Signing Rak to a long term deal now is the best thing to do. Most people keep putting out that 11 mil against a 120 mil cap is bad value, but the cap is now over 130 mil and expected to be 150 mil in a few years. 11 mil with a 150 mil cap is not bad at all for him. Top end players are going to be getting higher salaries in the coming years. If Rak was a FA in 3 years, he would be getting 15 mil per year with the exact same play, its just simple economics.
This is also why I think we should extend Trents contract now, because each year that goes by is a mil or two per year to resign him due to the salary cap rising. This is the year to get long term contracts done because they are going to look better and better each successive year where that was not the case in the past.
The NFL's salary cap could break $150 million by 2016 - ESPN