scout.com: All the Right Moves

[joeshmo]

One point the guy forgot to make was that Graves came out and said "we are going to be very aggressive in free agency." It sounds to me like Graves mis-read the market AGAIN.

That is the real issue I have with the free agent period so far. I knew from the get go free agency was going to suck and not much was going to happen. Then Graves goes and states what he states then a day before FA starts make a complete 180. So either he lied to us or he just completely misjudged the upcoming free agent market. I dont think he is a liar so he wouldnt say it unless he truely believed it. Just tells me he misread the market and that is a very ominous start to his new 300% raise and new found power he has in the organization.

 

[TheCardFan]

That is the real issue I have with the free agent period so far. I knew from the get go free agency was going to suck and not much was going to happen. Then Graves goes and states what he states then a day before FA starts make a complete 180. So either he lied to us or he just completely misjudged the upcoming free agent market. I dont think he is a liar so he wouldnt say it unless he truely believed it. Just tells me he misread the market and that is a very ominous start to his new 300% raise and new found power he has in the organization.

Accelerating 10m of your future money into this years cap is pretty aggressive...I don't think anyone has done that before!

 

[joeshmo]

Accelerating 10m of your future money into this years cap is pretty aggressive...I don't think anyone has done that before!

It wasnt 10 Mill. More like only 6.5 Mill. I originally missed Docketts roster bonus in my original cap spreadsheet.

 

[TheCardFan]

It wasnt 10 Mill. More like only 6.5 Mill. I originally missed Docketts roster bonus in my original cap spreadsheet.

Do we know what the true total cap number was going into the offseason and what we have spent so far and how? If this is already on your page...I apologize.

 

[joeshmo]

Do we know what the true total cap number was going into the offseason and what we have spent so far and how? If this is already on your page...I apologize.

It was in fact 32 Mill. before Dockets bonus, 1.3 RFA tender, and 450k EFA tender to Smith. After all of that it was about 27 Mill, then we shelled about the aproxamate value of 6-7 Mill in restructered deals for Matt, Rolle, and Fitz giving them their likely to be earned bonuses earlier. Which leads us to the 21 Mill John Clayton has on ESPN. So we did not "accelerated" as much bonus as I first thought. I should have waited until I got the full details.

 

[john h]

Wow. A rather level-headed approach by someone other that us diehard Cardinal fans. Someone get a rope!

This approach sounds great if you are young enough to live through a so called rebuilding process. After 60 years of hearing every excuse known to man I want results now. To me tomorrow is today. How can other teams like N.O. go from last to first in one year? Pure luck or are they better managed?

 

[john h]

hope for the best and prepare for the worst, what else can we do?

We are in the La Drang Valley people and there are no helicopters to bring in ammunition and carry the wounded out.

 

[TheCardFan]

After all of that it was about 27 Mill, then we shelled about the aproxamate value of 6-7 Mill in restructered deals for Matt, Rolle, and Fitz giving them their likely to be earned bonuses earlier.

6-7m would have netted us a starting olineman...this year.

 

[jefftheshark]

We are in the La Drang Valley people and there are no helicopters to bring in ammunition and carry the wounded out.

Well that would explain my poor cell phone reception.

The Shark

 

[joeshmo]

6-7m would have netted us a starting olineman...this year.

The money we still have also could have netted us a starting OL.

20+Mill is still plenty of money to have in free agency. And why I am not going to blast them for bringing 6-7 from a future year. NE had less then 20 that to start with.

20 Mill can get you a lot of FA's, its all in how you write the deal.

 

[Mulli]

Well that would explain my poor cell phone reception.

The Shark

excellent

 

[TheCardFan]

The money we still have also could have netted us a starting OL.

20+Mill is still plenty of money to have in free agency. And why I am not going to blast them for bringing 6-7 from a future year. NE had less then 20 that to start with.

20 Mill can get you a lot of FA's, its all in how you write the deal.

But are we not the only team in the NFL that straight lines contracts?...therefore, we need more cap to sign the same players.

20m for us could be 4 players at 5m/yr
20m for someone else could be 10 players at 2m the first year...

 

[joeshmo]

But we are not the only team in the NFL that straight lines contracts?...therefore, we need more cap to sign the same players.

20m for us could be 4 players at 5m/yr
20m for someone else could be 10 players at 2m the first year...

True.

 

[JeffGollin]

As You Were...

Another facet of the free agency situation was brought up by Pat Kirwan (who once was a Jets GM or at least a personnel guy so he should know what he's talking about).

He tends to support Keller's position on overpaying FA's. '

Using the Al Johnson signing as a specific example, he asked: "How will each Cardinal offensive lineman react when they find out that Johnson is making a lot more than they are? (Pat says he can hear the cell phone calls to agents about "How come I'm not getting that kind of bread?")

He says that signings like Johnson's can create a domino effect, with discontent over compensation spreading through a locker room like wildfire. ("Guys in the locker room know who has talent and who doesn't. When a guy who has less talent than they have cleans up, things can get ugly.")

He did mention that paying top dollar for tremendous talent (i.e. Adalius Thomas or Joey Porter) is a totally different story - it's paying guys way more than they deserve that can get teams into trouble.

I think he has a valid point.

(But I still think the Cardinals should have gone after legit talent more aggressively and had been willing to pay for it).

 

[Russ Smith]

correct me if I'm wrong but he writes for scout.com, not scouts inc?

Scout.com is a network that does things like run message boards for college sports, recruiting, pro sports etc. I looked up the name and sure enough he works for scout.com and it appears he covers the Cardinals.

So realize that he is a Cardinal fan.