Jockeying to Shop
Posted: February 26, 2007 @ 10:24 am
Free agent rumors three days before the free-for-all begins.
– San Francisco has the most cap money and will spend it. Make them the favorites in the Adalius Thomas derby. ‘Niners’ HC Mike Nolan was Thomas’ DC in Baltimore before moving west.
The Niners are also expected to chase Seahawks FS Ken Hamlin and perhaps one of the Kris Deilman/Eric Steinbach duo.
– Guard Grows Into Money Position. Left tackles and centers have become big money positions in recent years. Now, it’s the guards’ turn. Last year, Seattle’s Steve Hutchinson fled to Minnesota for a seven year, $49 million deal. It now appears that Eric Steinbach and Kris Deilman will top Hutchinson’s deal. They’re the top rated players after Thomas (who is 29, with seven years under his belt, a fact that might keep his price down a bit).
The Browns, 49ers, Seahawks and Broncos are all reported to be interested in the guards. Several other teams are surely lurking in the shadows ready to make their bids. There’s the persistent rumor that a team is prepared to give Leonard Davis a $12 million signing bonus and he’s not in the same class as Deilman or Steinbach.
It’s time to put Jerry’s money where your mouth is. Are you prepared to spend that type of dough on guys who are good, but perhaps not up to Hutchinson’s skills?
– Trade Fair? I speculated last week that the shallow free agent pool could lead to more trades. Today come stories that Thomas Jones, Dre Bly, Jared Allen, Willis McGahee, Michael Turner, Darrell Jackson, David Carr and Lance Briggs are all being shopped or have asked to be moved.
– Falcons DE Patrick Kerney’s late foray into free agency could affect the Cowboys’ draft. The Falcons have been a near consensus landing spot among mock drafters for LSU’s blue chip safety prospect Laron Landry. The Falcons are talking to Landry, who likes the idea of donning an Atlanta uniform.
But Kerney’s imminent departure also saw the Falcons interviewing Nebraska DE Adam Carriker at the Combine this weekend.
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i love trades….would really like to see some….any with our name could be nice
btw, CROSBY IN 07
Don’t overpay guards. Build from within by drafting 2 guards rd 3 or later. Do it this year and next year. Generally, while the O line is in need, we must be drafting 2 prospects every year, at minimum… We can only affort to pay $10 bonuses for 2 or at the very most 3 guys on the line. We are already at the limit.
I’d be surprised to see landry fall that far, but it could happen.
I dont mind big bonuses if their salary is kept down. Ideally you would like to back load contracts and cut them when the time comes but players want the big bonuses because thats all that is garanteed. You really have to see all the numbers and how they play out to know if its a good deal or not.
Californioca,
the problem with your scenario is getting a starting RG. JJ didnt sound at all like he is sure rivera is coming back. rivera may even retire after two back surgeries.
So, do the boys think proctor is ready or are they willing to draft a guard early enough where they can pencil him in as the starter?
if not, we may have to look to FA.
The market simply may not give us much of an option. If you can sign a guard for 10-12mil in guaranteed money and spread that our over 4 years, its not too cap prohibitive assuming the guy plays at a high level over those 4 years.
jarhead,
I’ve started to wonder if Dallas might consider moving up to get one of the Nelson/Landry duo, if they can take care of their primary OL needs in free agency?
If I was runnig the show I would make sure that every year I draft a lineman on day one.
I dont have as much time as I did but I did find time to watch a few games again this weekend. All of my tapes are from the 2nd half of the season.(For any who remember my wife erased the first half when she was mad at me)
Areas of concern for me are in order of importance.
1 Henry must move to free saftey for the 2nd half of the season. Its not that I have given up on Watkins I just thought Henrys corner play is suspect at best.
2 If Rivera was at the combine this weekend he would have outrun some of the linemen in the 40 running backwards. About twice a game he would get pushed back almost beating the Qb to the plant spot. If wade watches what I watched Rivera will be gone.
3 Watkins played pretty well and then BANG he would give up a big play. Sounds a whole lot like a rookie to me.I think this kid has the ability to be great, just not now.
4 coaching- Yes I said it, Its just my opinion and I dont expect you to agree. All year long we knew our safteys could not cover and we played way to vanilla on the defence. Bill left us a better team and Wade is the right fit for us.
I dont understand us going after Davis. Our linemen could move in space last year and that was the reasoning behind letting Allen go. It seemed to work but now we are looking at a big powerful but slow Davis?
I watched Tennessee (UT) and Meachum is going to be a great Pro. We dont need him according to Jones but mark my words 3 years from now he will be making some team better. He is Physical and he runs great routs. He doesnt play fast he plays strong. He reminds me of TO. Anyone know where he is prejected to go in the draft?
Rafael,
The off season is getting expensive now. If we address our OL need(s) AND trade to move up, we’re giving up alot.
Is a lower tier FS in the draft the answer? Perhaps an open competition between a 2nd round FS and watkins, with the 1st rounder going to an olineman?
Ahh, the possibilities.
Funny how we sometimes feel that our hands are tied, even when we have multiple draft picks and plenty of cap money.
Could be worse, we could be the skins (cant wait to see them spend a fortune on london fletcher in FA).
Norm!!
Norm,
Henry played the second half of the season on a bum knee that locked up on him. I wouldn’t make definitive assessments of him based on December games.
Jarhead,
I’m thinking they get Colombo re-signed. Then, they attack the draft. I don’t see them throwing big money around now, not with Peter King predicting that Adalius Thomas could get a deal worth $9 million per. He didn’t pull that out of the air. He’s been at the combine and clearly that’s what league people are speculating.
Point is, they simply cannot leave the first two rounds this year without a FS again.
Jarhead- seems like you have quite the fan base. ( Donny excluded) Love reading your stuff, keep it up.
Norm!!
Remember the henry pick against the iggles? it should have been 6, but he just couldnt run fast enough, he was hurt.
Donny will never admit it, but he’ll buy into the bulk of my stuff (at least football-related).
Stay loose.
Rafael,
this seems to be the year for FSs in the draft. Your approach in #12 wouldn’t surprise me as a boy’s strategy except i think they will move on a backup QB too.
Raf that sure does explain a lot. That would explain his inability to cover the slant.
I still think Henry playing a hybrid corner saftey would give us our pro bowl saftey. Then we would need a corner? Who would play corner? Reeves?
If he cant cover why wasnt reeves playing? Does that mean Henry with one leg was better than the backups with two.
i say move up if we need a quality fs, without moving positions within….or just use our second pick on CROSBY and play ball control on offense…haha
Squid– the only problem with big bonuses is that if you cut a player 3 years into his 6 year deal, the majority of his bonus accelerates into the cap for that year, making some guys almost uncuttable the way I understand it. That’s what Donovan McNabb’s situation is like in Philly right now (not that they’d cut Donovan, but he does have one of those contracts).
Also, if you want to REALLY appreciate our cap situation, look at the Eagles’ numbers for the next 5 years. McNabb starts counting for $14+ MM against the cap every year after 2009, and Howard and Kearse are each eating up $8+ MM as well. In a few years, we are going to see the Eagles faced with some interesting decisions. Even this offseason, they have dramatically less cap space than they’ve had in the past, and it’s going to get worse every year.
-MUSICCITYNORM:
If he cant cover why wasnt reeves
playing? Does that mean Henry with
one
leg was better than the backups with
two.
Good point Norm. And sad that it is true.
No way Landry or Nelson drops to us. But there is nothing wrong with Merriweather at 22 and then the best OG in the second round.
Is Dockery not entering FA?
A FS (or more likely, best DB available) in Round 1 or 2 seems likely.
But I really liked the Jets’ & Chargers’ draft last year.
J-E-T-S got Mangold and D’Brick
Chargers got Cromartie & McNeil
Having two young studs to form a core quad with Gurode & Kosier would be awefully fulfilling for years to come.
To heck with the splashes, give me the planet theory.
1.Ross CB Texas
1a.Landry/Nelson
1b.Best O-lineman
1c.Trade down if you dont see any of these
2.If you cant get CB in round 1 grab Merriwether/Griffin might have to trade up a little. But trade up in 2nd not in first cost just isnt worth in first.
From all the Mock I have seen it looks like there is going to be a lot of OT at late 1st early 2nd with great value.
B2BSB,
I’m with you on drafting a CB first. Hughes or Ross. Preferably Ross.
Tim, thats why FA is a scary way to build a team. You better know what your getting and do your homework. Thats why Im not high on Davis, too much risk on a career underachiever. Dielman I would be willing to roll the dice. When you sign those guys like Kearse and McNabb them and you know that you will rework the deal or be cut. Its done that way because its best case scenario for both team and player. Teams get lower cap hit and players get more garenteed money. Its far from perfect and a career injury or a bust will put you in cap hell but its what all seem to do. Rivera injury hurts us and many have said JJ should have run but I think long term it sends a good message to players that JJ is a man of his word. Sometimes this is the difference in picking teams.
Whats wrong with Houston out of Ark. Hes was mostly a man to man corner playing against Bowe, Meachum, all those Florida recievers, he also played great against Jarrett when they played USC. Alot of speed and talented recievers in SEC.
Raf
I think if you trade up for Nelson or Landry you would have to go at least to #14 the Jags pick. They need a FS too along with a LB, and DE. Point value to move up is the value of our second rnd pick or maybe they would consider a player in exchange. Would you be willing to give up say Bradie James to move up and get Nelson. I would.
alanTDot,
That is what I am talking about! Who is the next Kosier?- I think Dockery could be.
http://www.redskins.com/news/newsDetail.jsp?id=24935
Trying to keep him- what are they going to pay him with, Six Flags tickets?
squidlo97,
I wouldnt mind having Houston as our 1st pick. Covering all of those guys he is battle tested. I just read while I was at lunch Mel Kiper has him as one of his top 30 players. I hadn’t heard anything about him.
hadn’t heard anything before that on him sorry got cut off
ill trade james to move up if we could
B2SB, thanks, they had a write up about him in N.O. paper and I dont remember anyone talking about him on here. I get most of my draft info from this site so I didnt know if he had baggage with him or it just wasnt his turn to be flavor of month. I definitely like the competition he went against and he said hes been talking to Dieon Sanders and worked with him.
If we were to make that trade to move up it would probably cost us a Julius Jones not a Brady James. Im not sold on that. I really like the diversity of our running game. I just dont think their is a big market for a inside LB that has struggled.
Swirvin,
I think you are right. personally, i’l love to have dielman but his price might be too high. for the money, dockery could be best and would hurt the skins too!
MUSICCITYNORM,
“If he cant cover why wasnt reeves playing? Does that mean Henry with one leg was better than the backups with two.”
I think Henry continuing to play while hurt had more to do with the culture or environment that BP created. Players play hurt. I don’t think it means Reeves could or could not play the position.
from talking to some skin fans i know….dockery is great on the run blocking but struggles on those long holds for passes…..i wouldnt know, i always pray for fed ex field to blow up and for no one i like to be in it at the time.
Everyone plays hurt. I bet he continued to play because he wanted to and they gave him extra help over the top. He was probably still better than the other 2 but I have never seen the other 2 play. Almost all players will play hurt if they cant do more damage to injury. Its about not wanting to lose your job. Its the same culture or envirement in all competetive sports. Remember young guys get better when they play and owners like young cheap players that can do as well as vets. If you a vet its in your best interest to be out their.
Damm, sorry about grammer and spelling. Ive been a little quick with the spike it button.
BP and Zimmer probably felt that even a bum knee Henry was better then putting one of the kids in there full time. BP hated to play rookies on D unless he had to; he was not slow to pull Watkins. Reeves and Jones were not rookies, but as little as they have played they probably looked that way to BP.
If we had been any good at drafting O linemen then I would say go with the draft; but we have STUNK so bad there that I say go FA. Steinbach is the guy for me.
Its okay to overpay a little if your getting a known good quality.
Tell that to the Redskins
Redskins give that type of money to guys Snyder likes not based identifying a top player and doing homework on how he fits your team.
I think we get too caught up in landing a stud for every position during FA. Smart drafting over the long haul is key to being a contender every year. FA should only be used when you’re a Charles Haley away from the Big Dance. I hope JJ ignores FA all together this year and focuses on young talent and stocking the roster.
“From all the Mock I have seen it looks like there is going to be a lot of OT at late 1st early 2nd with great value. ”
I would love to trade out of the first for the top 1/4 of the second. I don’t know if JJ can find a partner.