Some pointed questions that apply to D Law, Beasley and Earl Thomas: 1) does the team throw out a number first? 2) does the team say, test the open market and give us a chance to match? 3) or does the team just wait for the player’s agent to tell the team how much he needs to sign?
I’ve always been curious, but don’t really know how it works in practice. I suspect for someone like D Law, where franchise tag is again in play, there are ongoing dialogue with both sides throwing out numbers. For Beasley, it may be a “we’re interested, but test the market and get back to us.” For Thomas, a proven pro bowler, but coming off injury, it may be “give us his number because we don’t want to insult him, but he is coming off an injury and is 30.”
Any informed thoughts?
All possible methods.
Some teams make mega offers the minute free agency starts.
Other teams wait but once the free agent comes for a visit they put on a full court press and avoid the player leaving without agreeing to a contract.
Other teams wait until the agent gives them a number.
Back in the day Jerry would ask an agent "How Much?". When the agent said about X amount, Jerry would say I'll pay 4X and I'm sending my plane to get him right now.
Smart teams know the games that agents play (Have a media member leak a story, visit teams just to create headlines, etc..).
Specifically:
Earl Thomas
If the Cowboys want to sign Earl Thomas, they'll make inquiries with the agent just to let them know they're interested. Then they'll wait to see what the player/agent do next. If he comes for a visit, they'll give him a good presentation but they won't go all-in on an offer. They have enough experience to know if the player is really interested or if the player/agent is just using them to get a bigger deal elsewhere.
IMO, the biggest interest in getting ET back in April was that Kris Richard wanted him to help implement his scheme. Obviously talent is a big part of it, but the fact that it was Kris Richard's 1st year made ET's value even higher to them at that point.
Now that Kris Richard has implemented his secondary scheme with the Cowboys there might not be as big of a push to get ET for that purpose. If that's true, then it's back to just how much he offers with his individual play over Xavier Woods vs the cost to sign him.
The one thing that seems quite obvious in the past few years with Stephen Jones being the "acting" GM is that they avoid age and definitely like to avoid paying age. ET will be 30 before the season starts.
ET missed
Zero games in his 1st six seasons but has missed multiple games in each of the past 3 seasons. That's often not a good sign for a player approaching 30.
ET obviously wants that last big contract based on his actions this past off-season. He threatened a hold-out despite being only 1 year from free agency.
The Cowboys are on the opposite side of that issue. They would gladly pay him big money on a per game basis but giving big guaranteed money on a multi-year contract will be their issue.
They have not put big resources into the Safety position in a long time. It generally does not seem to be considered a premium position by Will McClay and Stephen Jones. Byron Jones was really drafted as a CB, not as a Safety, IMO.
DLaw
They can Franchise him. The Franchise Tag changes the process vs an unrestricted free agent from another team or even their own free agents that are not restricted by the tag.
Beasley
They'll likely give him a take it or leave it offer and let the agent know the offer is good for a short time before they start looking seriously at other options. They'll likely hint that a player like Tavon Austin is an option to replace Beasley.
