Free Agent Reality 2007

[az jam]

The reality of free agency this year is that almost everyone is under the cap and has quite a bit of money to spend. Additionally its a poor quality year in terms of talent. Teams will be overspending that is for sure.

IMO here is what the Cards should do:

1. If we can't resign L. Davis to a long term contract then we should franchise him. He is one of the more highly rated OTs in free agency and we have the money. Let the new coach decide if he is better at guard or tackle but we have no reasonable replacement. Better to Franchise him and keep than to be $10 million under the cap.
2. Target some solid players but perhaps not the first tier that everybody will be bidding on and overpaying. An exmple would be if we feel we need a TE don't go after Tony Gonzales but perhaps Daniel Graham of the Pats or Eric Johnson of the 49ers. In other words get 3 or 4 solid starters but let the other teams overspend for the top players. Denny wanted "4 or 5 pieces of the pie" instead of putting all the money for one. Although I'm glad we signed Edgerrin James, Denny wasn't wrong on this.

3. Build through the draft. Once again we are picking 5th or 6th in every round. We got to get BPA and not blow the draft.

 

[JeffGollin]

Points well taken. Another possible way to approach this -

Where allowable, embark on an ambitious off-season training and player development program that demands a lot of our young players but, hopefully, makes them much better players by the time they get to training camp.

If that means having Q and Fitz run pattern after pattern full-speed at Antrel and Eric 200 times a day from now through training camp, then so be it.

If we can't bring in new talent, we've got to better develop the guys we've got.

 

[Duckjake]

The reality of free agency this year is that almost everyone is under the cap and has quite a bit of money to spend. Additionally its a poor quality year in terms of talent. Teams will be overspending that is for sure.

It looks like it's going to be a great year to be an unrestricted free agent.

I wonder if the escalating salary cap is going to keep the top teams on top longer as they will have the money now to keep their team intact?

 

[Covert Rain]

You forgot #4.

Sign your draft picks and get them in camp on time so it maximizes their chances of having an impact on your team. If your talking free agents, again get it done early versus later.

 

[Ryanwb]

Who I'd like to see here:

Reggie Kelly - TE Bengals
Eric Steinbach - OG Bengals
Cato June - LB Colts
Nick Harper - DB Colts
Deon Grant - FS Jags

 

[MadCardDisease]

I totally agree with Graham and Johnson at TE. Johnson might be on the cheaper side.

This is who I would like to see the Cardinals go after in FA. I think the emphisis should be on Defense:

Daniel Graham TE
Eric Johnson TE
Adalius Thomas LB
Asante Samuel CB
Nick Harper CB
Ken Hamlin FS
Leonard Davis T


If we could land 3-4 of those guys I would be beyond happy!

 

[Pariah]

I totally agree with Graham and Johnson at TE. Johnson might be on the cheaper side.

This is who I would like to see the Cardinals go after in FA. I think the emphisis should be on Defense:

Daniel Graham TE
Eric Johnson TE
Adalius Thomas LB
Asante Samuel CB
Nick Harper CB
Ken Hamlin FS
Leonard Davis T


If we could land 3-4 of those guys I would be beyond happy!

No Briggs?

 

[joeshmo]

I totally agree with Graham and Johnson at TE. Johnson might be on the cheaper side.

This is who I would like to see the Cardinals go after in FA. I think the emphisis should be on Defense:

Daniel Graham TE
Eric Johnson TE
Adalius Thomas LB
Asante Samuel CB
Nick Harper CB
Ken Hamlin FS
Leonard Davis T


If we could land 3-4 of those guys I would be beyond happy!

3 or 4 of those guys will be re-signed before FA even starts, IMO.

Wont Harper be 33 next year. I would sign him to a 1-2 year contract as a stop gap but nothing more.

As for Cato June, I want no part of the worst run D LB's in the history of the NFL.

I think Eric Johnson would be a cheaper but good gamble to take on an oft injured player.

FA is going to suck this year after we see who is re-signed before the FA period even starts with the NFL's 20 Mill average in cap space accross the league. I think if we can come out of this with 3-5 solid starters and a contract extension for Dansby during the offseason to use up some of the cap space we wont be able to use then I say Kudos to the Cards FO for even getting that in this upcoming market.

I think FA will be so bare we might want to look into some of the older players for 1-2 year contracts even if it is just for depth, or as stop gaps for younger players or rookies. We tend to shy away from the older players but I think tahts where we ahve made a mistake as they can be good role players, stop gaps, and on field teachers for at least a year. For example, sign Nick Harper to a 2 year deal.

 

[Captain Matt]

With respect to June......

Did we do better against Larry Johnson?

I think it was 142 yards and a TD off of 22 touches against us versus 61 yards on 18 touches versus Indy.

Cato June 2007: 142 tackles, 1 sack, 3 int, 4 PD

No one on the Cards got more than 100 tackles (Hayes had 93) and our interception leader only had 4 (Wilson).

I'm not saying I'd start June over Dansby (who we still haven't extended right?) but I don't think Huff or Blackstock could carry his jock. June and Dansby bracketing Hayes with Beisel to spell him..... I like that quite a bit. June probably makes Wilson better as well with his ability to drop in coverage.

If the Biddies are gonna commit to putting the best team on the field we could do worse than grabbing 1-2 top FAs and 1-2 middle-of-the-road guys. But if the Biddies are only gonna spend to get us to about 10 mil under the cap I'm with everyone else for spreading it out.

 

[joeshmo]

With respect to June......

Did we do better against Larry Johnson?

I think it was 142 yards and a TD off of 22 touches against us versus 61 yards on 18 touches versus Indy.

Cato June 2007: 142 tackles, 1 sack, 3 int, 4 PD

No one on the Cards got more than 100 tackles (Hayes had 93) and our interception leader only had 4 (Wilson).

Us against Larry compared to Indy. Lets put that into perspective.

Indy also had not just 8 men in the box but 9 men in the box all game long, with a predictable crappy game plan from KC. Indy also used a new run stunt scheme that KC wasnt not expecting. LJ also just got done running the most times out of any RB ever during a season. It isnt hard to understand why he didnt rack up the yards.

Even if you take all that away it is one game. The other 16 games Indy broke the record for worst run D ever. Every team they faced had 100 or more yards in a game. Ron Freakin Dayne bowled them over.

And using his stats is as misleading as they get. I like to call it the McKinnon rack up the tackles so he must be good syndrome. Having a lot of tackles doesnt tell me much. Just like McKinnon, June racks up the tackles 5 or more yards away from the line of scrimmage or farther because he is getting bowled over or dragged for another 5 yards until another defender helps him out.

He is an absolutely horrid run defender anyway you slice it and stinks at the point of attack. Teams ran at him all day long, which is also a reason for his tackle totals.

If you are going to run a D where the WLB is a glorified extra DB on the field, then June is the first guy I am calling. But if we run any other normal 4-3 scheme I dont want him on my team, or we better have the second coming of Pat Williams and some other great run defending DE in front of him.

 

[Young Card]

I feel that both June and Briggs are Cover-2 linebackers and would be less effective for us. We should spend our money else where. Nick Harper is another Cover-2 player who would do poorly one on one with, as far as we know now, Griffith as support.

 

[vinnymac]

i don't know why people would want LD back after all the penalities he had. it was one false start after another. he is a drive killer.

i like the idea of getting samuel and hamlin. they make the secondary one of the best in the league. how successful the cardinals are in fa will be determine who the cardinals sign has a head coach.

 

[Diamondback Jay]

I don't know what he's going to command, but I'm hearing Tony Gonzalez is test the free agent market this year..

Maybe it's a pipe dream, but Gonzo in this offense??

 

[Zeno]

how successful the cardinals are in fa will be determine who the cardinals sign has a head coach.

I don't get the correlation...how does success in free agency mean success in signing a new coach?

the new coach will be signed well before free agency.

 

[TheCardFan]

I don't get the correlation...how does success in free agency mean success in signing a new coach?

the new coach will be signed well before free agency.

Maybe he is saying who we hire as HC will determine our FA success...

In regard to Free Agent reality...

Briggs is going nowhere...he will be franchised if he doesn't sign before then.
Adalius Thomas is very unlikely as is Clements from Buffalo...they are the only marquee FA's on the team.
I don't see Tony G...going anywhere but KC and KC will take care of him.
The only real shot is to get Cato June or Dwight Freeney...whichever one they don't franchise, provided they don't sign one of them before hand.

 

[Diamondback Jay]

Berry and Freeny would be pretty nice.. However, I see the Colts tagging him.

 

[vinnymac]

depending who the cardinals hire as a head coach will determine how much interest the fa will have in coming to arizona. i know money talks, but if you hire a legit coach the fa will come a little easier. cam cameron, jim mora, or rivera come to mind when i say this.

 

[joeshmo]

I don't know what he's going to command, but I'm hearing Tony Gonzalez is test the free agent market this year..

Maybe it's a pipe dream, but Gonzo in this offense??

I dont remember the article I read it in but KC will most likely franchise him. Even though 120% of his salary to tender him will be in the 8 Mill range. I know for a TE that is crazy, but KC will/whould have plenty of cap space to not worry about keeping him around for one more season at that price tag.

 

[Denny Green Fan]

Ken Hamlin and Samuel would be enough for me this offseason. Assuming we dont get Briggs

 

[Skkorpion]

Free agency? I'd just as soon we don't participate beyond re-signing Leonard Davis.

Bert Berry was our best free agent ever and he's given us one good year and part of one more. That's all.

 

[D-Dogg]

Edge was a great free agent, and will continue to be.

We need a CB (or two) and a LB out of FA...

Resign Davis or franchise him and get compensation.

 

[D-Dogg]

I don't know what he's going to command, but I'm hearing Tony Gonzalez is test the free agent market this year..

Maybe it's a pipe dream, but Gonzo in this offense??

Not really interested in him. I'd rather save the money, throw it at a CB or two, or a CB and a LB and work on seriously developing pope with good coaching..

 

[Skkorpion]

Edge was a great free agent, and will continue to be.

We need a CB (or two) and a LB out of FA...

Resign Davis or franchise him and get compensation.

Edge was mediocre IMO, and will be worse this year. He's done.

 

[D-Dogg]

Edge was mediocre IMO, and will be worse this year. He's done.

Do you base that on him improving as the season wore on (YPC first month 3.4, second 2.4, then 4.4 and 4.2 the next two months), or by him becoming the first 1100 yard rusher for the Cardinals in somewhere on this side of forever? Just curious.

 

[Duckjake]

Do you base that on him improving as the season wore on (YPC first month 3.4, second 2.4, then 4.4 and 4.2 the next two months), or by him becoming the first 1100 yard rusher for the Cardinals in somewhere on this side of forever? Just curious.

Don't forget that the main reason the Cards didn't have a 1000 yard rusher for several years was that they were splitting carries between two or more RB's.

2006 Edge 337 carries for 1159
2005 JJ/Shipp 269 for 821
2004 Smith/Hambrick 330 for 1220
2003 Shipp/Smith 318 for 1086
2002 Shipp/Jones 326 for 1345

Edge is also the first Cardinal RB with over 300 carries in one season since Ottis Anderson in 1981. Tomlinson by contrast has gone over 300 every year he's been in the NFL.