Leinart Contract/Negotiations Discussion

[spanky1]

spanky - I won't even respond to you because everyone else has already totally made you look like, well, Spanky. Good going as usual.

Message Boards are not solely for making friends and I enjoy reading the perspectives from many who voice contrary opinions to mine.....having said this, I suspect that some enjoy reading my perspectives as much as you would hope they like your posts from the darkside.

 

[Big Red Line]

Nicely done, Spanky. You paddled him on that one.

 

[Espo]

BREAKTHROUGH COMING IN LEINART TALKS?

A league source tells us that talks will continue on Thursday regarding a contract for Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart.

Per the source, today's session is regarded as an important one with respect to whether there will be a breakthrough in the short term.

Though the specifics as to the respective bargaining positions are currently sketchy, it's a safe bet that Leinart and company still want more money than the Cardinals are willing to pay. Complicating matters is the perception that the guy drafted in front of the 2004 Heisman winner, Ernie Sims, signed a bad deal and that the guy taken behind him, Jay Cutler, signed a mediocre one.

profootballtalk.com

 

[BigRedArk]

BREAKTHROUGH COMING IN LEINART TALKS?

A league source tells us that talks will continue on Thursday regarding a contract for Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart.

Per the source, today's session is regarded as an important one with respect to whether there will be a breakthrough in the short term.

Though the specifics as to the respective bargaining positions are currently sketchy, it's a safe bet that Leinart and company still want more money than the Cardinals are willing to pay. Complicating matters is the perception that the guy drafted in front of the 2004 Heisman winner, Ernie Sims, signed a bad deal and that the guy taken behind him, Jay Cutler, signed a mediocre one.

profootballtalk.com

Get this thing done TODAY! Have either of the sides in this thing ever heard of or understand the concept of compromise?????

 

[Mainstreet]

Football is all about winning, apparently both on the field and off the field. This has been a nice scrimmage between Leinart and the Cardinals Management. Maybe we'll finally see who has been trying to out leverage the other. I'll be very much interested in seeing how much money the Cardinals give Leinart in guaranteed money without strings attached.

I hope the fault of this late signing lies with the Leinart camp (trying to get a little more money for their client) as I truely want to be more involved as a fan with the Cardinals. And I want to fully believe they are trying to put an excellent product on the field. Before Mike Bidwill became more involved, I wasn't always sure. I just want to make sure the smoke and mirrors are gone.

Get it done Cardinals.

 

[kerouac9]

I also believe that Blackstock grows by leaps and bounds this year, perhaps Mitchell as well......but then my glass is usually half filled.

And this is the thing. I think that cheese and I would rather have signed a couple of mid-level FA LBs instead of DEPENDING ON Mitchell and Blackstock (neither of whom showed anything last year and were publicly described as disappointments by the team) to develop into quality backups.

That's the way good teams become great and great teams remain so.

If Lance Mitchell and Daryl Blackstock are having great camps, I haven't seen those reports yet. If you have, please post the links. I just haven't seen the reports.

 

[devilfan02]

Their discussing the Leinart situation now on the NFL Network.....

 

[devilfan02]

Said they have heard the contract could be done by today and that they expect him in camp by the start of next week (won't play in game Sat)

Problem was that the 9 and 11 picks contracts were "less than ordinary" according to the Leinart camp. They don't think Matts contract should be sandwiched between the 9 and 11's as he has more value.

All in all, nothing new. I'm not sure who this is reporting this but I'll let you know if I hear. Wonder what sources told this guy that the deal might be done today

 

[nurnay]

NFL Network is talking about his contract now...... check it out

Please post what they say.

 

[joeshmo]

Sometimes joeshmo, players come from out of nowhere and step it up. Did you really know anything about Witherspoon before his breakout last year? I'm prepared to give the Francisco's of our team the benefit of the doubt.

No doubt.....we could use another "starter" quality CB, ( I do like the combo of Rolle, Green and Macklin however) .....but was Will Allen that guy? Not IMO. And let's just see who becomes available through roster cuts( at CB, Mike Rumph is one potential possibility).

There is still wiggle room.

Dont tell me you are trying to compare Witherspoon to Fransisco.
Yes I did know about Witherspoon before his break out year in 2004, not just last year. I knew who he was because he was a high 3rd round pick who got a lot of playing time his rookie year, he wasnt a UDFA coming off of the PS.

Really bad comparison to try and make your point.

I just find it way to hard to put a lot of stock into a lot of unproven players, Fransisco, Shazor, Blackstock, Mitchell, Johnson, and so on. If Green is publicly worried about it so am I until they prove it on the field not a 3/4 speed practice session..

Will Allen could have been that CB depth guy who is making less then 2 Mill a year his first 2 years. If you wouldnt take Allen or McQuarters over tate, Hunter, Mcareins(sp?) of the world I just dont know what else to say.

You keep bringing up these rosters cuts as if it will solve anything. It is about as good of a way to get players as the June 1st gold mine.

 

[joeshmo]

We can't fix every single weakness in one year.

That is true.

But,

When you have 8-10 more Mill in the bank to spend you could sure get a lot closer then you are now.

 

[kerouac9]

Here are a bunch of guys that would have been better than Robert Tate for the #4 CB job that wouldn't have cost an arm and a leg:

Dexter McCleon, Walt Harris, R.W. McQuarters, Kenny Wright, Kiwaukee Thomas, Andre' Goodman, Jamar Fletcher, Fakhir Brown.

 

[kerouac9]

Na'ail Diggs wouldn't have been able to help this team and immediately been better than Daryl Blackstock? Brad Kassell? Sam Cowart wouldn't have been a better backup for Pace/Dansby or Hayes than Lance Mitchell? Ben Leber couldn't have helped? Ben Taylor?

These guys aren't marquee names, but they're all players with real NFL experience and from whom you know what you're going to get.

 

[Rivercard]

Here are a bunch of guys that would have been better than Robert Tate for the #4 CB job that wouldn't have cost an arm and a leg:

Dexter McCleon, Walt Harris, R.W. McQuarters, Kenny Wright, Kiwaukee Thomas, Andre' Goodman, Jamar Fletcher, Fakhir Brown.

Isn't this supposed to be a Leinart thread?

 

[40yearfan]

Dont tell me you are trying to compare Witherspoon to Fransisco.
Yes I did know about Witherspoon before his break out year in 2004, not just last year. I knew who he was because he was a high 3rd round pick who got a lot of playing time his rookie year, he wasnt a UDFA coming off of the PS.

Really bad comparison to try and make your point.

I just find it way to hard to put a lot of stock into a lot of unproven players, Fransisco, Shazor, Blackstock, Mitchell, Johnson, and so on. If Green is publicly worried about it so am I until they prove it on the field not a 3/4 speed practice session..

Will Allen could have been that CB depth guy who is making less then 2 Mill a year his first 2 years. If you wouldnt take Allen or McQuarters over tate, Hunter, Mcareins(sp?) of the world I just dont know what else to say.

You keep bringing up these rosters cuts as if it will solve anything. It is about as good of a way to get players as the June 1st gold mine.

Joe, if you spend that money now, what do you use to resign Davis, Dockett, etc?

 

[Pariah]

Joe, if you spend that money now, what do you use to resign Davis, Dockett, etc?

Next year's money?

 

[40yearfan]

Next year's money?

What does that do to accquiring new free agents?

 

[Pariah]

Not much.

 

[40yearfan]

Not much.

So we have an unlimited supply of dollars and don't have to pay attention to the cap issue?

 

[Pariah]

So we have an unlimited supply of dollars and don't have to pay attention to the cap issue?

Hmm. No, I don't think I said that.

 

[kerouac9]

What does that do to accquiring new free agents?

The salary cap is expected to go up another $8-10 million next year. It's not goint to make a difference.

By the way, if this team already builds good depth and develops its players, we're not going to need to bring in a big free agent class next year. As joeshmo says, we have something like 30 players already under contract for 2007, and many of the rest of them are RFAs or EFAs.

 

[40yearfan]

The salary cap is expected to go up another $8-10 million next year. It's not goint to make a difference.

By the way, if this team already builds good depth and develops its players, we're not going to need to bring in a big free agent class next year. As joeshmo says, we have something like 30 players already under contract for 2007, and many of the rest of them are RFAs or EFAs.

Weren't you just saying we should have brought in more free agents this year? Do you really believe we could fix all the woes on this team this year? Don't you think we might want to replace some people who didn't work out this year, just like we've done the past two years?

 

[kerouac9]

Weren't you just saying we should have brought in more free agents this year? Do you really believe we could fix all the woes on this team this year? Don't you think we might want to replace some people who didn't work out this year, just like we've done the past two years?

Who did we cut after last season who "wasn't working out"?

I don't believe that we could have fixed all of the woes on this team this year, but I think that we could have fixed more of them than we did. We could have had a veteran OT, MLB, and CB for less than $3 million under this years cap to improve depth, but we didn't, and that's going to affect our team on the field this year, and the cap next year if we have another high draft pick.

 

[Pariah]

Weren't you just saying we should have brought in more free agents this year? Do you really believe we could fix all the woes on this team this year? Don't you think we might want to replace some people who didn't work out this year, just like we've done the past two years?

If we're replacing players, doesn't it make sense that we'd also be replacing their salaries?

Why do some people always want to look to next year when it comes to paying players? No one is suggesting we overpay for players--we're suggesting that when a team has GLARING NEEDS that they can afford to address they should ADDRESS THEM.

Would signing a 2nd tier CB and RT destroy our ability to field a team for years to come? If the answer is yes, then I'm with you, the Cardinals did the right thing. But, I don't see how anyone can say with a straight face that's the case.

That said, I'm excited about the group of starters they've assembled for this year, not so much the backups.

 

[kerouac9]

And we still would have been able to extend contracts with the $5 million left over after those players. Anquan's extension last season left him with a cap value of only $2.8 million, and it's unlikely that Dockett and/or Dansby would have gotten as much as Q did.

EDIT: Adrian Wilson's new deal also only counted for $2.7 million against the cap. We would be able to re-sign two of the three "big name" players in-season (Dockett, Big, or Dansby) and still had money left over in case of injury. The third player's new deal could be worked out the following offseason.