This isn’t really realistic though. 12-15 million? He either doesn’t cut it and gets shown the door or he makes legit starter money. If they want him back that means he played well enough. It also means there will be a market that will pay more than 12 million. I doubt his agent is an idiot.
Why have those become the only options?
Who will pay him 17 million? Sure...he might get the Giraffe deal...some GM might be that desperate and that stupid, but really? Somebody is going to pay 17 million for a back-up or average starter? Why?
Don't do it. Hold firm and move on. We already replaced him, he has no bargaining power. He is easily replacable. I don't foresee a situation where Trubisky rides the white horse to playoff victories...it will be somewhere in between.
A bounce back year but not good enough to pay over 20 million per year more than 2 years. Maybe he can get the Cousins treatment and sign a bridge deal?
I think paying one of these scrubs 75% of Mahomes/Watson is going to be the undoing of many teams. Elite players should be paid at every position, and with new QB strategies and schemes opening the way for running QB's, they aren't such a scarce commodity anymore. Get ahead of the curve and recognize the new recipe for winning.
What did paying Cousins get them? Cousins is 3x the player Trubisky is and 5x as rare and he isn't good enough to earn that money or win without dominance all around him.
With Foles around we can have the balls and start the new trend. If you get elite QB pay them. The worst place is the "pretty good" range...and its my advice to low ball the "pretty good" guy and move on. Keep it shuffling until you get elite or you get a guy that signs up for 3 and 45 and wants to finish this not go scrap out a few more pennies as back-up in Arizona.
Elite money or nothing is a trap. Let him walk into a flooded market and find out.