For the people who want to keep Free with a pay cut

[TheCount]

Anyone could look good with just 6 clips... in the same game... at a position other than the one he was paid the play...

Don't worry, his play starts to look better then less he's paid though. By the time he is playing for a couple million american dollars, he'll suddenly start blocking people in those same clips.

 

[TwoDeep3]

He doesn't play with much leverage.

 

[DFWJC]

Talk about the classic lineman on rollerskates

 

[Blue Eyed Devil]

You can actually see Tony Romo increasing his asking price for the contract extension in every clip. "That's it I'm not setting for less than $99 million, nope now it's $100. Oh god damnit at least $101..."

 

[Nightman]

Most people that were calling for the pay cut wanted the cap space it would provide immediately. Since Romo's deal, the urgency is gone. We can wait until after the draft to see if he is needed and June 2nd to get the cap relief.

 

[Nirvana]

cut him

 

[gimmesix]

What part of Doug Free sucks do you not understand? You feel comfortable with him being one rolled up ankle away from starting again?

More comfortable than I do an Alex Barron, some UDFA or a late-round draft pick.

 

[jnday]

doug free is good, definitely above-average. anyone in the draft would not help. doug free works hard day in and day out in practices. i honestly don't know what you say in half of your posts.

You have to be a troll. There is no other explanation for this post.

 

[links18]

You have to be a troll. There is no other explanation for this post.

Or Doug Free's agent.

 

[CowboyMcCoy]

doug free was good

FIFY.

 

[CowboyMcCoy]

Yeah, seriously. I'm basing that on the fact that Free did quite well when he was relatively unknown. Then when he had been a full-time starter for a while the whole league seemed to figure out how to attack him. Either Broadus or Couchscout talked about how he has lousy hand-fighting technique and the other teams were able to see that on film and know how to attack him better. If he's a backup and only plays when he comes into a game due to injury, the opponent will not have been studying film of his lousy technique and won't be prepared to attack it as well. Hence, he could probably hold his own better in such situations. You see it all the time when a backup comes in to a game and has great success, but if they start for any length of time the opponents figure them out and attack their weaknesses very successfully.

It may sound funny, but the way you attack Doug Free is make him use his lower back. Or just be quicker off the line than him. When players attack him up high and push back he's toast. It's like he has no lower back strength.

 

[CowboyMcCoy]

Why are you guys hating on Doug Free? He's good I thought.

He was good at one point, but he totally fell off last year. And he started to decline the year before that.

 

[Hoofbite]

Yeah, seriously. I'm basing that on the fact that Free did quite well when he was relatively unknown. Then when he had been a full-time starter for a while the whole league seemed to figure out how to attack him. Either Broadus or Couchscout talked about how he has lousy hand-fighting technique and the other teams were able to see that on film and know how to attack him better. If he's a backup and only plays when he comes into a game due to injury, the opponent will not have been studying film of his lousy technique and won't be prepared to attack it as well. Hence, he could probably hold his own better in such situations. You see it all the time when a backup comes in to a game and has great success, but if they start for any length of time the opponents figure them out and attack their weaknesses very successfully.

They already have years of film on the guy. You can't hide a weak link when everyone on the planet knows exactly where it is at.

Unless you think the league is somehow going to forget all about who the guy is, praying he won't be as bad as a backup is a horrible reason to keep him on the roster.

Not to mention he better take a ridiculous huge paycut to stay on the roster as a backup.

The guy was good a couple years ago. He was absolutely awful in 2012 and if you think defensive ends are just going to be stumped because they haven't seen him recently get lifted and carried into the backfield or completely spin around on the edge, I think you're hoping for a bit much.

 

[Hoofbite]

It may sound funny, but the way you attack Doug Free is make him use his lower back. Or just be quicker off the line than him. When players attack him up high and push back he's toast. It's like he has no lower back strength.

I think it would be harder for defenses to figure out ways that they couldn't beat Doug Free than it would for them to figure out ways in which they can.

I think it was Fuzzy who kind of hinted at it but he's got the performance path of a guy that was getting a little extra boost from something made in a lab somewhere.

 

[Hoofbite]

doug free is good, definitely above-average. anyone in the draft would not help.

There were very few OTs in the NFL who were worse than free last year.

doug free works hard day in and day out in practices. i honestly don't know what you say in half of your posts.

Awesome, should serve him well when he's not longer playing in the NFL. All the effort in the world isn't going to make a guy who physically cannot compete any more competent.

 

[Hoofbite]

Anyone remember the game in Philly. There was a portion sometime just before half I believe where Collinsworth absolutely couldn't believe how awful Free was?

I'd like some gifs of that.

I think Free was beaten multiple plays in a row, a couple of which probably went a little unnoticed because the entire line pretty much did nothing.

 

[k1nG j0hN]

doug free is good, definitely above-average. anyone in the draft would not help. doug free works hard day in and day out in practices. i honestly don't know what you say in half of your posts.

Hi, Doug Free! It's nice to see an actual player contributing to the forum.

 

[Idgit]

Doug just hasn't justified his contract. I do think the team loves his dedication and effort, generally. Coaches regularly talk about how hard he works and how hard he studies. He's just not able to anchor well enough for whatever reason.

I also believe his position coaches probably think some of his issues last year had to do with the RG play next to him. It's probably not coincidence that his play got better later in the year after Bernadeau stabilized. Some of it was splitting time, I'm sure. But I think the team thinks some of it gets better when RG play gets better.

I believe the team gave him the framework for a restructure, and then the parties agreed to see how the draft plays out before either he agrees to the restructure or they release him outright where he can find a spot on a roster that didn't find the OT it was looking for. Either way, he's looking to be a borderline backup OT somewhere with a $1.5-2M cap hit next season.

 

[Doomsday101]

I was very disappointed in the job Free did given the contract, the clubs expectation were pretty high and he has not lived up to the expectations. I gut feeling is he will be released sometimes after the draft.

Should he remain I would think they will look for a pay cut from him and if that is the case I still hope he can show the same promise that lead to him getting the contract. I think he is capable of better than he showed this past season because I have seen him play to a higher level than that.

I just hope he pushes himself to get back to that level

 

[Jarv]

I was very disappointed in the job Free did given the contract, the clubs expectation were pretty high and he has not lived up to the expectations. I gut feeling is he will be released sometimes after the draft.

Should he remain I would think they will look for a pay cut from him and if that is the case I still hope he can show the same promise that lead to him getting the contract. I think he is capable of better than he showed this past season because I have seen him play to a higher level than that.

I just hope he pushes himself to get back to that level

I agree, he needs to take a BIG pay cut and then I MIGHT keep him as a swing backup if he is a better backup than anyone else in camp. If we keep him 1 more year we would save a lot of dead money if he was a June 2nd cut in 2014.