Cards not planning go after big names FA

[joeshmo]

Yes anyone may have been able to have that conversation. Regardless of that convo the team has publicly stated they would compete with the big boys in FA.

The more I think about it the more I am getting angerer about what Graves said. You may not like the price, but how can you not at least take a look or talk to them. 9 times out of 10 the players initial offer sounds way to high and ends up signing for 25% less. And if you dont at least talk to them you cant be apart of that. There is no harm in at least making an offer and talking to the guy, if he doesnt except your offer then so be it, at least make an honest effort. If he is out of your FA plan price range then so be it, but you will never know until you try.

 

[Shane]

The more I think about it the more I am getting angerer about what Graves said. You may not like the price, but how can you not at least take a look or talk to them. 9 times out of 10 the players initial offer sounds way to high and ends up signing for 25% less. And if you dont at least talk to them you cant be apart of that. There is no harm in at least making an offer and talking to the guy, if he doesnt except your offer then so be it, at least make an honest effort. If he is out of your FA plan price range then so be it, but you will never know until you try.

Thats all I ask for Joe

 

[Stout]

The more I think about it the more I am getting angerer about what Graves said. You may not like the price, but how can you not at least take a look or talk to them. 9 times out of 10 the players initial offer sounds way to high and ends up signing for 25% less. And if you dont at least talk to them you cant be apart of that. There is no harm in at least making an offer and talking to the guy, if he doesnt except your offer then so be it, at least make an honest effort. If he is out of your FA plan price range then so be it, but you will never know until you try.

 

[jefftheshark]

Graves, and then Green, were hired to re-build a football team that was in as bad a shape as you can imagine. They sold Ownereship on a plan, and are now executing it. They are not laying the plan out to the media, no matter how transparent we want them to be. In the end, they are either going to be sucessful, and we will all get to have some really fun times at the new digs, or they will fail, and they will pay for it with their jobs.

Personally, I am going to take a deep breath and enjoy the events as they unfold.

The Shark

 

[Crazy Canuck]

This is hilarious. Every year you have a meltdown somewhere around free agency (you had a reason for doing so under Graves/McGinnis) because we weren't bringing in "impact players" and for the last two years we have been pleasantly surprised with the class Green has brought in. I'm confident that with even more money we'll be just fine again this year.

Well. Stout is from the "Ministry of Silly Thoughts"... "Oops, Silly Walks"...

 

[Stout]

Well. Stout is from the "Ministry of Silly Thoughts"... "Oops, Silly Walks"...

A big amen to that, brother man!

 

[Arizona's Finest]

Good post, Shane.

Actually your best post ever.


Great post, shane

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

51 tackles, 7.5 sacks, 8.5 TFL, 3 FF and 2 PD on an injury plaqued line while facing most of the double teams is 'slightly above average'?

it certainly ain't "top tier." so somewhere between the two perhaps.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

It was open competition. He won. When we signed Warner, "Kurt will be our QB". When we signed Chike, "Chike will be our DE". When we signed Huff, "Huff will compete for a starting position". My point is that this picture of us only signing mid-tier FAs is not acurate.

kurt was supposed to compete for a job too. what's said and what's expected are two different things. they intended for huff to start. of that i have little doubt.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

No but it makes him a good one.

And no one ever called him elite in the first place.

you're right, they called him a "top tier" fa. my argument was that he wasn't. i even conceded that he was above=average, which for the cards is pretty good.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Graves, and then Green, were hired to re-build a football team that was in as bad a shape as you can imagine. They sold Ownereship on a plan, and are now executing it. They are not laying the plan out to the media, no matter how transparent we want them to be. In the end, they are either going to be sucessful, and we will all get to have some really fun times at the new digs, or they will fail, and they will pay for it with their jobs.

Personally, I am going to take a deep breath and enjoy the events as they unfold.

The Shark

you enjoyed the last two double digit losing seasons as they unfolded?

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

i'm on a rolllllllllllllllll!

 

[Cards Czar]

A big amen to that, brother man!

Are you sure your not the Hulkster? Sounds like his quote.

 

[kerouac9]

Shane, who are the "big boys" that you want the Cards to "compete with"? It seems to me that the Cards get a ton of value from their free agents (a note that you haven't refuted this entire thread), and have stayed cap healthy so far in part because of that.

Would you really rather have the Cards spend like the Redskins, have one playoff season in four years, and then have to have a fire sale to get under the cap if the CBA isn't re-negotiated? Who are these "big boys" beyond Daniel Snyder?

Thanks in advance.

 

[jefftheshark]

you enjoyed the last two double digit losing seasons as they unfolded?

It was very entertaining! Why not enjoy it?

If the win/loss record was the only reason for being a Card fan, then there wouldn't be much point in paying attention to them at all.

If you could remain a fan during the Mac era, then the past two years were a walk in the park.

The Shark

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

It was very entertaining! Why not enjoy it?

If the win/loss record was the only reason for being a Card fan, then there wouldn't be much point in paying attention to them at all.

If you could remain a fan during the Mac era, then the past two years were a walk in the park.

The Shark

comparatively speaking that may be true, but "enjoyable?" whoa.

 

[BigDavis75]

Chike was a great signing. Joe brought up his stats but what really impressed me was his run defense. Notice how dramatically our run D improved when he was put there, even though our star DE, starting MLB, and biggest DT were all out injured. All signs point to Chike, he is so crucial to the D its not even funny.

Macklin, along with Chike and Big, is the most underrated player on the Cards. He and Griffith worked well together and rarely got beat deep. Here's an example re: Mack from the season: vs. Dallas, Key beat him on the out in the endzone, this is a route that few DBs could have stopped and Macklin got beat. Next time they tried it Mack broke it up, it was a very nice play.

Anyone that says Eric Green is better is simply not watching, Green got beat for a TD in almost every game he started, he was improving at the end of the seaosn but is still not better than Macklin or Rolle.

 

[Stout]

Are you sure your not the Hulkster? Sounds like his quote.

I want all you little Stout-a-maniacs to listen up out there...

 

[Shane]

Shane, who are the "big boys" that you want the Cards to "compete with"? It seems to me that the Cards get a ton of value from their free agents (a note that you haven't refuted this entire thread), and have stayed cap healthy so far in part because of that.

Would you really rather have the Cards spend like the Redskins, have one playoff season in four years, and then have to have a fire sale to get under the cap if the CBA isn't re-negotiated? Who are these "big boys" beyond Daniel Snyder?

Thanks in advance.

Why are you thanking me? Do you think that you are so smug as to be correct in your line of thinking and thats all there is to it?

Who gives a damn about value with FA's? I have been all for these types of contracts in the past no doubt about it. But It obviously aint working. I got two glaring things that show something different needs to be done they are as follows:

6-10
5-11

What more needs to be said?

This team has been doing whats smart fiscally and it has got them nowhere except another top 10 pick in the draft. Its time to go dramatic and shake things up. We have the ability to make a giant splash and we should do it. Are you saying you wouldnt be happy with signing an Edge, Bentley, and say a Julian Peterson to replace Huff? Are you literally trying to tell me signings like that would only give us one solid playoff run and then we would be done? Yea because it didnt work in Washington means it cant work elsewhere That is the dumbest logic ever.

I would gladly take a few years of cap hell if put us in a winning situation for a few years and a shot at a SB. Who wouldnt?

 

[Evil Ash]

Well here's my guess as to what it is really going on. We won't be aggressively going after the big name elite FAs such as Alexander. What I mean by this is that the team will probably go after them but aren't going to pay whatever the hell they damn well please ... they'll have a semi-reasonable level that they will go to but if they want more than that, they won't go after them anymore. Hence why they still have interest in Alexander allegedly

No GM in their right mind is going to tell players that they want to go after an elite player and pay whatever it takes to get them. Thats when they get ripped off.

Anyways we're going to have to wait until FA starts to find out

 

[BACH]

He is not IMO opinion a high profile FA. That's reserved for league superstars like Edge and Alexander. MVP candidate type players.

While Bentley is a stud, and the best OL out there, I don't think he's the high profile mold of player alluded to by graves. I fully expect the team to go after him hard and heavy, especially since their stated goal in FA is to get OL help, and this is a young stud who can be had for around 5 million...yeah, it's a lot, but not a 8 or 9 million player like edge or alexander.

I think some are reading far too much into this...I think all that was being said was that they aren't going after the big names out there. Bentley is a "big name" for an Olineman, but Olineman in general aren't big names overall.

I will not be upset with this FA period if we don't go after Edge and Alexander (I'd prefer LenDale myself who has younger legs). But if we don't do all we can to get Bentley then I'll join the angry side of the fence. Our number one problem is the offensive line, from poor run blocking to mediocre pass blocking to false starts and stupid penalties, this unit needs to be punched up big time. Number one, two and three priority in FA, IMO.

Bentley isn't a Big Name MVP type player, but he's a big name in my book as he can have instant POSITIVE impact. I don't think for a second that Green and Graves are ruling him out in this statement.

He plays at out biggest need position and been to the Pro-bowl in 2 of his four years in the league. How can that not be high profile?

 

[Shane]

Why are you thanking me? Do you think that you are so smug as to be correct in your line of thinking and thats all there is to it?

Who gives a damn about value with FA's? I have been all for these types of contracts in the past no doubt about it. But It obviously aint working. I got two glaring things that show something different needs to be done they are as follows:

6-10
5-11

What more needs to be said?

This team has been doing whats smart fiscally and it has got them nowhere except another top 10 pick in the draft. Its time to go dramatic and shake things up. We have the ability to make a giant splash and we should do it. Are you saying you wouldnt be happy with signing an Edge, Bentley, and say a Julian Peterson to replace Huff? Are you literally trying to tell me signings like that would only give us one solid playoff run and then we would be done? Yea because it didnt work in Washington means it cant work elsewhere That is the dumbest logic ever.
I would gladly take a few years of cap hell if put us in a winning situation for a few years and a shot at a SB. Who wouldnt?

Anyone else agree?

 

[D-Dogg]

He plays at out biggest need position and been to the Pro-bowl in 2 of his four years in the league. How can that not be high profile?

Does he command 9 million? Is he going to be an MVP candidate?

Just because he's the Best OL out there, and OUR biggest need doesn't mean he isn't an elite high profile player. He's a strong player that the average yoyo fan won't know the name of and who will cost us around 5 million. He's not a guy who puts butts in the seats like Alexander or Edge; he's not a guy that all of Phoenix says "we signed HIM!!!?? WOW!" But to those that follow the team we pop champagne if we sign him. That's the difference in an elite high profile guy and the best OL in the draft. That's the difference that Green and Graves are alluding to.

We are targeting Bentley, no doubt in my mind.

 

[Shane]

. That's the difference that Green and Graves are alluding to.
We are targeting Bentley, no doubt in my mind.

You know this how? Thats purely your opinion based on the average fans view. He is a high profile FA anyway you slice it.

 

[D-Dogg]

You know this how? Thats purely your opinion based on the average fans view. He is a high profile FA anyway you slice it.

Slice it by money and salary cap hit. Fail.

Slice it by name recognition outside the NFL. Fail.

Slice it by prestige of position. Fail.

Slice it by the ability to put average go fans in the seats. Fail.

Slice it by the ability to become league MVP? Fail.


And of course this is based on the average fan's view...that's who reads the claptrap in the newspapers. I also understand PR, and know that it's basically G&G telling all the fairweather fans not to expect a high profile guy they will recognize. Who do you think they are talking to in the paper when they say something like that? You? Me? No, they are talking to Joe Six Pack who only perks his ears up for known names, not LeCharles Bentley-types. They are priming THEM for disappointment. I'll get disappointed only IF they don't bring in Bentley for an interview.