arguably still the best QB in the league.
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DanoT
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I was never in favour of spending huge $ on Reilly due to the impact on the SMS and the inability to retain or sign other top players.

However at this point I would say : stay the course. And then if the Lions don't make the playoffs in 2020, then for 2021 Reilly either takes a pay cut or gets cut.
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Hambone
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If the report is accurate it should be noted that for now at least this is only a one time adjustment for the 2020 season only. The terms for the final 2 seasons of the contract remain intact.

What the article doesn't really clarify is if he's giving up the housing and travel allowances this year.
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BC 1988
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More detail on BLM's ailments last season, with an optimistic prognosis after the procedure.
https://3downnation.com/2020/01/07/stam ... -shoulder/
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B.C.FAN
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BC 1988 wrote:
Wed Jan 08, 2020 12:10 pm
More detail on BLM's ailments last season, with an optimistic prognosis after the procedure.
https://3downnation.com/2020/01/07/stam ... -shoulder/
Calgary GM John Hufnagel and coach Dave Dickenson have both raised red flags about the prospect of Mitchell being healthy for training camp. Here are their comments to Postmedia beat reporter Danny Austin this week:
“Bo had a little bit of a shoulder procedure done trying to fix what’s been bothering him for the last couple years,” Hufnagel said Tuesday at the CFL’s annual winter meetings. “He went to doctors in L.A. Everything went very, very well and right now he’s ahead of schedule. We’re hoping for the best and that he can get some work done during training camp, but it’s wait-and-see.
“I saw Bo, he actually looks pretty good,” Dickenson said. “There were some things with his shoulder joint that we felt could get cleaned up. I’m not going to jump onboard to say 100% yes or no (that he’ll be at camp). I would expect him to be there, but it’s still January. He says he feels good, though.”
Stampeders Notes: Mitchell recovering from shoulder procedure

This reminds me of several B.C. cases in which the Lions expressed optimism that various quarterbacks from Casey Printers to Travis Lulay would be ready for training camp after offseason surgery, only to find that they were far from healthy. For now, I would consider the Calgary starting QB position to be vacant for the start of the season. Hufnagel will want to sign an experienced CFL quarterback who can lead the team until Mitchell is healthy.
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Hambone
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BC 1988 wrote:
Wed Jan 08, 2020 12:10 pm
More detail on BLM's ailments last season, with an optimistic prognosis after the procedure.
https://3downnation.com/2020/01/07/stam ... -shoulder/
Perhaps BLM's "pay cut" wasn't as much of a cut as a conversion of guaranteed money to incentives that he can still achieve if he's ready to go by camp? Takes away a bit of the risk of hard cap money being spent if he's unable to go for Week 1. Sounds like this procedure and the contract adjustment happened at the same time.
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https://3downnation.com/2020/02/23/stam ... ng-of-may/
Latest quote from BLM about his post-surgery rehab. Sounds uncertain since he won't know how it's progressing (apart from the current range of motion tests) until he actually puts the shoulder to the test with throwing 9 weeks from now.
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