Chargers tender Turner

[joseephuss]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/chargers/20070301-9999-1s1turner.html

Chargers strengthen hand on Turner

By Kevin Acee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

March 1, 2007

The Chargers have essentially decided they will keep running back Michael Turner one more season, as they have put the first-and-third tender on LaDainian Tomlinson's backup.

“I'd just feel better to have him in '07,” General Manager A.J. Smith said. “If anything happens to LT – God almighty! – that he gets hurt . . . ”

Smith would also gladly give up Turner for two draft picks, though he knows the steep price will likely keep suitors away.

Turner, a restricted free agent, can negotiate with other teams. But any team that signs him would owe the Chargers a first-round and a third-round pick. If Turner stays, he is guaranteed $2.35 million for 2007.

“Obviously you want to get out in the free-agent market if you can,” Bus Cook, Turner's agent, said yesterday before hearing from the Chargers. “If it's a first-and-third, that cuts down the ballgame a lot.”

Turner could still be traded, but any team that acquires him would want to negotiate a long-term deal beforehand.

Turner ran 80 times for 502 yards and two touchdowns last season. His ability to spell Tomlinson helped the NFL MVP stay fresh.

Turner will be unrestricted after 2007, and the Chargers would receive only a compensatory pick (third round, at best).

 

[CrazyCowboy]

Smart move by the Chargers, I would love for us to get this player

 

[zrinkill]

First smart move they have made this offseason.

 

[superpunk]

AJ Smith, smart in the draft, a moron in free agency. He shows it again by mismanaging this situation as badly as Brees'.

 

[bayarealightning]

AJ Smith, smart in the draft, a moron in free agency. He shows it again by mismanaging this situation as badly as Brees'.

How so? If the Chargers placed a 1st round tender on him, what's to stop Denver or Baltimore signing him to a contract and place a poison pill, like he has to be the top payed RB on the team by X date, that the Chargers will not or cannot match (LT cannot take a paycut without the players assoc. getting involved)? The last thing the Chargers want is to see him go to a division or conference rival for a 1st round pick, when they can control where he goes with the highest tender. If..., if the Chargers look to move him, they are in control and not the team that is pursuing him. But somehow this is mismanaging the situation! No, A.J. Smith is in control of this situation. Make him an offer that he likes, or we have a great back-up for a run at the Super Bowl. It's pretty simple.

 

[superpunk]

How so? If the Chargers placed a 1st round tender on him, what's to stop Denver or Baltimore signing him to a contract and place a poison pill, like he has to be the top payed RB on the team by X date, that the Chargers will not match? The last thing the Chargers want is to see him go to a division or conference rival for a 1st round pick, when they can control where he goes with the highest tender. If..., if the Chargers look to move him, they are in control and not the team that is pursuing him. But somehow this is mismanaging the situation! No, A.J. Smith is in control of this situation. Make him an offer that he likes, or we have a great back-up for a run at the Super Bowl. It's pretty simple.

Instead of getting something out of a valuable piece like Turner, you have neutralized the ability to move him by making the price too high, so that you can rent him for a year, whereupon he will leave for nothing. His worth is probably a second rounder, at most. Now, you'll get nothing, and lose him.

 

[bayarealightning]

Instead of getting something out of a valuable piece like Turner, you have neutralized the ability to move him by making the price too high, so that you can rent him for a year, whereupon he will leave for nothing. His worth is probably a second rounder, at most. Now, you'll get nothing, and lose him.

I think that you need to understand the difference between signing Turner to an Offer Sheet and a Trade. You sign him to an Offer Sheet and the Chargers do not match, you owe the Chargers this year's 1st and 3rd round pick (which no team will do). However, that doesn't stop the Chargers from Trading him for whatever compensation that they deem fit. You can get Turner in two different ways. A.J. Smith did this in a way where he remains in control. Hardly mismanaging the situation!

 

[superpunk]

I think that you need to understand the difference between signing Turner to an Offer Sheet and a Trade. You sign him to an Offer Sheet and the Chargers do not match, you owe the Chargers this year's 1st and 3rd round pick (which no team will do). However, that doesn't stop the Chargers from Trading him for whatever compensation that they deem fit. You can get Turner in two different ways. A.J. Smith did this in a way where he remains in control. Hardly mismanaging the situation!

I know exactly how it's going to work - the same way it did when they franchised Brees rather than sign him to a long term deal. Noone is going to offer more than a second for Turner, which could have been handled by tendering him a second round offer, rather than a higher tender to scare people off. So, Turner will remain a Bolt, he will play through the year, and then he will leave, with the Chargers getting nothing - again. This is nothing but renting for a year.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

if San Diego, and only if, they plan on keeping Turner for a good length of time, it's a smart move, he keeps LT fresh

 

[bayarealightning]

I know exactly how it's going to work - the same way it did when they franchised Brees rather than sign him to a long term deal. Noone is going to offer more than a second for Turner, which could have been handled by tendering him a second round offer, rather than a higher tender to scare people off. So, Turner will remain a Bolt, he will play through the year, and then he will leave, with the Chargers getting nothing - again. This is nothing but renting for a year.

But what you are missing is that A.J. Smith now controls where Turner ends up if he trades him. Now Denver or Baltimore, who may have had designs on Turner, can forget about it. You are stuck on the 1st and 3rd round picks. If he is traded, we will not get a 1st and a 3rd, but the Chargers say where he goes. I guess you would rather the Chargers gave up that control. I do not.

 

[superpunk]

But what you are missing is that A.J. Smith now controls where Turner ends up if he trades him. Now Denver or Baltimore, who may have had designs on Turner, can forget about it. You are stuck on the 1st and 3rd round picks. If he is traded, we will not get a 1st and a 3rd, but the Chargers say where he goes. I guess you would rather the Chargers gave up that control. I do not.

I don't care what they do. I just think it's comical that he ***** this thing up again, and they'll get nothing, and end up watching another player go elsewhere and (possibly - Turner is no Brees) excel there.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

I don't care what they do. I just think it's comical that he ***** this thing up again, and they'll get nothing, and end up watching another player go elsewhere and (possibly - Turner is no Brees) excel there.

why do you keep saying this when you have no idea what their plans are for him

 

[superpunk]

why do you keep saying this when you have no idea what their plans are for him

Do you think after next year is over they are going to promote him? Or franchise a backup RB? Because next year, they will have no control over what he does.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

Do you think after next year is over they are going to promote him? Or franchise a backup RB? Because next year, they will have no control over what he does.

have you ever heard of getting a multi-year deal worked out?

 

[superpunk]

have you ever heard of getting a multi-year deal worked out?

Now why would Turner do that, instead of testing free agency once he's eligible?

That's nonsense.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

Now why would Turner do that, instead of testing free agency once he's eligible?

That's nonsense.

who knows, but I'd just wait before becoming holier than thou

 

[superpunk]

who knows

exactly.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

exactly.

:laugh2:

 

[bayarealightning]

So I guess you believe that the Chargers are not going to trade him? They very well could keep him but it is not etched in stone. I would not at this date say that A.J. Smith has mismanaged this situation. I think that he did the smart thing in maintaining control. Period.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

So I guess you believe that the Chargers are not going to trade him? They very well could keep him but it is not etched in stone. I would not at this date say that A.J. Smith has mismanaged this situation. I think that he did the smart thing in maintaining control. Period.

noone is going to trade for him, too expensive, the most likely scenario is AJ wanting to keep him off the market, and have a whole year to get him under contract for a few more years