Chad Henne Vs. Jake Long!

Let's just say you were to meet an eccentric Dolphins fan who agreed to deposit in your bank account the exact salary match of the career-salary of either Chad Henne or Jake Long. He gives you 24 hours to make the decision. Obviously the first thing you do is look up their respective salaries and you see that Chad Henne was a second rounder who signed a 4 year and 3.5 million dollar contract which is small compared to Jake's hefty 5 year- 57.5 million dollar contract with 30 MILLION Guaranteed.

But this is your bank account we're talking about now and we are talking about career earnings. You're a Dolphins fan and you know that many of us believe that Chad has a bright future. Most of us expect him to be the guy for a long time. Good Quarterbacks can play well into their 30's or higher, with large contracts, well above 10 million per year.

This 4-year study concluded that the players from the 2004 combine had an average career span of 4.6 years and that only 7% had a career more than 10 years.

You have to look at the tax rate also. With all of the money in the early years you're immediately paying more in taxes that Chad even makes in salary right now. So you're getting wiped out early on where with Chad there could be more years to build up to that.

The question boils down to how much you believe in Chad Henne. Given the chance right now, would you "buy" Chad Henne's potential, or would you cash out and take the sure thing with Jake Long? If Chad is good he'll play for a long time and make lots of money after Jake Long has retired. Plus, the injury factor for Jake Long even though he has the guarantee of at least 30 million. Make a real "business decision" here and tell me what you think.