Mitch
Crawled Through 5 FB Fields
Did anyone find it curious that Larry Foote's contract with the Steelers earns him $3.9M this year? That could be a very telling number in that if the Cardinals paid him in excess of the $3.7M cutoff (per the Final 8 Rules) Foote would have qualified for one of the two BIG FA contracts the Cardinals are now allowed to sign.
It's possible that Foote thought he was going to earn a huge payday in Arizona, figuring the team was desperate to replace Dansby and were willing to franchise Dansby to the tune of over $17M the last two years. Not to say that Foote thought he's get that kind of money, but he probably was thinking he'd get somewhere between $4-5M a year.
I remember watching his interview during his visit and it was hard not to feel that the scenario was too good to be true. Foote was gushing about the Cardinals as his number one choice and that he was "begging" for this chance to join a winner. I think he was begging for the big contract, and the Cardinals had not planned making him one of their two BIG FA contracts, figuring they could easliy sign him under the $3.7M cutoff. My guess is that they offered him a deal similar to the one Rex Hadnot just received...somewhere in the neighborhood of 3/$9M with incentives.
The Steelers jumped in at $3.9M the first year and that was that.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals were smart. They had their plan B in place, and were sure that they could acquire Paris Lenon to a deal under the $3.7M cutoff.
I am imagining too that Cardinals' LB coach Matt Raich had done his due diligence and had broken down a good deal of game tape on both Foote and Lenon and come to the conclusion that Lenon's value was similar to Foote's. The only sticking point is that Foote is familiar with the 3-4 and Lenon is not. But, hey, a good LB coach like Raich knows he can coach up a solid veteran like Lenon. BTW, Raich was the one who figured out Brett Favre's signals and helped design the master gameplan (an amoeba looking confusion plan) that they threw with great results at the Vikings.
Now this is where Joey Porter and Charlie Whitehurst come in. You see, these are the two BIG contracts (in excess of $3.7M/year) the Cardinals are arranging. At first they probably thought they could offer sub $3.7M money to Whitehurst, but when the Seahawks jumped into the picture the bidding most likely went up...which meant that the was no way they could offer Foote one of the big contracts.
I think that we will see Porter sign in the next couple of days. This is his best gig and he knows it. I am thinking he will get a 2 year $12M deal with $6M guaranteed and some sack total and playoffs incentives.
The curious thing about Whitehurst is the delay. Did the Seahawks offer more money? Because if the money is equal, any young QB looking at an opportunity to play with the Cardinals must be licking his chops. Right now the same cannot be said about the Seahawks'. And really it's not all that close. Plus, having seen what Whiz did with Warner, if you were a young QB with all this potential, what coach would you want to play for?
On a side note...imagine the headline if the Cardinals draft Rutgers' CB Devin McCourty..."The Cardinals have signed Lenon and McCourty." The gig is on! Like they wrote, "Tomorrow never knows"...
It's possible that Foote thought he was going to earn a huge payday in Arizona, figuring the team was desperate to replace Dansby and were willing to franchise Dansby to the tune of over $17M the last two years. Not to say that Foote thought he's get that kind of money, but he probably was thinking he'd get somewhere between $4-5M a year.
I remember watching his interview during his visit and it was hard not to feel that the scenario was too good to be true. Foote was gushing about the Cardinals as his number one choice and that he was "begging" for this chance to join a winner. I think he was begging for the big contract, and the Cardinals had not planned making him one of their two BIG FA contracts, figuring they could easliy sign him under the $3.7M cutoff. My guess is that they offered him a deal similar to the one Rex Hadnot just received...somewhere in the neighborhood of 3/$9M with incentives.
The Steelers jumped in at $3.9M the first year and that was that.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals were smart. They had their plan B in place, and were sure that they could acquire Paris Lenon to a deal under the $3.7M cutoff.
I am imagining too that Cardinals' LB coach Matt Raich had done his due diligence and had broken down a good deal of game tape on both Foote and Lenon and come to the conclusion that Lenon's value was similar to Foote's. The only sticking point is that Foote is familiar with the 3-4 and Lenon is not. But, hey, a good LB coach like Raich knows he can coach up a solid veteran like Lenon. BTW, Raich was the one who figured out Brett Favre's signals and helped design the master gameplan (an amoeba looking confusion plan) that they threw with great results at the Vikings.
Now this is where Joey Porter and Charlie Whitehurst come in. You see, these are the two BIG contracts (in excess of $3.7M/year) the Cardinals are arranging. At first they probably thought they could offer sub $3.7M money to Whitehurst, but when the Seahawks jumped into the picture the bidding most likely went up...which meant that the was no way they could offer Foote one of the big contracts.
I think that we will see Porter sign in the next couple of days. This is his best gig and he knows it. I am thinking he will get a 2 year $12M deal with $6M guaranteed and some sack total and playoffs incentives.
The curious thing about Whitehurst is the delay. Did the Seahawks offer more money? Because if the money is equal, any young QB looking at an opportunity to play with the Cardinals must be licking his chops. Right now the same cannot be said about the Seahawks'. And really it's not all that close. Plus, having seen what Whiz did with Warner, if you were a young QB with all this potential, what coach would you want to play for?
On a side note...imagine the headline if the Cardinals draft Rutgers' CB Devin McCourty..."The Cardinals have signed Lenon and McCourty." The gig is on! Like they wrote, "Tomorrow never knows"...
