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Legwold: Shop talk: It's buyer beware
Jeff Legwold
February 16, 2007
It will be 49ers, Titans and Bills, oh my.
Maybe some Cardinals, some Browns, maybe even some Saints. But the NFL gentlemen - and ladies - are preparing to start their checkbooks.
With the best of the rookie class staring the league in the face at the scouting combine to finish the month, most teams will have done their free-agency math before they leave for Indianapolis next week, the Broncos included.
Folks have looked at whom they expect to be on the market March 2 when free agency opens. They have run the video and tried to place a value on what they have seen.
If one talks with people around the league, it's clear that:
• This is not considered a top-shelf year for free agents. Plenty of productive players can be found, but franchise changers are in short supply in a league full of teams looking for big change.
• There is a churning pool of money ready to flow. The salary cap is expected to be $109 million for each team, and there is a long line of struggling teams with plenty of room, poised for financial action.
The 49ers have more than $40 million worth of cap space, the Titans have almost $40 million worth, as do the Bills. The Browns and Cardinals have well more than $30 million worth of room.
And of the playoff teams, the Saints are ready, if they wish to play the game, with about $29 million of cap space.
That means the coveted players who might be in the group, players such as cornerbacks Asante Samuel and Nate Clements, will feel the windfall.
For their part, the Broncos have made their big moves in recent years through trades - Clinton Portis for Champ Bailey and a pick in 2004; dealing for Gerard Warren, Ebenezer Ekuban and Michael Myers in 2005; moving Ashley Lelie in a three-team deal last year - and figure to make their biggest move this year through that route as they shop quarterback Jake Plummer.
The Broncos came into the month with about $3.8 million of workable cap space available, with 70 players already under contract.
"Obviously, we are going to try to upgrade our team as much as we can," coach Mike Shanahan said. "We're not going to try to overpay for somebody just because there is a lot of money out there, for obvious reasons."
The Broncos' cap space stays roughly the same whether they trade Plummer, keep him or release him before June 1.
The only way they get some cap savings is to release Plummer after June 1.
But trading Plummer remains the most likely scenario, and there certainly will be a market for him.
That said, it will be a surprise to many in the league if the Broncos don't make a concerted run at Atlanta defensive end Patrick Kerney. The Falcons had opened talks on a contract extension for the high-motor Kerney in early December.
But Kerney had said publicly his position coach in Atlanta, Bill Johnson, is at least one reason he would have re-signed with the Falcons.
Since then, however, Johnson has accepted a job as defensive line coach with the Broncos.
Kerney missed the last seven games of 2006 because of a torn chest muscle, but as an intense, play-every-down-like-it's-his-last rusher, he will be a coveted guy on the market.
And he knows that, considering he didn't sign an extension.
And while most general managers worry about a player's attitude and desire after he signs a jumbo contract in free agency, in truth, his health might decide how things go.
Though a player can control how he prepares for a season and the steps he takes during a season to try to prevent injury, it is the biggest gamble in free agency.
Just look at two of the more high-profile players the Broncos pursued on last year's open market - defensive ends Andre Carter and John Abraham.
Carter, who had back troubles that began in 2003 when he took several epidural injections just to play that season, had 25 1/2 sacks in the first 44 games of his career. In 39 games since the start of the 2004 season, Carter has only 12 1/2 sacks.
The Commanders signed him to a six-year, $30 million deal, which, Carter said this past season, took a mental toll on him as he tried to live up to it.
Abraham underwent lower abdominal surgery Oct. 24 for an injury he suffered in his season-opening, two-sack debut for the Falcons.
He also had thumb surgery - a pin was put in - in December and finished with four sacks after signing a $45 million deal.
By most accounts, Abraham was a force when he was in the game, but he played in only eight in 2006.
So, while everybody fixates on the dollars changing hands in free agency, if you have your health when all is said and done, you might really have everything.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/sports_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_83_5356530,00.html
Jeff Legwold
February 16, 2007
It will be 49ers, Titans and Bills, oh my.
Maybe some Cardinals, some Browns, maybe even some Saints. But the NFL gentlemen - and ladies - are preparing to start their checkbooks.
With the best of the rookie class staring the league in the face at the scouting combine to finish the month, most teams will have done their free-agency math before they leave for Indianapolis next week, the Broncos included.
Folks have looked at whom they expect to be on the market March 2 when free agency opens. They have run the video and tried to place a value on what they have seen.
If one talks with people around the league, it's clear that:
• This is not considered a top-shelf year for free agents. Plenty of productive players can be found, but franchise changers are in short supply in a league full of teams looking for big change.
• There is a churning pool of money ready to flow. The salary cap is expected to be $109 million for each team, and there is a long line of struggling teams with plenty of room, poised for financial action.
The 49ers have more than $40 million worth of cap space, the Titans have almost $40 million worth, as do the Bills. The Browns and Cardinals have well more than $30 million worth of room.
And of the playoff teams, the Saints are ready, if they wish to play the game, with about $29 million of cap space.
That means the coveted players who might be in the group, players such as cornerbacks Asante Samuel and Nate Clements, will feel the windfall.
For their part, the Broncos have made their big moves in recent years through trades - Clinton Portis for Champ Bailey and a pick in 2004; dealing for Gerard Warren, Ebenezer Ekuban and Michael Myers in 2005; moving Ashley Lelie in a three-team deal last year - and figure to make their biggest move this year through that route as they shop quarterback Jake Plummer.
The Broncos came into the month with about $3.8 million of workable cap space available, with 70 players already under contract.
"Obviously, we are going to try to upgrade our team as much as we can," coach Mike Shanahan said. "We're not going to try to overpay for somebody just because there is a lot of money out there, for obvious reasons."
The Broncos' cap space stays roughly the same whether they trade Plummer, keep him or release him before June 1.
The only way they get some cap savings is to release Plummer after June 1.
But trading Plummer remains the most likely scenario, and there certainly will be a market for him.
That said, it will be a surprise to many in the league if the Broncos don't make a concerted run at Atlanta defensive end Patrick Kerney. The Falcons had opened talks on a contract extension for the high-motor Kerney in early December.
But Kerney had said publicly his position coach in Atlanta, Bill Johnson, is at least one reason he would have re-signed with the Falcons.
Since then, however, Johnson has accepted a job as defensive line coach with the Broncos.
Kerney missed the last seven games of 2006 because of a torn chest muscle, but as an intense, play-every-down-like-it's-his-last rusher, he will be a coveted guy on the market.
And he knows that, considering he didn't sign an extension.
And while most general managers worry about a player's attitude and desire after he signs a jumbo contract in free agency, in truth, his health might decide how things go.
Though a player can control how he prepares for a season and the steps he takes during a season to try to prevent injury, it is the biggest gamble in free agency.
Just look at two of the more high-profile players the Broncos pursued on last year's open market - defensive ends Andre Carter and John Abraham.
Carter, who had back troubles that began in 2003 when he took several epidural injections just to play that season, had 25 1/2 sacks in the first 44 games of his career. In 39 games since the start of the 2004 season, Carter has only 12 1/2 sacks.
The Commanders signed him to a six-year, $30 million deal, which, Carter said this past season, took a mental toll on him as he tried to live up to it.
Abraham underwent lower abdominal surgery Oct. 24 for an injury he suffered in his season-opening, two-sack debut for the Falcons.
He also had thumb surgery - a pin was put in - in December and finished with four sacks after signing a $45 million deal.
By most accounts, Abraham was a force when he was in the game, but he played in only eight in 2006.
So, while everybody fixates on the dollars changing hands in free agency, if you have your health when all is said and done, you might really have everything.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/sports_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_83_5356530,00.html
