2012 Free Agent Watch

[woodbuck27]

Holy smokes. That's a lot of cap money being spent, fast. And none on centers yet, right?

Centers !? The teams have no $MONEY$ for centers.They're spending it on or reserving their CAP money for WR's. Screw QB's and LT's. WR is the glamour position in these most modern times in the NFL.

Afterall it's a passing game and teams need the best talent to catch the QB pass's or the sticks don't move.The big plays don't happen.

Can't you hear the WR players agents negotiating CAP money for their clients?

All I see is stupidity and greed.

[woodbuck27]

For any member who doesn't think I know what's happening in Free Agency and what is best for a team. Any team in the NFL. PLEASE read my last post.

Free Agency is getting to the point where it has to stop in terms of MAD Money.

What about the game of football on the Pro level?

On that basis how can the NFL go about doing it's day to day business in a league where there is a decent margin of parity and allow these outrageously large contract signing and extentions in panic go on?

[woodbuck27]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/03/15/thanks-for-another-record-setting-day/

Thanks for another record-setting day

Posted by Mike Florio on March 15, 2012, 12:01 AM EDT

[woodbuck27]

Reggie Wayne says his return to Colts shouldn’t have been a surprise

Posted by Mike Florio on March 14, 2012, 11:01 PM EDT
Getty Images

Many were surprised by the decision of receiver Reggie Wayne to sign a new three-year deal with the Colts, the team with which Wayne spent 11 prior seasons. Wayne doesn’t get it.

“Why would they be surprised?” Wayne said Thursday in comments distributed by the team. “This is where I’ve always played at. What’s the surprising part?”

Well, where do we start?

First, he had been trying to get a new deal for the last couple years. At one point, he held out of an offseason mandatory minicamp to illustrate his displeasure.

Second, there had been no effort to keep him until very recently.

Third, the team is in full-blown blow-it-up-and-start-over mode, bidding farewell to multiple big-name players.

Fourth, Wayne sounded like he wanted to get back together with Peyton Manning, preferably with the Dolphins.

“It’d be great, it’d be fun,” Wayne told Michael Irvin of WQAM in Miami. “Exciting.

Now you got me visualizing it. I see the visual, it is there. I see it. It would be great. It would definitely be a fun time, and an outstanding journey in South Florida.”

It won’t be happening. Wayne has recommitted to the Colts.

“Colt for life,” Wayne said Wednesday.

“I’m going to get that tattoo put on my back. . . . I’m here in the 317, which is Indianapolis and I’m here for the rest of my career. Let’s go ahead and win while we can.”

That last statement implies that the team has been winning. Last year, it wasn’t. Next year, it will be just as challenging. If Wayne is lucky, the Colts will become competitive again just in time for him to retire.


woodbuck27: but ... Reggie Wayne will have made his money. I just wonder how much more $$$$ might he have made if he really went after the market strong in the first three days of FA. Maybe he folded his tent too soon.

[woodbuck27]

Norv Turner on newly acquired Meachem: “He’s a No. 1 receiver”

Posted by Evan Silva on March 14, 2012, 10:22 PM EDT
AP
The Chargers are paying Robert Meachem like a top-15 NFL receiver. And they expect him to play like one.

“He’s a No. 1 receiver,” coach Norv Turner said Wednesday night. “He’s a guy that has big-play ability. He can be a complete receiver.”

The biggest knock on Meachem in New Orleans was that he played more like a one-trick pony deep threat, capable of taking the top off a defense but getting little production over the middle and underneath.

“I think he’s a guy that will get really excited about the system, what we do, and get excited about having Philip [Rivers] throw to him,” Turner added. “I see him as a guy that can really improve in a real short period of time.”

Meachem’s strength in New Orleans was his ability to get vertical in a hurry. He runs a sub-4.4 forty time. But the Chargers will need Meachem to do more than be a straight-line speedster.

They’re paying him $25.9 million over four seasons to be Rivers’ go-to wideout.



Comment Woodbuck27: That seems like a more reasonable offer and is likely more money that Robert Meachem ever imagined getting a contract for playing his favourite sport.

[woodbuck27]

Richard Marshall has three-year agreement with Dolphins

Posted by Evan Silva on March 14, 2012, 10:01 PM EDT
Reuters

Free agent defensive back Richard Marshall revealed on Twitter late Wednesday that he has agreed to terms with the Miami Dolphins on a three-year deal.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter has the numbers on Marshall’s deal: It’s worth $16 million, with $6 million guaranteed.

We mentioned Marshall’s visit to the Dolphins on Tuesday night. The Fins closed the deal, convincing Marshall he wouldn’t need to meet with any other teams.

Marshall was a top-35 player on the PFT Hot 100 because he is versatile, young, and an efficient tackler. The 27-year-old secured three interceptions and racked up 78 tackles last season, starting 9-of-16 games for the Cardinals.

He is probably ticketed for nickel back in Miami, but also could emerge as a starter at free safety.

[woodbuck27]

Seahawks bring back versatile backup lineman McQuistan

Posted by Evan Silva on March 14, 2012, 9:38 PM EDT
Getty Images

In a transaction corresponding to Wednesday night’s release of guard Robert Gallery, the Seahawks announced that they have agreed to terms with offensive lineman Paul McQuistan.

McQuistan started 10 games last season, four at left tackle, three at right guard, and three more at left guard. That kind of versatility is appealing when teams are searching for backups on the offensive line.

McQuistan won’t enter the 2012 season as a starter, but he is familiar with position coach Tom Cable’s schemes and shouldn’t struggle to land a roster spot.

[woodbuck27]

Stokley says Peyton could play tomorrow at a high level

Posted by Mike Florio on March 14, 2012, 9:29 PM EDT
Getty Images

Former NFL receiver Brandon Stokley has been saying plenty lately about one of his former teammates, Peyton Manning. And they’re all incredibly positive.

“Just seeing him work out, seeing him make all of the throws like I said, to me he’ll step right in,”

Stokley told NFL Network on Wednesday. “I believe he could play in a football game tomorrow and play at a high level.“

Stokley has seen Manning throw during rehab sessions at Duke. Also, while Manning was in Denver last weekend, Stokley caught passes from Peyton at a park near Stokley’s home.

“He could make all of the throws – on the run, in the pocket, deep throws, comeback,” Stokley said.

“Any throw out there he was making. And then when he came out to Denver we had a little throwing session on Saturday morning and he looked even better. I think he had had three or four days off dealing with all of the free agency stuff and all of the things that were going on, so he looked even better to me then than he did at Duke. So, to me I don’t see any questions with him throwing or making any throws on the football field.”

It all sounds great. But it makes the fact that Manning has yet to throw for any interested teams even more confusing.

And while Stokley has plenty of insight about Manning’s current physical abilities, Stokley has no knowledge about Peyton’s plans.

“I know he’s had some good visits and I think he’s just waiting,” Stokley said.

Waiting for wait, exactly? Some think he’s waiting for the right financial offer, which simply hasn’t come yet.

So while Peyton supposedly could play at a high level tomorrow, it would still be an upset if he has a new team by tomorrow.



Comment woodbuck27: Brandon Stokley may have a bright future as 'an NFL Player Agent'.

[woodbuck27]

Creativity helps ‘Skins manage cap charge with Morgan deal

Posted by Mike Florio on March 14, 2012, 1:32 PM EDT
Getty Images

Redskins officials reportedly are “furious” (as they should be) about the removal of $36 million in salary cap space. And so it can be said that they’ve chosen both to get mad — and to get even.

Apart from any formal effort to challenge their punishment-without-a-crime, the Redskins are looking for ways to craft new contracts that will help them manage the cap charges in 2012.
With receiver Josh Morgan, for example, a $5.5 million signing bonus on a two-year deal will count only $1.1 million toward the cap in 2012, even though it should have chewed up $2.75 million.

The Redskins pulled it off via a five-year contract that will void to two. It means that, instead of a $2.75 million cap charge in 2012 and 2013, the bonus will count as only $1.1 million in 2012 and, presumably, $1.1 million in 2013, and then $4.4 million in 2014, once the cap penalties are gone and the salary cap shoots up under the new TV deals. (Unless, of course, the league finds two years from now that the Redskins were trying to obtain an unfair competitive balance via a contract the league office approved.)

Morgan also will be paid a fully-guaranteed base salary of $1.8 million in 2012, along with a $200,000 workout bonus. In 2013, he’s due to receive a $3.8 million base salary and a $200,000 workout bonus.

Morgan also is eligible to pocket $250,000 in each year for a Pro Bowl berth.

It adds up to $7.3 million fully guaranteed, $7.5 million that is as a practical matter guaranteed (if he shows up for the workout program), and $11.5 million in two years with another $500,000 available if he makes it to the Pro Bowl in both years.

At an average of $766,000 per reception from 2011, that’s not a bad deal.

[woodbuck27]

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packers/wells-likely-to-take-hike-k14hvkk-142583075.html

Scott Wells likely to take hike

By Tom Silverstein of the Journal Sentinel
March 14, 2012

The Packers allowed free agency to begin Tuesday afternoon without a new contract for Wells, thus allowing him to shop his wares to 31 other teams. Motivated by the team's reluctance to sign him at his price, Wells appears determined to land a job somewhere else.

Please CLICK on the LINK above for the story.

[Fritz]

Cold Hard Football Facts often talks about the foolishness of overpaying for wide receivers. The site calls wide receivers the "hood ornaments" of a car.

[woodbuck27]

Cold Hard Football Facts often talks about the foolishness of overpaying for wide receivers. The site calls wide receivers the "hood ornaments" of a car.

Evidently the Detroit Lions are in LOVE with it's Calvin Johnson ' hood ornament '.

[woodbuck27]

Jeremy Shockey wants to return to the Giants

Posted by Michael David Smith on March 15, 2012, 8:53 AM EDT
AP

Four years after he left town, Jeremy Shockey wants to return to the Giants.

The 31-year-old Shockey is a free agent who hasn’t drawn much interest so far, but he’d like to play for the Giants again, Gary Myers of the New York Daily News reports.

Shockey was the Giants’ first-round draft pick in 2002 and had a solid six-season stay with the team, but he grew increasingly unhappy and was traded to the Saints in 2008, played three years there and then played for the Panthers last year. It’s not clear whether hard feelings remain with Giants General Manager Jerry Reese or coach Tom Coughlin, but Shockey would like to return.

Tight end was a need position for the Giants at the outset of free agency, after Travis Beckum and Jake Ballard suffered torn ACLs in the Super Bowl. But that need was lessened when they signed Martellus Bennett, so the Giants aren’t desperate to sign Shockey.

Still, he’s a tight end who’s good enough to start and wants to sign. Unless he’s completely burned his bridges with the Giants, this is a move the team should consider.

[sheepshead]

WoodFreeAgentWatchBuck!

[woodbuck27]

WoodFreeAgentWatchBuck!

Hoping to learn of some real action today.