motife
03-10-2007, 03:09 PM
they're unbelievably high...
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/dr_z/03/08/mail/index.html
Much ado about nothing
Free-agent signings not as big as keeping key players
March 9, 2007 3:29PM
The free-agency numbers are getting to a few loyal e-mailers, and I wish there was something I could do to put everything in perspective for you. I'll try, but don't forget, I'm doing this sabbatical, book-writing thing, so you'll be getting my impressions, not an exhaustively researched project. OK? Is that good enough? It is? Then away we go.
Fred of Washington is stumped by the big guarantees for offensive linemen, especially guards, who used to be low-paid employees. Artie of Forest Hills, Queens, asks me to address other positions as well, "anything that strikes your fancy," he adds, generously. Other e-mails follow this same theme.
I don't want to do a complete free-agent evaluation, and information on some of the signings will be incomplete because some salary figures aren't out there, but right away, the one that jumped out at me was Tony Pashos, Baltimore's right tackle, moving to Jacksonville for $10 million in bonuses (by the way, the operative numbers involve guaranteed and bonus money. The total package is meaningless, because much of it could be back-ended, with the club having no intention of holding onto the player that long).
Pashos, who took over for longtime starter Orlando Brown, was a decent, unspectacular NFL strong-side tackle. If I'd have had to rate all the NFL right tackles, I'd probably have put him around lower middle. Unless the Jags see something twinkle-toed there and plan to move him to the left side, I really can't understand this extravagance.
But I think NFL teams are coming to the realization that if you can keep your O-line, or the major parts of it, in place for as long as possible, it's a real springboard for success at many levels. A deteriorating unit is a cancer that can destroy a team. Thus I salute Washington for resigning both RG Randy Thomas and RT Jon Jansen at numbers that might seem a bit extravagant, but not when you're committed to keeping as much as possible of a decent unit together (LG Dockery was lost).
Arizona signing Dallas' back-up center, Al Johnson, for $3.5 million in guaranteed money seems a little loony to me. But I can understand Leonard Davis breaking the bank in Dallas. The Cowboys don't want a toe dancer at LT. They want a big guy with a mean streak, so they can get their weak-side running game back to where it should be -- the way it was before Flozell Adams started deteriorating so badly. Davis has been effective at times, clumsy at others, certainly not the perennial All-Pro the Cardinals thought they'd get when they chose him as the second pick in the entire draft. But I'm sure Jerry Jones feels that his staff can coach him up to the level his $18.75 million in guaranteed salary calls for. If not? Well, it's only money and the owners have plenty of that.
And at least they can tell the world, and their fans, that they're not afraid to make bold moves. I think that has a lot to do with it. After the Jets stole Thomas Jones from the Bears for a mere swap of draft choices, a few of the newspapers prefaced their stories with: The New York Jets, comma, who have been asleep through the free-agency period so far, comma ... and so forth.
1 of 3
The Patriots signed Adalius Thomas to a contract that guarantees the versatile linebacker will get at least $20 million.
Damian Strohmeyer/SI
That's what GMs and personnel guys hate, the public perception that they've been sitting there with their thumb up their ... uh, sitting there inactively. The owner reads it, and since he always believes what he reads in the papers, he wants to know what's up. The fans read it, so do the players. It's a strong narcotic, the fear of ridicule. Sometimes teams make moves just to create the impression of ferocious activity.
I remember Denver in 2001 going absolutely crazy in the acquisition game ... free agents, guys who had been cut from other teams ... it was catfish collecting, everything was sucked in. Very few of those players lasted more than a year, if that, but Pat Bowlen must have thought, wow, we're really showing some life here. The Broncos finished 8-8.
Sure, sometimes you have to pay big bucks to fill a void, or pick up the one guy you absolutely must have. New England guaranteeing Adalius Thomas $20 million to be their new Willie McGinest (not as good a pass rusher, but a better drop-LB, and a guy who can appear in any number of odd places in a zone) is a good example. But to me the teams that score heavily down the road are the ones who can correctly nail one of their own budding stars and sign him up, long term, before the numbers go wild. Some examples:
The Jets guaranteeing WR Jerricho Cotchery $8.6 million to lock him up for five years.
The Texans doing the same ($15 million guaranteed) with WR Andre Johnson. They got off light, I believe.
San Diego's LG Kris Dielman will be worth every penny of his guaranteed $17 million, just watch.
Here's a free agent pick-up I really like -- Cleveland guaranteeing Cincy guard Eric Steinbach $17 million. He'll be 27, he can move to LT. He's been around, but he's right on the edge of super-stardom now.
Here's another one I like, and this might seem odd -- Tampa Bay gambling on an injured tackle, Luke Petitgout, by awarding the ex-Giant $6.5 million in total bonuses. But put an asterisk next to this one ... only if he's a RT. He struggled on the left side, but on the power side, he's a formidable blocker.
The Niners getting it up ($22.5 mil guaranteed) for Nate Clements seems extravagant, but here's the thing about this team, which once had what was termed the cheapest ownership in the league. They've already wrapped up an entire secondary, Clements and their own Walt Harris re-signed at the corners, a pair of Lewises, their own Tim and ex-Eagle Michael, at the safeties. Not a bad day's work, huh?
The other side of the coin? Well, what's Derrick Dockery -- a pretty good, functional guard, but hardly a superstar -- done to be worth the $18.5 guaranteed millions from the Bills? And is ex-Giant TE Visanthe Shiancoe really worth the $7 million guaranteed, to prove that he's any better than Jermaine Wiggins, who Minnesota cut? And is Drew Bennett ($10 mil in real money) really a wideout in the Rams' style? Or is there no style, now that Mike Martz has gone?
I'd call some signings "watch out" choices. Patrick Kerney ($19.5 mil guaranteed by Seattle) has been a terrific heart and desire guy, but the Falcons just about burned him out by keeping him on the field too long. If the Hawks are careful with him, then OK.
Joe Horn, 35, has missed nine games over the last two years with groin and hamstring injuries, but the Falcons guaranteed $7.5 million to throw him into the mix. This is what I call action just for the sake of showing you're active. And as for that QB thing going on in Tampa, I'll get to that in a while.
Does this answer your question, Fred and Artie (it's been so long that I'm sure the world's forgotten about you)? If you're expecting me to climb up on a chair and holler eeek because so much money is being thrown at the players, look at it this way. How about owners, such as Billy Bidwill in Phoenix, who have screwed up everything they've touched and still see their franchise going up a few hundred million every time they turn around. There's always the league, standing by to help, even to help browbeat the fans into spending their tax dollars to build new luxury boxes.
2 of 3
So let the guys who are responsible for the game being great reap their rewards. And let's hope the money will help keep their names off the police blotters, although it hasn't really worked so far, has it?
Vince of Winchester, N.H., feels that the Bucs, signing Jeff Garcia and trying to sign Jake Plummer to join Chris Simms in trying to bake one grand QB pie, is an act of madness. Which, coupled with some unfortunate signings in recent years, leads him to feel that it's time to remove the "boy genius" nickname from Jon Gruden's resume.
Yeah, I guess I agree. If you're talking about overrated coaches, I'd have to call him No. 1 -- but careful reflection might produce a few other comers. Of course the really weak ones aren't rated at all, are they?
Fabio Sgambuzzi of Cento, Italy (no, he's not my E-mailer of the Week but I'm using his last name anyway because I like the sound of it) thinks that Mike Tomlin is taking the Steelers right down the toilet, and as one of Cento's leading Steeler fans, he's pretty upset about it.
Hmmm, let's take a look at it. Free agents signed, none. Free agents lost, none. Fairly clean slate there. Own players re-signed: RB Najeh Davenport, has shown some signs of life. DE Aaron Smith, four-year extension, $12 million guaranteed money plus bonuses. Yes. A fine move. Can play the 3-4 DE and then drop down inside on the four-man rush. Been at all-pro level for a few years now. Own players cut: LB Joey Porter. Well, I thought he didn't show much last year. Evidently the Dolphins disagreed to the tune of 20 million guaranteed potatoes. RB Verron Haynes. Had a few occasional moments as a third-down receiver-type back.
So cheer up, Fabio old boy. The Steelers aren't exactly on the skids yet. And, besides, I hear 2007 will be a fine vintage in Emilia-Romagna.
E-mailer of the Week ... a little trouble here with the cap letters and abbreviations and designations, but it's Daniel AH, La Paz, BCS, Mexico. Daniel read my sad story of getting badly hosed by a real homer of an official. His own sad tale is as follows: Last game of his sophomore year in high school. He's playing center. His team completes a bootleg pass to the fullback for the game-winning touchdown. Flag on the field. Holding, No. 59, offense. "That's me," sez Daniel. The defense was in a 4-3 and was pressuring with a straight up rush, DEs on tackles, DTs on guards, leaving the center free to look for blitzes and things that never came. Thus he was freed up, blocking air, as it were. I guess air must have complained, because he was flagged for the hold that cost his team the game. All I can say, Daniel, is that God is watching, and if that ref doesn't get his in this world, he'll get it in the next one.
Thank you Mike of Casselberry, Fla. Thank you for your kind words and your pledge to buy a copy of my book, which will never get written if I have to keep spouting off about free agency and .... and ... the question of whether or not Derrick Brooks has a chance to get into the Hall of Fame. Probably has a chance. I've always opted for the old Cowboy, Chuck Howley, as one of history's great open side LBs, but now he's been cast into the swamp called the Seniors Pool and his days are over. And one could really make a case for Brooks as the best of the modern variety.
Tactical question from Aaron from Normal, Ill. What's to prevent a runner from deliberately fumbling forward, if he feels the play is hopeless. First of all, it would only make sense on fourth down. Second of all, Bear Bryant used to teach it at Alabama, especially in goal-line situations. You're stopped, fumble into the end zone and we'll take our chances. I called NFL Supervisor of Officials Mike Pereira just to get the correct rule.
"If it happens beyond the line, it's an illegal forward pass," he said. "If it happens in back of it, it's an incomplete." Ah, sez I, acting as Aaron's lawyer in this case, what if the back is real sneaky about it, and does a good enough acting job so that it looks to the ref like a real fumble? What then?
"Then he gets away with it, provided he recovers the fourth down fumble himself" Pereira said. "But not in the last two minutes. During that time, it goes back to the spot of the fumble, if his own team recovers it, on any down."
Kelvin of Toronto says he is doing a paper for his "Management of Change" class in the graduate business school at York U. in Toronto. I can help you here. Fifty cents goes for a copy of the Newark Star-Ledger. A quarter goes into the gumball machine. Sixty cents for an onion and garlic bagel at Hot Bagels in Denville, N.J. You what? You don't mean loose change? You're talking about why the Lions have been so bad lately? Well, that's also a nickel-and-dime operation, is it not?
"For God's sake, answer the man!" hollers the Flaming Redhead, and to this I say, all in good time. Some of the finest minds have been stumped by this matter. In rapid fire: their drafts haven't been good, neither has player acquisition. There's been no consistency in choice of coaches, both head and assistant variety, thus no consistency, except being consistently bad.
And then, the black cloud of injuries. Why have they suffered more of them than other people did, almost every year? I asked Matt Millen that. Training regimen, practice facilities, bad field conditions, even something nutritional, WHAT, FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE? "We're studying all those factors," he said.
And that's the best I can do, Kelvin, without making a term paper out of it.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/dr_z/03/08/mail/index.html
Much ado about nothing
Free-agent signings not as big as keeping key players
March 9, 2007 3:29PM
The free-agency numbers are getting to a few loyal e-mailers, and I wish there was something I could do to put everything in perspective for you. I'll try, but don't forget, I'm doing this sabbatical, book-writing thing, so you'll be getting my impressions, not an exhaustively researched project. OK? Is that good enough? It is? Then away we go.
Fred of Washington is stumped by the big guarantees for offensive linemen, especially guards, who used to be low-paid employees. Artie of Forest Hills, Queens, asks me to address other positions as well, "anything that strikes your fancy," he adds, generously. Other e-mails follow this same theme.
I don't want to do a complete free-agent evaluation, and information on some of the signings will be incomplete because some salary figures aren't out there, but right away, the one that jumped out at me was Tony Pashos, Baltimore's right tackle, moving to Jacksonville for $10 million in bonuses (by the way, the operative numbers involve guaranteed and bonus money. The total package is meaningless, because much of it could be back-ended, with the club having no intention of holding onto the player that long).
Pashos, who took over for longtime starter Orlando Brown, was a decent, unspectacular NFL strong-side tackle. If I'd have had to rate all the NFL right tackles, I'd probably have put him around lower middle. Unless the Jags see something twinkle-toed there and plan to move him to the left side, I really can't understand this extravagance.
But I think NFL teams are coming to the realization that if you can keep your O-line, or the major parts of it, in place for as long as possible, it's a real springboard for success at many levels. A deteriorating unit is a cancer that can destroy a team. Thus I salute Washington for resigning both RG Randy Thomas and RT Jon Jansen at numbers that might seem a bit extravagant, but not when you're committed to keeping as much as possible of a decent unit together (LG Dockery was lost).
Arizona signing Dallas' back-up center, Al Johnson, for $3.5 million in guaranteed money seems a little loony to me. But I can understand Leonard Davis breaking the bank in Dallas. The Cowboys don't want a toe dancer at LT. They want a big guy with a mean streak, so they can get their weak-side running game back to where it should be -- the way it was before Flozell Adams started deteriorating so badly. Davis has been effective at times, clumsy at others, certainly not the perennial All-Pro the Cardinals thought they'd get when they chose him as the second pick in the entire draft. But I'm sure Jerry Jones feels that his staff can coach him up to the level his $18.75 million in guaranteed salary calls for. If not? Well, it's only money and the owners have plenty of that.
And at least they can tell the world, and their fans, that they're not afraid to make bold moves. I think that has a lot to do with it. After the Jets stole Thomas Jones from the Bears for a mere swap of draft choices, a few of the newspapers prefaced their stories with: The New York Jets, comma, who have been asleep through the free-agency period so far, comma ... and so forth.
1 of 3
The Patriots signed Adalius Thomas to a contract that guarantees the versatile linebacker will get at least $20 million.
Damian Strohmeyer/SI
That's what GMs and personnel guys hate, the public perception that they've been sitting there with their thumb up their ... uh, sitting there inactively. The owner reads it, and since he always believes what he reads in the papers, he wants to know what's up. The fans read it, so do the players. It's a strong narcotic, the fear of ridicule. Sometimes teams make moves just to create the impression of ferocious activity.
I remember Denver in 2001 going absolutely crazy in the acquisition game ... free agents, guys who had been cut from other teams ... it was catfish collecting, everything was sucked in. Very few of those players lasted more than a year, if that, but Pat Bowlen must have thought, wow, we're really showing some life here. The Broncos finished 8-8.
Sure, sometimes you have to pay big bucks to fill a void, or pick up the one guy you absolutely must have. New England guaranteeing Adalius Thomas $20 million to be their new Willie McGinest (not as good a pass rusher, but a better drop-LB, and a guy who can appear in any number of odd places in a zone) is a good example. But to me the teams that score heavily down the road are the ones who can correctly nail one of their own budding stars and sign him up, long term, before the numbers go wild. Some examples:
The Jets guaranteeing WR Jerricho Cotchery $8.6 million to lock him up for five years.
The Texans doing the same ($15 million guaranteed) with WR Andre Johnson. They got off light, I believe.
San Diego's LG Kris Dielman will be worth every penny of his guaranteed $17 million, just watch.
Here's a free agent pick-up I really like -- Cleveland guaranteeing Cincy guard Eric Steinbach $17 million. He'll be 27, he can move to LT. He's been around, but he's right on the edge of super-stardom now.
Here's another one I like, and this might seem odd -- Tampa Bay gambling on an injured tackle, Luke Petitgout, by awarding the ex-Giant $6.5 million in total bonuses. But put an asterisk next to this one ... only if he's a RT. He struggled on the left side, but on the power side, he's a formidable blocker.
The Niners getting it up ($22.5 mil guaranteed) for Nate Clements seems extravagant, but here's the thing about this team, which once had what was termed the cheapest ownership in the league. They've already wrapped up an entire secondary, Clements and their own Walt Harris re-signed at the corners, a pair of Lewises, their own Tim and ex-Eagle Michael, at the safeties. Not a bad day's work, huh?
The other side of the coin? Well, what's Derrick Dockery -- a pretty good, functional guard, but hardly a superstar -- done to be worth the $18.5 guaranteed millions from the Bills? And is ex-Giant TE Visanthe Shiancoe really worth the $7 million guaranteed, to prove that he's any better than Jermaine Wiggins, who Minnesota cut? And is Drew Bennett ($10 mil in real money) really a wideout in the Rams' style? Or is there no style, now that Mike Martz has gone?
I'd call some signings "watch out" choices. Patrick Kerney ($19.5 mil guaranteed by Seattle) has been a terrific heart and desire guy, but the Falcons just about burned him out by keeping him on the field too long. If the Hawks are careful with him, then OK.
Joe Horn, 35, has missed nine games over the last two years with groin and hamstring injuries, but the Falcons guaranteed $7.5 million to throw him into the mix. This is what I call action just for the sake of showing you're active. And as for that QB thing going on in Tampa, I'll get to that in a while.
Does this answer your question, Fred and Artie (it's been so long that I'm sure the world's forgotten about you)? If you're expecting me to climb up on a chair and holler eeek because so much money is being thrown at the players, look at it this way. How about owners, such as Billy Bidwill in Phoenix, who have screwed up everything they've touched and still see their franchise going up a few hundred million every time they turn around. There's always the league, standing by to help, even to help browbeat the fans into spending their tax dollars to build new luxury boxes.
2 of 3
So let the guys who are responsible for the game being great reap their rewards. And let's hope the money will help keep their names off the police blotters, although it hasn't really worked so far, has it?
Vince of Winchester, N.H., feels that the Bucs, signing Jeff Garcia and trying to sign Jake Plummer to join Chris Simms in trying to bake one grand QB pie, is an act of madness. Which, coupled with some unfortunate signings in recent years, leads him to feel that it's time to remove the "boy genius" nickname from Jon Gruden's resume.
Yeah, I guess I agree. If you're talking about overrated coaches, I'd have to call him No. 1 -- but careful reflection might produce a few other comers. Of course the really weak ones aren't rated at all, are they?
Fabio Sgambuzzi of Cento, Italy (no, he's not my E-mailer of the Week but I'm using his last name anyway because I like the sound of it) thinks that Mike Tomlin is taking the Steelers right down the toilet, and as one of Cento's leading Steeler fans, he's pretty upset about it.
Hmmm, let's take a look at it. Free agents signed, none. Free agents lost, none. Fairly clean slate there. Own players re-signed: RB Najeh Davenport, has shown some signs of life. DE Aaron Smith, four-year extension, $12 million guaranteed money plus bonuses. Yes. A fine move. Can play the 3-4 DE and then drop down inside on the four-man rush. Been at all-pro level for a few years now. Own players cut: LB Joey Porter. Well, I thought he didn't show much last year. Evidently the Dolphins disagreed to the tune of 20 million guaranteed potatoes. RB Verron Haynes. Had a few occasional moments as a third-down receiver-type back.
So cheer up, Fabio old boy. The Steelers aren't exactly on the skids yet. And, besides, I hear 2007 will be a fine vintage in Emilia-Romagna.
E-mailer of the Week ... a little trouble here with the cap letters and abbreviations and designations, but it's Daniel AH, La Paz, BCS, Mexico. Daniel read my sad story of getting badly hosed by a real homer of an official. His own sad tale is as follows: Last game of his sophomore year in high school. He's playing center. His team completes a bootleg pass to the fullback for the game-winning touchdown. Flag on the field. Holding, No. 59, offense. "That's me," sez Daniel. The defense was in a 4-3 and was pressuring with a straight up rush, DEs on tackles, DTs on guards, leaving the center free to look for blitzes and things that never came. Thus he was freed up, blocking air, as it were. I guess air must have complained, because he was flagged for the hold that cost his team the game. All I can say, Daniel, is that God is watching, and if that ref doesn't get his in this world, he'll get it in the next one.
Thank you Mike of Casselberry, Fla. Thank you for your kind words and your pledge to buy a copy of my book, which will never get written if I have to keep spouting off about free agency and .... and ... the question of whether or not Derrick Brooks has a chance to get into the Hall of Fame. Probably has a chance. I've always opted for the old Cowboy, Chuck Howley, as one of history's great open side LBs, but now he's been cast into the swamp called the Seniors Pool and his days are over. And one could really make a case for Brooks as the best of the modern variety.
Tactical question from Aaron from Normal, Ill. What's to prevent a runner from deliberately fumbling forward, if he feels the play is hopeless. First of all, it would only make sense on fourth down. Second of all, Bear Bryant used to teach it at Alabama, especially in goal-line situations. You're stopped, fumble into the end zone and we'll take our chances. I called NFL Supervisor of Officials Mike Pereira just to get the correct rule.
"If it happens beyond the line, it's an illegal forward pass," he said. "If it happens in back of it, it's an incomplete." Ah, sez I, acting as Aaron's lawyer in this case, what if the back is real sneaky about it, and does a good enough acting job so that it looks to the ref like a real fumble? What then?
"Then he gets away with it, provided he recovers the fourth down fumble himself" Pereira said. "But not in the last two minutes. During that time, it goes back to the spot of the fumble, if his own team recovers it, on any down."
Kelvin of Toronto says he is doing a paper for his "Management of Change" class in the graduate business school at York U. in Toronto. I can help you here. Fifty cents goes for a copy of the Newark Star-Ledger. A quarter goes into the gumball machine. Sixty cents for an onion and garlic bagel at Hot Bagels in Denville, N.J. You what? You don't mean loose change? You're talking about why the Lions have been so bad lately? Well, that's also a nickel-and-dime operation, is it not?
"For God's sake, answer the man!" hollers the Flaming Redhead, and to this I say, all in good time. Some of the finest minds have been stumped by this matter. In rapid fire: their drafts haven't been good, neither has player acquisition. There's been no consistency in choice of coaches, both head and assistant variety, thus no consistency, except being consistently bad.
And then, the black cloud of injuries. Why have they suffered more of them than other people did, almost every year? I asked Matt Millen that. Training regimen, practice facilities, bad field conditions, even something nutritional, WHAT, FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE? "We're studying all those factors," he said.
And that's the best I can do, Kelvin, without making a term paper out of it.