Archer: 5 Wonders: A second tag for Anthony Spencer?

[WoodysGirl]

Nov 27
11:28
AM CT
By Todd Archer | ESPNDallas.com

IRVING, Texas – After the Thanksgiving break it’s time to bring back Five Wonders as the Cowboys welcome the equally disappointing Philadelphia Eagles to town this weekend.

On to the wonders:

** I’m beginning to wonder if Anthony Spencer is going to be too expensive for the Cowboys to keep. And if he does, I wonder if they use the franchise tag on him for a second straight offseason. He has been the Cowboys best defensive player since Lee was lost for the year. He has established a career high in sacks with five games to go. He plays the run terrifically. Teams have a difficult time setting the edge against him and only do so if he chooses to go under a block, which can be maddening. He can cover. He can close on quarterbacks, runners, receivers and tight ends. I keep thinking something with a $7 million average will keep Spencer around but it’s quite possible he could get more. If they tag him again, it would cost the Cowboys $10.6 million or so for 2013. They don’t want to do that, but they could be in a squeeze against the cap, especially with Tony Romo’s cap figure jumping to $16.8 million in 2013. Spencer has earned a long-term deal with his play, but circumstances might force the Cowboys to think about a second straight year with a franchise tag.

** Since last week was about piling on Doug Free for his poor performance against Cleveland, this week should be about praising his work against Washington. I wonder if anybody really noticed. Free was much firmer, to steal a Jason Garrett term, in his pass protection. He did a great job against Ryan Kerrigan for most of the game. In a terribly unscientific way of grading from me in which I just doled out pluses for good, minuses for bad or zeroes for neither, Free had 53 pluses, nine minuses and 10 zeroes. Kerrigan got him for a second-half sack but that could be viewed as a coverage sack. There was few times in which Free received any help, which is not a surprise when Jermey Parnell is making his first start at left tackle. Free did a good job passing off twists inside. It’s difficult to evaluate the run game since they didn’t run it much, but he was good there too. If the Cowboys get that kind of effort from Free for the rest of the year, then maybe he’s in the future plans.

Read the rest: http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/cowbo...nthony-spencer

[arglebargle]

Uh, I don't think the new NFL/Players contract allows you to tag someone twice in a row anymore.

[BTX]

Sign him fast. Best player on the defense this year.

[Idgit]

Tunes are changing on Spencer. I'm surprised how quiet people are about it given how loud they were on the topic this summer.

[BAZ]

Unless they sign him to a fair deal that's team friendly let him walk. Paying players after one good year is killing this team. You have Ware and need to resign Lee, how much money can you tie up in three LB's when you play the 3-4.

[Idgit]

Originally Posted by BAZ

Unless they sign him to a fair deal that's team friendly let him walk. Paying players after one good year is killing this team. You have Ware and need to resign Lee, how much money can you tie up in three LB's when you play the 3-4.

LBs are the heart of this defense. And let me flip it: how often can you make a case for a team letting a good player it drafted walk after his first contract and have it be a good move?

[BAZ]

Originally Posted by Idgit

LBs are the heart of this defense. And let me flip it: how often can you make a case for a team letting a good player it drafted walk after his first contract and have it be a good move?

Quite often actually, becuase good players get paid like great players in FA. Spencer has had two, maybe three good years out of six. He's decent but will probably get overpaid, the same way Dallas did with Carr. It's the market, why not try and draft his replacement? It will be needed sooner rather then later with Ware getting up in years, and the Demarcus/Anthony tandem has had mixed results over the years. Time to move on.

[Idgit]

Originally Posted by BAZ

Quite often actually, becuase good players get paid like great players in FA. Spencer has had two, maybe three good years out of six. He's decent but will probably get overpaid, the same way Dallas did with Carr. It's the market, why not try and draft his replacement? It will be needed sooner rather then later with Ware getting up in years, and the Demarcus/Anthony tandem has had mixed results over the years. Time to move on.

Players of Spencer's quality don't often walk. And he's had 6 good years, but some fans have only paid attention for two, maybe three. There have been no mixed results. He's a good player that we drafted and developed. We get worse if we let him walk.

[BTX]

Originally Posted by Idgit

Tunes are changing on Spencer. I'm surprised how quiet people are about it given how loud they were on the topic this summer.

I always liked spencer and thought he was the most underrated cowboy in some time.He is a good as outside 3-4 lb you will find in this game. Complete player

[BAZ]

Originally Posted by Idgit

Players of Spencer's quality don't often walk. And he's had 6 good years, but some fans have only paid attention for two, maybe three. There have been no mixed results. He's a good player that we drafted and developed. We get worse if we let him walk.

Really? What about the years he admitted not going full speed. You are tainting your opinion of his career with this season's performance. And quality players walk all the time.

[burmafrd]

Originally Posted by BAZ

Really? What about the years he admitted not going full speed. You are tainting your opinion of his career with this season's performance. And quality players walk all the time.

the spencer homers convienently forget all that

Bottom line is that he gets his career year in his SIXTH YEAR IN THE NFL

Why should we think he will do the same next year?

Too expensive to keep anyway

[xwalker]

Originally Posted by arglebargle

Uh, I don't think the new NFL/Players contract allows you to tag someone twice in a row anymore.

They can use the Franchise Tags multiple times on 1 player; however, the price goes up each time.

http://www.nola.com/saints/index.ssf...favorable.html

[Idgit]

Originally Posted by BAZ

Really? What about the years he admitted not going full speed. You are tainting your opinion of his career with this season's performance. And quality players walk all the time.

The 'admitted not going full speed' argument is perhaps the dumbest criticism of a player since Tony's 'if the worst thing that happens to me in my life is losing a football game. There was context to his quote, context matters, and he was saying something positive. We can stop the debate now if your a poster who doesn't want him because he said he can get better at his job, because there isn't going to be anything productive to debate with you about that topic.

But I'm not tainting anything. Other teams' players and coaches and players have talked for years about containing 93 and 94 when they play Dallas. It's been obvious for years that he's a good player. A subset of our fans just don't want to believe it because they can't grok the distinction that a player can play really good football and not have outrageous sack numbers.

[WoodysGirl]

Originally Posted by BAZ

Really? What about the years he admitted not going full speed. You are tainting your opinion of his career with this season's performance. And quality players walk all the time.

Years, plural? He admitted that he didn't put in a max effort during the 2010 season when Wade got fired. I'd hazard a guess that he wasn't the only one.

But he's never been accused of loafing over the years.

[Chocolate Lab]

And I thought it wasn't even just that year, but practices during that year. I thought he said this after reviewing the practice tapes.