He also has an extensive injury history, to the point he almost had to retire. Saying no to multiple years at 1 million + to re-sign for 700k for one year, this is the bit that is massively suss.
Yeah that's the part that is suss to me.
Giving up guaranteed money from more years.
What he's done goes against all logical thinking in regards to player negotiations and contracts.
Going for a short contracts on unders is what someone trying to make a comeback would do... see Schuster, JAC, etc. They just want to play and will back themselves to get a higher contract after 12 months.
Paps doesnt need to back himself because the money was already on the table from dogs.
So if you're going to sign for unders than it would mean the contract is longer for more security... nope decided to sign a 12 month extension rather than multi year deal on higher money.
So for some reason he's decided to give up more money and security, despite being near retired from injury a few years back and also the team he has extended with has his long term replacement sitting at the club.
My theory on it is that Paps is the starter this year, but at some point Sua may jump him as the starter for 2026... then next year Paps will just break his deal and move anyway... but in the meantime he's a safety net for storm and at worst Paps has a $700k contract sitting there.
If Paps has a blinder of a year storm may recommit to him and just let Sua walk.
Basically storm are able to have their cake and eat it to, with minimal risk to their cap position.
It's an extremely club friendly deal for a player to sign up to.
What if Paps has a shit year, Sua gets lined up to replace him and he never sees the chance of a $1m deal again.