Dansby Fires Agent

[sportznutt]

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/articles/2009/04/06/20090406dansby0407.html?source=nletter-sports

Cardinals inside linebacker Karlos Dansby fired his agent, Kirk Wood, over the weekend, according to NFL sources, and it's unclear how that will affect negotiations of a multiyear contract for Dansby.
Wood was in Arizona last weekend negotiating with Cardinals General Manager Rod Graves. Both sides characterized the talks as positive and expected to talk again this week.
Sources said the framework of a deal was in place, and the contract could have been completed this week.
But Dansby apparently decided late last week to fire Wood, who has been his agent since Dansby entered the league out of Auburn in 2004.
Wood declined comment on Monday. Dansby and Graves could not immediately be reached for comment.
It's unknown which agent Dansby has chosen to replace Wood. After firing an agent, players can't officially hire a replacement until five days after the date on the termination letter.
A union spokesperson said no termination letter had been received as of Monday afternoon.
Dansby is close to Cardinals strong safety Adrian Wilson, who is represented by Eugene Parker. Sources close to the situation expect Dansby to hire Parker.
Wood has pursued a long-term contract for Dansby for more than two years. The club placed the franchise label on Dansby in February for the second straight year. That restricted his options in free agency but also guaranteed him a salary of $9.7 million for the upcoming season.
The Cardinals had been reluctant to give Dansby a multiyear deal because they had questions about his durability and commitment, but Dansby has allayed those concerns with his play the past two seasons. Graves and Wood had hoped to reach agreement on a new contract before the draft on April 25 and 26.
Wood was believed to be seeking a deal that would have included $22 million to $24 million in guarantees, with at least $12 million of that coming in the first year.
In addition to locking up a talented young player, the team's new deal for Dansby would provide additional cap space. The Cardinals are believed to be about $1.5 million under the cap, with Dansby's current deal consuming $9.7 million of space.


Didn't see it posted so.......

 

[Ryanwb]

That's a sound business decision

 

[Gambo is a Turd]

Bizarre. Why fire your agent when an agreement on a new contract is immenent. I don't get it.

 

[sportznutt]

Unless he didn't like the way negotiations were going? Could be a positive or negative spin.

 

[Ryanwb]

Bizarre. Why fire your agent when an agreement on a new contract is immenent. I don't get it.

I can imagine it went something like this:

Dansby: I want a bigger package than Calvin Pace
Agent: The deal they're offering is fair in the current economic climate. The guarnateed money would put you in the top 5 of highest paid linebackers in the NFL
Dansby: You can't get me the deal, someone else will.

 

[Skkorpion]

Phhhhttt....

The sound of all our hopes escaping from this puncture wound. A deal was in place and Dansby bailed. Not good.

 

[WildBB]

. Graves and Wood had hoped to reach agreement on a new contract before the draft on April 25 and 26.

Wood was believed to be seeking a deal that would have included $22 million to $24 million in guarantees, with at least $12 million of that coming in the first year.

In addition to locking up a talented young player, the team's new deal for Dansby would provide additional cap space. The Cardinals are believed to be about $1.5 million under the cap, with Dansby's current deal consuming $9.7 million of space.


Didn't see it posted so.......

If he signs that deal, is this another one that's disgruntled after 2-3 years?

Don't understand the firing, if Wood and Graves were on the same page with 22-24M guaranteed and 12M the first year. What does he expect?!

 

[Skkorpion]

I can imagine it went something like this:

Dansby: I want a bigger package than Calvin Pace
Agent: The deal they're offering is fair in the current economic climate. The guarnateed money would put you in the top 5 of highest paid linebackers in the NFL
Dansby: You can't get me the deal, someone else will.

That's my guess too.

 

[WildBB]

Phhhhttt....

The sound of all our hopes escaping from this puncture wound. A deal was in place and Dansby bailed. Not good.

I don't get that! Bye Bye Dansby. Oh well, move on after this year. I think he wants the world.

 

[lobo]

Phhhhttt....

The sound of all our hopes escaping from this puncture wound. A deal was in place and Dansby bailed. Not good.

Does not sound too great but the team always had a pretty decent relationship with Parker...we were not there so we will never know.

 

[WildBB]

Does not sound too great but the team always had a pretty decent relationship with Parker...we were not there so we will never know.

We can guess. 24M guaranteed is not good enough! 12M 1st yr. not good enough! Whatever!

 

[az jam]

Sure is a surprise turn of events. Cards need to start planning for Dansby's replacement. Doubt if he will be here after this season.

 

[Scott MS]

Seems pretty obvious that Dansby didn't like the deal or that his agent wasn't standing firm enough.

This is all bad and no good.

 

[joeshmo]

Well this is odd.

Whats bad is that we cant negotiate again until next week minimum. We have to wait a week to negotiate with a new agent once the paperwork is turned in and no paper work has been turned in yet.

I am confused.

 

[CardinalChris]

If we are optimistic it could be the other way around. He won't get a gamecheck for how long? He should have gotten a signing bonus check 2 years ago and maybe Karlos is tired of negotiations what should already have been done....... we can hope, can't we?

 

[joeshmo]

We can guess. 24M guaranteed is not good enough! 12M 1st yr. not good enough! Whatever!

Dont let the article confuse you. What the player makes the first year is the only gauranteed portion of a players contract. That means half of that 24 mill gauranteed is not gauranteed and is in the form of roster bonuses or option bonuses in later years and Dansby only gets it if he is still on the team to collect it. Thus, it is not actually gauranteed until he earns it. Its why I hate it when the media churns out the gauranteed terminology becuase not all of it is actually gauranteed until the player earns it. Just because they say 24 mill gauranteed doesnt mean the player will actually see all 24 mil of that. Look at the structure not the totals.

Again only the 12 mill first year money is gauranteed for Dansby. That could mean 6 mill in base salary and 6 mill in signing bonus or any other ratio that you can think of. Anyway you slice that ratio though it doesnt give nearly a big enough signing bonus IMO, which could have been the big issue.

Then again the article says Dansby decided to fire Wood last week, before Wood started to negotiate with us in earnest, so the firing of Wood may have already been decided before any frame work was decided upon, and Wood was just making a last ditch attempt to keep his job. After reading the article again that is exactly what it sounds like to me, and this close deal wasnt ever really in play, and just a last ditch attemp of an agent trying to keep his job.

 

[AzCardzFan]

Great we finally start making progress on getting this guy locked up and he goes and fired his agent! I dont think it was meant to be folks.....

 

[ajcardfan]

You are right, as usual, joe. The Cards were offering him about half of the upfront money that Pace got and his agent wanted him to take it. Basically, the Cards were giving only two million more dollars than he would make under the tag in order to lock him up for another 4 or 5 seasons. So, he got himself a new agent.

Forget a long term deal for Dansby any time soon.

 

[WildBB]

Dont let the article confuse you. What the player makes the first year is the only gauranteed portion of a players contract. That means half of that 24 mill gauranteed is not gauranteed and is in the form of roster bonuses or option bonuses in later years and Dansby only gets it if he is still on the team to collect it. Thus, it is not actually gauranteed until he earns it.

Got it. Thx.

 

[WildBB]

You are right, as usual, joe. The Cards were offering him about half of the upfront money that Pace got and his agent wanted him to take it.

Are you saying Pace got 22M in his 1st year there?

The Cards' offer isn't exactly chump change. Let Dansby become a FA next season right at the uncapped year and see what offers he gets. It won't be any better than this, IMO.

 

[joeshmo]

Got it. Thx.

Got to say though after looking at it more closely 12 mill his first year is actually very close to what Pace got. Pace got 1.5 mill base salary and 11 mill signing bonus. Then in year two he would get 750k and another 9 mill in option bonus. So the 12 mill first year amount is actually very much so in line with other contracts I guess, especially if Dansby wants to use Pace as his barameter like he seems to want to.

But again I dont think the deal was actually ever close or imminent because it sounds like Dansby decided to fire his agent last week before this imminent deal was even negotiated and it was only a last ditch effort of an agent to try and keep his job, but Dansbys mind seemed to have already been made up.

So what came first Danbsy deciding to fire his agent "late last week" or this "framework of a contract" that happened late Friday or over the weekend?

 

[ajcardfan]

According to this, Pace got a 20 mil signing bonus out of his 22 mil guaranteed.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3275059

If you are correct joe, then the contract is right in line with the offer to Dansb. And, maybe the firing of the agent is just coincidental with the talks of last week.

 

[bg7brd]

Got to say though after looking at it more closely 12 mill his first year is actually very close to what Pace got. Pace got 1.5 mill base salary and 11 mill signing bonus. Then in year two he would get 750k and another 9 mill in option bonus. So the 12 mill first year amount is actually very much so in line with other contracts I guess, especially if Dansby wants to use Pace as his barameter like he seems to want to.

But again I dont think the deal was actually ever close or imminent because it sounds like Dansby decided to fire his agent last week before this imminent deal was even negotiated and it was only a last ditch effort of an agent to try and keep his job, but Dansbys mind seemed to have already been made up.

So what came first Danbsy deciding to fire his agent "late last week" or this "framework of a contract" that happened late Friday or over the weekend?

The article did mention that paperwork had not been filed yet. If he was fired last week you would think it would have been filed already.

 

[joeshmo]

The article did mention that paperwork had not been filed yet. If he was fired last week you would think it would have been filed already.

Doesnt have to be. Some players like to file the fired paper work with the new agent paper work at the same time. He could be waiting to finalize the paper work with this new agent first. Plus the article said Dansby did it late in the week thus to late to even send paper work or talk to an NFL rep on how to fill out or what paper work to fill out, thus he would have to wait until today to even fill out the paper work. There can be a lot of things so I wouldnt read to much into the the NFL not having the paper work yet.

 

[Crazy Canuck]

Got to say though after looking at it more closely 12 mill his first year is actually very close to what Pace got. Pace got 1.5 mill base salary and 11 mill signing bonus. Then in year two he would get 750k and another 9 mill in option bonus. So the 12 mill first year amount is actually very much so in line with other contracts I guess, especially if Dansby wants to use Pace as his barameter like he seems to want to.

But again I dont think the deal was actually ever close or imminent because it sounds like Dansby decided to fire his agent last week before this imminent deal was even negotiated and it was only a last ditch effort of an agent to try and keep his job, but Dansbys mind seemed to have already been made up.

So what came first Danbsy deciding to fire his agent "late last week" or this "framework of a contract" that happened late Friday or over the weekend?

I was struck by the seeming contradiction between the report of a good meeting from both the FO and his agent, and Dansby looking forward to the uncapped year. Evidently, the firing came (at least in Karlos's mind) before the framework of a deal.