Dansby not close

[joeshmo]

The problem with this idea is that the Cardinals insider, Urban, himself hinted that the FO was focused almost solely on Dansby. He said that, if they set Dansby aside, they'd be able to get to the others. That speaks volumes about what they aren't (or at least weren't) doing.

Urban, Sommers, and Jurecki have all either written a report or talked about it on radio or the podcast. Wilson and his agent, along with Boldin have not even been approached by the Cardinals yet, and when three different poeple one of whom woks for the Cards report that, it is safe to call it a fact. One can be wrong maybe but not all three of them. There is nothing going on behind the scenes except for Dansby, the draft, and maybe a few other free agents out on the market, like Urban wrote about in his story about the UCS proday.

 

[Mitch]

Urban, Sommers, and Jurecki have all either written a report or talked about it on radio or the podcast. Wilson and his agent, along with Boldin have not even been approached by the Cardinals yet, and when three different poeple one of whom woks for the Cards report that, it is safe to call it a fact. One can be wrong maybe but not all three of them. There is nothing going on behind the scenes except for Dansby, the draft, and maybe a few other free agents out on the market, like Urban wrote about in his story about the UCS proday.

This is accurate. One of the major reasons why the Cardinals wanted to get a deal done with Dansby was to free up cap space...there are a couple more free agents the Cardinals may be intersted in signing. And, as we know, they need to clear space for the draft picks.

Now the Cardinals probably realize, especially based on Dansby's recent comments about wanting to make a free agent "splash" next year, that a new contract is not likely to happen and, even moreso, that the odds of Dansby remaining a Cardinal beyond this year are slim.

This scenario also makes it difficult (and practically impossible) for the Cardinals to trade Dansby, unless he would be willing to sign a long-term deal somewhere else. Teams that like Dansby will just have to wait a year...when they won't have to give up anything for him.

But, let's not forget that Dansby is rolling the dice here. There's no telling what kind of a season he will have, and if it's an injury plagued one, or the quality of his play declines, his market value might not be nearly as high as it is right now. Plus, Dansby's reluctance to work with the Cardinals on a long-term deal may affect how he is perceived by his teammates...especially leadership-wise...seeing as everyone will pretty much sense that this is his last year with the team.

I know I am in the minority here but I do not see Dansby as a leader...and these recent events just prove that even more. He has made some strides commitment-wise the past couple of years...in contract years, no less...but his play has not been inspirational...it's been good at times...but not anywhere close to being at a Pro Bowl level...and he's been claiming he is one of the "elite" LBers in the game (that was his own term) and has been keeping an eye on what the other elite LBers, such as Ray Lewis (a player he mentioned) are getting in new contracts. Dansby does have a fine set of skills and he is physically gifted, no question. IMO, he acts like he's tough when he has has an easy free shot from the side on a RB...but as for other aspects of his play he rarely plays tough when the flow is right at him or directly to his side. Sometimes a LB has to "give himself up" for others to finish the play. That part of Dansby's game does not show up very often, if ever. That's what I meant when I said he plays in a tuxedo.

Adrian Wilson plays with a hard hat and a lunch pail. His buddy Dansby plays in a tuxedo. Big difference. It would serve the Cardinals well to bring in more hard hat, lunch pail guys.

 

[Duckjake]

And people wonder why players go for the highlight reel hit instead of wrapping up and making a sure tackle.

 

[JeffGollin]

If the Cards and Dansby were negotating the last two months then it was the Cards holding themselves hostage because they cant work on more then one deal at a time...It isnt Dansbys fault the team cant multitask.

The reason the Cards have to negotiate sequentially rather than "multitask" is because they're concerned they'll run out of cap dollars if the sign the wrong guys out of sequence.

It's not that they're not negotiating with other players. I'm sure they're setting up parameters with each. But they've got 5 or 6 contracts to juggle, and (at least until now) may have been reluctant to pull the trigger on other deals earlier because they then wouldn't have enough money to satisfy Dansby. (It's hard to do deals with Players B, C or D when you don't know what your total budget will be because Player A's numbers are up in the air. So you wait...and wait...and wait...).

Meanwhile, all reports are that the Dansby negotiations were progressing nicely and that a deal was imminent - which in turn set the stage for ramping up the Q, Boldin and Dockett negotiations.

Only - "Oooops! I don't like my agent, and I don't like the deal."

Two weeks til draft day. Weeks if not months of negotiating time lost. I'm sorry - regardless of Dansby's intentions or the Cardinals' ability to chew gum etc. - the net effect is that they were (and are) being held hostage to the Dansby negotiations - unless, of course, they want to change things by putting him at the back of the line.

 

[Crazy Canuck]

I know I am in the minority here but I do not see Dansby as a leader...and these recent events just prove that even more. He has made some strides commitment-wise the past couple of years...in contract years, no less...but his play has not been inspirational...it's been good at times...but not anywhere close to being at a Pro Bowl level...and he's been claiming he is one of the "elite" LBers in the game (that was his own term) and has been keeping an eye on what the other elite LBers, such as Ray Lewis (a player he mentioned) are getting in new contracts. Dansby does have a fine set of skills and he is physically gifted, no question. IMO, he acts like he's tough when he has has an easy free shot from the side on a RB...but as for other aspects of his play he rarely plays tough when the flow is right at him or directly to his side. Sometimes a LB has to "give himself up" for others to finish the play. That part of Dansby's game does not show up very often, if ever. That's what I meant when I said he plays in a tuxedo.

Adrian Wilson plays with a hard hat and a lunch pail. His buddy Dansby plays in a tuxedo. Big difference. It would serve the Cardinals well to bring in more hard hat, lunch pail guys.

The majority includes teammates that selected him as a Captain, and coaches that gave him responsibility for making the defensive calls.

 

[joeshmo]

The reason the Cards have to negotiate sequentially rather than "multitask" is because they're concerned they'll run out of cap dollars if the sign the wrong guys out of sequence.[

It's not that they're not negotiating with other players. I'm sure they're setting up parameters with each. But they've got 5 or 6 contracts to juggle, and (at least until now) may have been reluctant to pull the trigger on other deals earlier because they then wouldn't have enough money to satisfy Dansby. (It's hard to do deals with Players B, C or D when you don't know what your total budget will be because Player A's numbers are up in the air. So you wait...and wait...and wait...).

I have already proven without a shadow of a doubt that cap dollars are not an issue considering Wilson and Boldin are already taking up big chunks of cap space and wouldnt cost any more concerning the cap. Graves said so himself. Cap has already been proven to not be an issue. Not sure why it keeps being brought up like it is.

Now if you want to debate Cap versus Budget, then you would have a point. How much does the team want to spend in Overall Salary is a completely different issue then that of Salary Cap.

And no they are not setting up parameters with each. First of all they have already told Dockett and Drew to go suck a lemon. They wont even talk to Dockett and his 3 remaining years. Dockett and Drew have alredy been quoted as such, so Dockett has nothing to do with any of this. Second, all 3 team insiders are reporting that Wilson and his agent have not even been contacted yet, neither has Boldin.

Meanwhile, all reports are that the Dansby negotiations were progressing nicely and that a deal was imminent - which in turn set the stage for ramping up the Q, Boldin and Dockett negotiations.

Only - "Oooops! I don't like my agent, and I don't like the deal."

First of all you are correct that all reports were, but considering there was only ONE report, it wasnt exactly a story on fire. 1 out of 1 report is still all of them though. Also If they were going nicely and it was imminent then Dansby wouldn't have fired his agent. The deal was never imminent, for a deal to be imminent the player would have to be happy with the negotiations and Dansby was not happy with it, thus a deal was never close and it was never imminent. The one and only report saying otherwise was erroneous and quick to jump the gun.

Two weeks til draft day. Weeks if not months of negotiating time lost. I'm sorry - regardless of Dansby's intentions or the Cardinals' ability to chew gum etc. - the net effect is that they were (and are) being held hostage to the Dansby negotiations - unless, of course, they want to change things by putting him at the back of the line.

Cards have had two years to work on a deal with Dansby, they have opted to use the franchise tag instead. So who is holding who hostage here. And if they were so concerned about being held hostage then why did it take them until last Friday to actually meet with his agent to actually start negotiations. If they were being held hostage don't you think they would have been more proactive?

No one is being held hostage here. One guy out of 60+ only making 9 mill cant hold hostage a team, not even a little bit.

 

[Stout]

Urban, Sommers, and Jurecki have all either written a report or talked about it on radio or the podcast. Wilson and his agent, along with Boldin have not even been approached by the Cardinals yet, and when three different poeple one of whom woks for the Cards report that, it is safe to call it a fact. One can be wrong maybe but not all three of them. There is nothing going on behind the scenes except for Dansby, the draft, and maybe a few other free agents out on the market, like Urban wrote about in his story about the UCS proday.

That is scary. Disgusting and scary.

 

[Stout]

First of all, almost solely isn't solely. Second, it's not like Urban is always 100% dead on. Point is, we really don't know for sure what's been going on. Personally, I think that's the way it should be.

Well, the germane point is, do you really want to bank on the extremely slim possibility that he returns after this season, or do you want to plan as if he won't be here? I'd rather have our bases covered and draft his replacement, and move forward from there. Because, really, we would be idiots not to plan on losing him after this season.

Oh, and I really believe Urban. If he's willing to come out and say something that strong with that much certainty, I'm pretty sure he's being honest and correct.