trickblue
05-20-2004, 11:26 AM
Q: In a salary cap world, do you think a team can mortgage the future by paying dearly for taking a quarterback with the first overall pick? The Giants gave away starters (current and future early picks) that they could have used to protect a quarterback that was not rated much lower than Rivers, if lower at all.
Jason Harter
GOSSELIN: If you truly believe the guy sitting at the top of the board is a franchise quarterback, the potential rewards are too great to pass up. Terry Bradshaw was the first overall pick of the 1970 draft. He took the Steelers to four Super Bowls. John Elway was the first overall pick of the 1983 draft. He took the Broncos to five Super Bowls. Troy Aikman was the first overall pick of the 1989 draft. He took the Cowboys to three Super Bowls. The quarterback remains the most important piece in any championship equation. The Giants obviously believe Eli Manning is a franchise quarterback and were willing to pay whatever the price to get him. If he takes the Giants to two, three or four Super Bowls in the next 10 to 12 years, the price they paid will seem cheap.
• • •
Q: I think if Joe Gibbs fails to contend for a title in Washington, Daniel Snyder will quit, by selling his interest in the team and/or ceasing to be the leader of the organization. After the second coming of Gibbs, where else is there for him to go?
Walter Smith, Lubbock, Texas
GOSSELIN: I’ll give Snyder credit. Every time he has fired a coach, he has hired a bigger name.
Norv Turner won a division title in Snyder’s first season as owner and had a winning record (7-6) at the time Snyder canned him. He then brought in Marty Schottenheimer. When he fired Schottenheimer after one year, he brought in Steve Spurrier. Then when he fired Spurrier after one year, he hired Gibbs.
I’m with you. If Gibbs doesn’t work out, then what? Who has a bigger name than a Hall of Famer? Does he try to lure Chuck Noll back? He’s a Hall of Famer who has won more Super Bowls than Gibbs. But Noll isn’t coming back. My guess is Snyder would try to hire Nick Saban or Pete Carroll — someone with NFL experience who has won a national college title.
But Snyder is going to have to give Gibbs at least two years. Gibbs is much bigger than Snyder in this arena. You don’t fire a Hall of Fame coach after one year, especially one named Gibbs. There was no emotional attachment between the people of D.C. and Spurrier or Schottenheimer. There is with Gibbs. So Snyder is going to have to show greater patience with Gibbs than any previous coach he has employed. As fine a coach as Gibbs is, I don’t see an instant fix here. Gibbs has never coached in the salary cap era. It’s going to take him a few seasons to figure it out. And Snyder is going to have to give him whatever time he needs. If Gibbs leaves, my guess is he’ll walk away on his own. Firing Gibbs would be the final admittance of failure by Snyder.
Who’d have thought the Norv Turner years would be the Golden Era of Dan Snyder’s ownership?
• • •
Q: Every year a team “on the brink” of success goes crazy in free agency and signs numerous star players to get either into the Super Bowl or in contention for a Super Bowl. It seems the most likely candidates are Washington, Oakland, Philadelphia and Tampa Bay (and, to a lesser extent, Denver). Do you agree that each of these teams sees itself as a 2004 Super Bowl contender? Which of these teams will find the addition of high-priced free agents does not yield a deep playoff run?
Hugh Alexander
GOSSELIN: I think Philadelphia fancies itself a Super Bowl contender. The pieces have been in place for the last three years after three consecutive NFC title game appearances and remain in 2004 with a handful of upgrades (Terrell Owens, Jevon Kearse and Shawn Andrews). But Oakland, Tampa Bay and Washington are in rebuilding situations. All aspire to be playoff contenders.
There’s a difference between a playoff contender and a Super Bowl contender. There are probably 22 to 24 teams that go to training camp each summer with the chance of becoming a playoff team. But there are only six to eight teams that can realistically consider themselves Super Bowl contenders. I do not think Washington, Oakland or Tampa Bay have taken the necessary steps to become the best team in their division, much less the best team in their conference. I think the teams to beat in those three divisions remain Philadelphia in the NFC East, Kansas City in the AFC West and Carolina in the NFC South.
If you want teams on the brink, I’d pick Atlanta with a healthy Mike Vick, Indianapolis with defensive upgrades and Seattle, which had a confidence-reinforcing playoff run by quarterback Matt Hasselbeck.
• • •
Q: What is the best way to build a team to beat the Eagles? Are the Cowboys following that formula?
GOSSELIN: To win the East, you have to win in the cold. The Redskins, Eagles and Giants play in the Northeast, where the conditions start becoming adverse in mid-November. Wind, ran, snow, sleet, ice … you never know what you’re going to get from one Sunday to the next. Historically, teams that rely on the run and play a physical brand of defense win in the East.
Which is why the hiring of Steve Spurrier by the Redskins puzzled me. You don’t win the East throwing the ball 40 times per game, and that was Spurrier’s method. Now that Joe Gibbs is back on the Washington sideline, the Redskins have a chance to get back in the race. The Cowboys got back in with the hiring of Bill Parcells, as did the Giants with the hiring of Tom Coughlin.
A quality quarterback is always welcome. But Gibbs won three Super Bowls without a Hall of Fame passer (Joe Theismann, Doug Williams, and Mark Rypien). Parcells won two without a Hall of Fame passer (Phil Simms, Jeff Hostetler). The Eagles got there without one (Ron Jaworski), as did the Giants this decade (Kerry Collins).
The best combination of rushing offense and front-seven defense generally prevails in the East. With the NFL’s No. 1-ranked defense, the Cowboys are headed in the right direction. The Redskins now have the best runner in the division in Clinton Portis, so they are headed in the right direction as well.
• • •
Q: Watching the Cowboys this off-season, there is a definite plan to bring in younger players and stay away from all the free-gent signings plaguing the rest of the league. I can’t believe how much money Jevon Kearse received in Philly with the injury risk he carries. A lot of publications and NFL Web sites have criticized the Cowboys for being too passive. Are they dropping the ball or is there a long-term strategy? I thought the draft was a shock for Cowboy fans who thought Steven Jackson was our man, but to get Julius Jones in the second and go into 2005 with two first-rounders really sounds promising, not to mention that instead of five players, they got eight. Does Dallas knows what it’s doing?
Rik Avalos, San Francisco, Calif.
GOSSELIN: For the first time in a long time, I believe the Cowboys are executing a plan. Championship teams have been, and will be built through the draft. Free agency can provide the final piece to the puzzle, as Deion Sanders did for the Cowboys in 1995 and the Eagles are hoping Terrell Owens can do for them in 2004.
But you don’t build a championship team on the backs of mercenaries. Dan Snyder seems to discover that on an annual basis. You can count on the fingers of two hands the free agents over the last 10 years who have played to the level of the money and duration of the contract.
Mistakes of overpayment in free agency can be haunting in a salary-cap world. David Boston was a disastrous signing by the San Diego Chargers in 2003. They gave him a seven-year, $47 million contract with a $4.55 million signing bonus — and he lasted just one season with the Chargers. The Jacksonville Jaguars gave aging Hugh Douglas a five-year, $26 million contract with a $6 million signing bonus in 2003 to provide them a pass rush. He produced just 3 1/2 sacks last season. The more successful route is to draft well, play those picks early and extend their contracts in their third season (a year before they reach free agency). That’s how the St. Louis Rams and Baltimore Ravens won Super Bowl championships, and that’s how the Eagles built the team that has gone to three consecutive NFC title games.
Bill Parcells saw the draft work for him with the Giants, Patriots and Jets. He knows it can work for him in Dallas, too. If you’re going to bring in mercenaries, do what the Patriots have done — sign low-budget veteran role players. I would expect to see a few of those players before the Cowboys report to training camp in late July. The Cowboys weren’t going to win a Super Bowl this year with Steven Jackson, Kevin Jones or Julius Jones running the football. So those two first-round draft picks will look a lot better next April than they do now. Winning a championship is a process, not something that happens overnight. Parcells understands that. Now, the Cowboys are finding that our.
• • •
Q: Has anyone signed New England running back Antowain Smith? If not, do the Cowboys have any interest in him or any other veteran running back that may be a free agent?
Paul P.
GOSSELIN: Smith remains unemployed. And there’s no real rush for him to sign. It’s in his best interest to wait until June and see who gets cut before making a decision where he wants to play in 2004. Smith wants to start. He’s been the starter on two Super Bowl champions in the last three years. But at 32, the clock and calendar are working against him.
He’s a big back, and big backs historically don’t last long. They are a big target and take too many hits. Smith showed signs of slowing down in 2003 when he rushed for only 642 yards, averaging only 3.5 yards per carry on the best team in football. No one is going to shower millions on a descending player.
I’d take my chances with Steven Jackson, Kevin Jones and Julius Jones in 2004 rather than Smith. Those three rookies have upside. All Smith has is downside. He needs to find a Trent Dilfer-type situation: sign on as a backup knowing there’s a good chance he can see the field in 2004, then hope that he gets that opportunity. At this stage of his career, I don’t see Smith as a difference-maker.
• • •
Q: I read in The Dallas Morning News that Bill Parcells didn’t want to disclose any names of players that he likes for fear that other teams might “pluck them from the practice squad.” Can other teams just sign players from other teams’ practice squad? Are these players protected at all?
Cesar Canizales, Washington, DC
GOSSELIN: The practice squad is open game. A player on the practice squad can make $73,950 for a 17-week season. The minimum salary for a rookie on the 53-man roster is $230,000. The goal of every player on an NFL practice squad is to make a 53-man roster. That’s where the money is. There is a minimal investment in practice squads, so teams are offered no protection from losing a player. Players on the practice squad make $4,350 a week to provide fresh legs for daily practices and possibly develop into NFL-caliber players.
David Dixon spent the 1992 season on the Minnesota practice squad and the 1993 season on the Dallas practice squad. He returned to the Vikings in 1994 and spent that season as a reserve, then moved into the starting lineup in 1995 and has been there ever since in one of the NFL’s most explosive offenses. He was one of the success stories.
If there’s opportunity elsewhere, practice-squad players are free to pursue it. For example, Washington will try to sign a player off Dallas’ practice roster. That player will tell Dallas of Washington’s interest. Instead of losing him, Dallas will offer the player a standard contract and create a spot on the 53-man roster for him. You see a lot of promotions from practice squads in November and December for that reason.
• • •
Q: Who would you rather have: Randy Moss or Terrell Owens?
GOSSELIN: Moss is taller (6-4), faster (4.3 coming out of college) and three years younger than Owens. Owens is thicker (20 pounds heavier than Moss), but higher maintenance, in my opinion. Give me Moss.
Jason Harter
GOSSELIN: If you truly believe the guy sitting at the top of the board is a franchise quarterback, the potential rewards are too great to pass up. Terry Bradshaw was the first overall pick of the 1970 draft. He took the Steelers to four Super Bowls. John Elway was the first overall pick of the 1983 draft. He took the Broncos to five Super Bowls. Troy Aikman was the first overall pick of the 1989 draft. He took the Cowboys to three Super Bowls. The quarterback remains the most important piece in any championship equation. The Giants obviously believe Eli Manning is a franchise quarterback and were willing to pay whatever the price to get him. If he takes the Giants to two, three or four Super Bowls in the next 10 to 12 years, the price they paid will seem cheap.
• • •
Q: I think if Joe Gibbs fails to contend for a title in Washington, Daniel Snyder will quit, by selling his interest in the team and/or ceasing to be the leader of the organization. After the second coming of Gibbs, where else is there for him to go?
Walter Smith, Lubbock, Texas
GOSSELIN: I’ll give Snyder credit. Every time he has fired a coach, he has hired a bigger name.
Norv Turner won a division title in Snyder’s first season as owner and had a winning record (7-6) at the time Snyder canned him. He then brought in Marty Schottenheimer. When he fired Schottenheimer after one year, he brought in Steve Spurrier. Then when he fired Spurrier after one year, he hired Gibbs.
I’m with you. If Gibbs doesn’t work out, then what? Who has a bigger name than a Hall of Famer? Does he try to lure Chuck Noll back? He’s a Hall of Famer who has won more Super Bowls than Gibbs. But Noll isn’t coming back. My guess is Snyder would try to hire Nick Saban or Pete Carroll — someone with NFL experience who has won a national college title.
But Snyder is going to have to give Gibbs at least two years. Gibbs is much bigger than Snyder in this arena. You don’t fire a Hall of Fame coach after one year, especially one named Gibbs. There was no emotional attachment between the people of D.C. and Spurrier or Schottenheimer. There is with Gibbs. So Snyder is going to have to show greater patience with Gibbs than any previous coach he has employed. As fine a coach as Gibbs is, I don’t see an instant fix here. Gibbs has never coached in the salary cap era. It’s going to take him a few seasons to figure it out. And Snyder is going to have to give him whatever time he needs. If Gibbs leaves, my guess is he’ll walk away on his own. Firing Gibbs would be the final admittance of failure by Snyder.
Who’d have thought the Norv Turner years would be the Golden Era of Dan Snyder’s ownership?
• • •
Q: Every year a team “on the brink” of success goes crazy in free agency and signs numerous star players to get either into the Super Bowl or in contention for a Super Bowl. It seems the most likely candidates are Washington, Oakland, Philadelphia and Tampa Bay (and, to a lesser extent, Denver). Do you agree that each of these teams sees itself as a 2004 Super Bowl contender? Which of these teams will find the addition of high-priced free agents does not yield a deep playoff run?
Hugh Alexander
GOSSELIN: I think Philadelphia fancies itself a Super Bowl contender. The pieces have been in place for the last three years after three consecutive NFC title game appearances and remain in 2004 with a handful of upgrades (Terrell Owens, Jevon Kearse and Shawn Andrews). But Oakland, Tampa Bay and Washington are in rebuilding situations. All aspire to be playoff contenders.
There’s a difference between a playoff contender and a Super Bowl contender. There are probably 22 to 24 teams that go to training camp each summer with the chance of becoming a playoff team. But there are only six to eight teams that can realistically consider themselves Super Bowl contenders. I do not think Washington, Oakland or Tampa Bay have taken the necessary steps to become the best team in their division, much less the best team in their conference. I think the teams to beat in those three divisions remain Philadelphia in the NFC East, Kansas City in the AFC West and Carolina in the NFC South.
If you want teams on the brink, I’d pick Atlanta with a healthy Mike Vick, Indianapolis with defensive upgrades and Seattle, which had a confidence-reinforcing playoff run by quarterback Matt Hasselbeck.
• • •
Q: What is the best way to build a team to beat the Eagles? Are the Cowboys following that formula?
GOSSELIN: To win the East, you have to win in the cold. The Redskins, Eagles and Giants play in the Northeast, where the conditions start becoming adverse in mid-November. Wind, ran, snow, sleet, ice … you never know what you’re going to get from one Sunday to the next. Historically, teams that rely on the run and play a physical brand of defense win in the East.
Which is why the hiring of Steve Spurrier by the Redskins puzzled me. You don’t win the East throwing the ball 40 times per game, and that was Spurrier’s method. Now that Joe Gibbs is back on the Washington sideline, the Redskins have a chance to get back in the race. The Cowboys got back in with the hiring of Bill Parcells, as did the Giants with the hiring of Tom Coughlin.
A quality quarterback is always welcome. But Gibbs won three Super Bowls without a Hall of Fame passer (Joe Theismann, Doug Williams, and Mark Rypien). Parcells won two without a Hall of Fame passer (Phil Simms, Jeff Hostetler). The Eagles got there without one (Ron Jaworski), as did the Giants this decade (Kerry Collins).
The best combination of rushing offense and front-seven defense generally prevails in the East. With the NFL’s No. 1-ranked defense, the Cowboys are headed in the right direction. The Redskins now have the best runner in the division in Clinton Portis, so they are headed in the right direction as well.
• • •
Q: Watching the Cowboys this off-season, there is a definite plan to bring in younger players and stay away from all the free-gent signings plaguing the rest of the league. I can’t believe how much money Jevon Kearse received in Philly with the injury risk he carries. A lot of publications and NFL Web sites have criticized the Cowboys for being too passive. Are they dropping the ball or is there a long-term strategy? I thought the draft was a shock for Cowboy fans who thought Steven Jackson was our man, but to get Julius Jones in the second and go into 2005 with two first-rounders really sounds promising, not to mention that instead of five players, they got eight. Does Dallas knows what it’s doing?
Rik Avalos, San Francisco, Calif.
GOSSELIN: For the first time in a long time, I believe the Cowboys are executing a plan. Championship teams have been, and will be built through the draft. Free agency can provide the final piece to the puzzle, as Deion Sanders did for the Cowboys in 1995 and the Eagles are hoping Terrell Owens can do for them in 2004.
But you don’t build a championship team on the backs of mercenaries. Dan Snyder seems to discover that on an annual basis. You can count on the fingers of two hands the free agents over the last 10 years who have played to the level of the money and duration of the contract.
Mistakes of overpayment in free agency can be haunting in a salary-cap world. David Boston was a disastrous signing by the San Diego Chargers in 2003. They gave him a seven-year, $47 million contract with a $4.55 million signing bonus — and he lasted just one season with the Chargers. The Jacksonville Jaguars gave aging Hugh Douglas a five-year, $26 million contract with a $6 million signing bonus in 2003 to provide them a pass rush. He produced just 3 1/2 sacks last season. The more successful route is to draft well, play those picks early and extend their contracts in their third season (a year before they reach free agency). That’s how the St. Louis Rams and Baltimore Ravens won Super Bowl championships, and that’s how the Eagles built the team that has gone to three consecutive NFC title games.
Bill Parcells saw the draft work for him with the Giants, Patriots and Jets. He knows it can work for him in Dallas, too. If you’re going to bring in mercenaries, do what the Patriots have done — sign low-budget veteran role players. I would expect to see a few of those players before the Cowboys report to training camp in late July. The Cowboys weren’t going to win a Super Bowl this year with Steven Jackson, Kevin Jones or Julius Jones running the football. So those two first-round draft picks will look a lot better next April than they do now. Winning a championship is a process, not something that happens overnight. Parcells understands that. Now, the Cowboys are finding that our.
• • •
Q: Has anyone signed New England running back Antowain Smith? If not, do the Cowboys have any interest in him or any other veteran running back that may be a free agent?
Paul P.
GOSSELIN: Smith remains unemployed. And there’s no real rush for him to sign. It’s in his best interest to wait until June and see who gets cut before making a decision where he wants to play in 2004. Smith wants to start. He’s been the starter on two Super Bowl champions in the last three years. But at 32, the clock and calendar are working against him.
He’s a big back, and big backs historically don’t last long. They are a big target and take too many hits. Smith showed signs of slowing down in 2003 when he rushed for only 642 yards, averaging only 3.5 yards per carry on the best team in football. No one is going to shower millions on a descending player.
I’d take my chances with Steven Jackson, Kevin Jones and Julius Jones in 2004 rather than Smith. Those three rookies have upside. All Smith has is downside. He needs to find a Trent Dilfer-type situation: sign on as a backup knowing there’s a good chance he can see the field in 2004, then hope that he gets that opportunity. At this stage of his career, I don’t see Smith as a difference-maker.
• • •
Q: I read in The Dallas Morning News that Bill Parcells didn’t want to disclose any names of players that he likes for fear that other teams might “pluck them from the practice squad.” Can other teams just sign players from other teams’ practice squad? Are these players protected at all?
Cesar Canizales, Washington, DC
GOSSELIN: The practice squad is open game. A player on the practice squad can make $73,950 for a 17-week season. The minimum salary for a rookie on the 53-man roster is $230,000. The goal of every player on an NFL practice squad is to make a 53-man roster. That’s where the money is. There is a minimal investment in practice squads, so teams are offered no protection from losing a player. Players on the practice squad make $4,350 a week to provide fresh legs for daily practices and possibly develop into NFL-caliber players.
David Dixon spent the 1992 season on the Minnesota practice squad and the 1993 season on the Dallas practice squad. He returned to the Vikings in 1994 and spent that season as a reserve, then moved into the starting lineup in 1995 and has been there ever since in one of the NFL’s most explosive offenses. He was one of the success stories.
If there’s opportunity elsewhere, practice-squad players are free to pursue it. For example, Washington will try to sign a player off Dallas’ practice roster. That player will tell Dallas of Washington’s interest. Instead of losing him, Dallas will offer the player a standard contract and create a spot on the 53-man roster for him. You see a lot of promotions from practice squads in November and December for that reason.
• • •
Q: Who would you rather have: Randy Moss or Terrell Owens?
GOSSELIN: Moss is taller (6-4), faster (4.3 coming out of college) and three years younger than Owens. Owens is thicker (20 pounds heavier than Moss), but higher maintenance, in my opinion. Give me Moss.