Kenyan Drake, the NFL Draft, David Johnson and more: What I would do if I were the GM? By Scott Bord

[AZman5103]

I thought last night that the numbers looked a bit iffy. Just working them out.

He starts with $53m. That's wrong anyway because he's counting a load of camp bodies that won't be on the final 53. It's more like $59m but let's start with his $53m and no backloading.

Minus Hump = $39m
Minus Drake = $33.5m
Minus AQ = $31.5m (I think this is low. You can't say "We think you are a starter but we want to pay you backup money"
Minus Byrd/Cooper = $26.5m (He doesn't give numbers but combined $5m seems right)
Minus Kerr = $22.5m
Minus Hundley = $20.5m
Minus Zane = $17m
Minus DJ trade = $5m (We already eat $6m in dead money from his original signing bonus, adding another $6m equals $12m dead cap)

Then he says spend cap space on defense. What cap space?

Even with his wrong starting number he also hasn't accounted for the rookie draft pool. That's $9m. Add $6 to the starting number and take off $9m and we have $2m left.

There are only 2 contracts we can backload and thats Hump and Drake. Backloading isn't telling the players you are only paying them $3m this year instead of $10m. It's giving them a big junk of cash upfront and spreading it out how you want.

So take Hump. Say you give him a 4 year $56m deal with $30m guaranteed ($14m per). You give him a bunch of that G money in signing bonus, say $15m. You can then play with how you spread that around the 4 years. So you could account for none of it this year but have to eat bigger chunks the following 3 years. This is what we did with the other DJ and why we have to eat so much dead cap to move him on. You are making an already risky deal even more risky with too much back loading.

Anyway, the point is there isn't that much room to backload off the only 2 long terms deals. Maybe you can get $8m back. That's still only $10m to sign defensive FA's.

I disagree with you about AQ. We can definitley say, "we think you're a starter, but you would be a backup on every other team in the NFL"....because its the truth.

We should be offering low level backup money for him. He's not very good.

 

[BritCard]

I disagree with you about AQ. We can definitley say, "we think you're a starter, but you would be a backup on every other team in the NFL"....because its the truth.

We should be offering low level backup money for him. He's not very good.

This is all true, the main takeaway from this is we shouldn't be extending or starting him. Bottom 5 center in the league.

 

[az jam]

Good stuff, you thought this through very well. I think Shipley and Gonzales salaries are a little high. IMO there won't be a demand for Shipley and also Gonzales is a RFA so I think we can save probably $2 million between them. David Johnson's contract is a major problem and there is no simple way around it. You and others have made decent proposals but I thinks Cards may be stuck with him for all of the money. Hope not but???? Finally, I do like Isaiah Simmons but think he will be gone what is your backup on that? Agin nice work just throwing in my own thoughts.

 

[slanidrac16]

What I like MOST about this offseason is NOT having to talk about Murray and Rosen.

Ha. I wouldn’t bet the farm on that! Lol!

 

[BritCard]

Ha. I wouldn’t bet the farm on that! Lol!

I was glad we picked Rosen although I didn't like him pre draft. But he really won me over. I thought he was a great kid. I loved his pressers.

And if you think about the crap he had to work with? Vujnovich, Aboushi, Barksdale, Gossett, Cunningham, Tolliver, Williams. No run game. Wilks. 2 bad OCs. A playbook from the 80s.

Joe Montana couldn't have won games.

I'm glad we have Kyler but I like Rosen. That video he put out when he was traded was pure class. I hope the kid gets a chance.

 

[daves]

I'm going to hate this offseason, aren't I?

I believe you should expect to be 50% happy

Bottom line... there's no plan that can possibly fill ALL of the Cardinals needs in one off season. There's no sense trying!

A number of people have posted very well thought-out plans for this off season; which have then been criticized for not being realistic, not doing enough on D, or not doing enough on O.

I'd be interested in seeing people's thoughts on two-year plans. All of Johnson's dead money will be off the books in 2021, which should help. A two-year plan to make the Cardinals serious contenders in 2021 might come off as more feasible. That would make 2019 the first year of a 3-year rebuild process, which seems reasonable given that the team was at the absolute rock bottom of an abyss in 2018.

I'm not familiar enough with all the free agents and draft prospects to generate a full plan myself... but i think the Cardinals should aim for continued improvement in 2020, with emphasis on supporting Murray's growth and adding/keeping players who will contribute in 2021 and beyond.

...dave

Edited to add: I think a good two-year plan is more than just a one-year plan, and then try to keep improving the next year. For example, in a one-year plan, it might make sense to spend money on a moderate upgrade at one position, or a decent starter rather than replacement-level player where currently the Cardinals have no one. But if that guy needs to be replaced the following year in a two-year plan, it's an inefficient use of resources. It might make more sense to just go with replacement-level players at some spots, suck it up and accept that the Cardinals will have a weakness there, then spend money or draft capital on a top-tier guy at that position in year two.

Example: Someone suggested letting Andy Lee go and saving cap space there. The Cards might have a crappy punter in 2020, but that won't hurt their long-term development.

Or, at some positions, having a decent stop-gap player from 2020 as depth in 2021 might make sense too. Eager to hear everyone's thoughts!

 

[Jetstream Green]

Bottom line... there's no plan that can possibly fill ALL of the Cardinals needs in one off season. There's no sense trying!

A number of people have posted very well thought-out plans for this off season; which have then been criticized for not being realistic, not doing enough on D, or not doing enough on O.

I'd be interested in seeing people's thoughts on two-year plans. All of Johnson's dead money will be off the books in 2021, which should help. A two-year plan to make the Cardinals serious contenders in 2021 might come off as more feasible. That would make 2019 the first year of a 3-year rebuild process, which seems reasonable given that the team was at the absolute rock bottom of an abyss in 2018.

I'm not familiar enough with all the free agents and draft prospects to generate a full plan myself... but i think the Cardinals should aim for continued improvement in 2020, with emphasis on supporting Murray's growth and adding/keeping players who will contribute in 2021 and beyond.

...dave

Bingo!

 

[slanidrac16]

I was glad we picked Rosen although I didn't like him pre draft. But he really won me over. I thought he was a great kid. I loved his pressers.

And if you think about the crap he had to work with? Vujnovich, Aboushi, Barksdale, Gossett, Cunningham, Tolliver, Williams. No run game. Wilks. 2 bad OCs. A playbook from the 80s.

Joe Montana couldn't have won games.

I'm glad we have Kyler but I like Rosen. That video he put out when he was traded was pure class. I hope the kid gets a chance.

He is a classy kid and I wish him well.