Giants Defense Main Reason to Sign Flozell

[MichaelWinicki]

Jerry has already stated Flo is a priority to re-sign.
And we have the cap room to sign him.

I don't remember Jerreh saying that JT.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

That is kind of Funny the Giants and Colts did it with no issues this year with young guys hum so two playoff teams lost there starting LT last year and had no issues

How dare you throw facts in there and muddy the waters.


Without Flozell, we may not win a playoff game... Oh wait.

 

[theebs]

I don't remember Jerreh saying that JT.

I heard him tell norm two weeks ago that they liked the young players.

then he also said that flo has worked well with houck before.

So if someone can decipher anything from that...good luck!

 

[theogt]

I didn't say we couldn't afford Adams.

I said that we couldn't franchise the guy and do everything else we want to do.

I'll chip in some money so you can get some new specs Theo.

And if you'll recall, I showed you that we could.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I heard him tell norm two weeks ago that they liked the young players.

then he also said that flo has worked well with houck before.

So if someone can decipher anything from that...good luck!

Gotcha.

And we've had another report that Houck wasn't a fan of Adams.

Who knows what is going to happen.

My spin is if you could resign Adams for about 3 years/$18 mil, and not have this year's cap hit go over $5 mil, then it's worth considering. Any longer a contract or with more coin and I'm not sure the guy is worth the investment.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

And if you'll recall, I showed you that we could.

Rolling eyes here.


You gave me weak numbers that did not reflect the reality of the situation.


I'll put up some $$$, if you want to wager on if we franchise him or not.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

I don't know if we should franchise him. We could, but it would eat up about 8-10 million of our 15 million cap space (I believe that was the number Adam had in his post on the other forum). So that might be a little more than Jerry wants to do. But I believe he'll resign him, but it will be to a 3-5 year deal.

 

[superpunk]

Rolling eyes here.


You gave me weak numbers that did not reflect the reality of the situation.


I'll put up some $$$, if you want to wager on if we franchise him or not.

There's a difference between someone saying "we can" and you wanting to make a bet on "we will."

 

[CrazyCowboy]

Last night was a perfect reason why we need to resign Flozell Adams. Their front lineman can simply be dominating and Flozell has ALWAYS played well against those guys. Brady was pressured all day and they were the key to allowing the Giants to stay in the game and limit the Patriots scoring opportunities. They hit Brady, they sacked him, and they made him rush his throws. Brady was never able to really get in a groove and Moss was irrelevant.

It would be too much of a risk to put McQuisten, who has never started a NFL game, in against those guys. I remember what happened last time Flo went down a couple of seasons ago and our line and team went south.

Get Flo sign and keep the draft picks to sign a corner and running back.

You are absolutely correct, it would be in our best interest to sign Flo and I believe our management would agree with you.

 

[theogt]

Rolling eyes here.


You gave me weak numbers that did not reflect the reality of the situation.


I'll put up some $$$, if you want to wager on if we franchise him or not.

You're right. The reality is that my numbers were a little bloated. It'd be even cheaper than I suggested.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

There's a difference between someone saying "we can" and you wanting to make a bet on "we will."

Of course.

And yes if push came to shove we could franchise Adams. But it isn't going to happen. Our cap position isn't one where that decision would make economic sense. Which thereby, makes it easy to say that we will not franchise the guy.

 

[superpunk]

We really don't have the cap space to franchise Adams and do the other things we need to accomplish this offseason.

I said that we couldn't franchise the guy and do everything else we want to do.

And yes if push came to shove we could franchise Adams.

You've come a long way, baby.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

You've come a long way, baby.

But we still won't franchise him.

 

[Sandyf]

If, and that is a big IF, we can sign Flo to a reasonable contract then it wouldn't bother me but Flo doesn't have a upside but he does have a huge downside.

Most OL reaching 33 start to wear down faster especially as the season goes along, there is no reason to believe that Flo will not either. Remember Larry Allen, our greatest guard ever. He was good in San Francisco but really only the shell of his former self.

Doug Free, I believe, is ready to take over the LT spot. He played some this year and McQuistan played some LT and RT.

Now I like Flo but Free is more athletic, faster, just as strong according to Joe J.. Will he make mistakes, probably, but so would Flo. Matt Light isn't exactly chopped liver and Osi and the Giants ran right through them.

If we have a good running game, and I think that is where Free will really excel, it keeps the pass rush off of the QB. Free can get to the second and third level to block, Flo cannot.

If the Patroits could have run the ball more successful against the Giants, I believe the score would have been different.

We have run the ball fairly well against the Giants and won, when we didn't with have usually come out 50-50 on those wins vs losses.

Personally, franchise Flo and trade him. I team like the Lions or maybe even Miami would make a deal for him.

 

[superpunk]

Personally, franchise Flo and trade him. I team like the Lions or maybe even Miami would make a deal for him.

I believe one of the stipulations of the franchise tag is that you CANNOT trade the player. Another team can sign him, and you have the right of first refusal or you can allow him to walk and collect first rounders, but you can't franchise and trade.

 

[theebs]

something to read on free, not much but..
Rookie season is learning experience for Free
MANITOWOC — Over the past few months, a stroll down a Dallas street by Tony Romo would create quite a stir.

Terrell Owens probably can't make a quick run to the grocery store to get a gallon of milk without it turning into a circus.

But for Doug Free, a Dallas Cowboys teammate of both Romo and Owens, he wouldn't likely draw a crowd of autograph seekers in either case — maybe only a second look or two because of his 6-foot-6, 306-pound frame. Such is life for a rookie offensive lineman in the National Football League.

"I'm still able to hide out pretty good," the Manitowoc native said, "and that's fine with me."


Free, a Manitowoc Lincoln graduate and Northern Illinois University alum, completed his first season of professional football when the Cowboys lost to the New York Giants in the NFC Divisional Playoffs.


Although he only saw action in one regular-season contest — the final game of the regular season — and was on the Cowboys' inactive list for most games this season, Free isn't too disappointed in his rookie campaign.


"It was definitely all I expected and it went by so quick," said Free, who returned to Manitowoc to begin the offseason. "It was difficult watching all of the games, but just seeing games and going to practice, I realized I needed a little more time to learn. My time will come."


Free was one of three back-up tackles for the Cowboys this season — a group which included fellow rookie and roommate James Marten — and was listed third on the team's depth chart at left tackle behind starter Flozell Adams and third-year pro Pat McQuistan.

He might have had a chance to challenge McQuistan for the back-up job had it not been for a knee injury suffered in preseason.

"I think Pat and I were pretty even (in training camp). We were getting the same reps in practice," said Free, who actually started the Cowboys' preseason opener. "But I when I had to sit out four weeks (with the injury), that definitely had an effect."

It was also a different experience for Free, who started every game of his collegiate career.

"It was quite frustrating," he said. "The first week was really tough because you wanted to be out there. As time goes on, though and you start to do some things, you realize you can't do everything you need to do."

Even perfectly healthy, Free knew that it would be a longshot to earn a starting role in his rookie season, with veterans like Adams — with 10-years in the league — and six-year veteran Marc Colombo anchoring the Cowboys' offensive line at the tackle spots.

But having those type of veterans on the team gave Free — and the other young linemen — a veritable encyclopedia of how to play tackle in the NFL.

"It's definitely nice having those older guys," Free said. "(Adams and Colombo) go about things very differently, too. Flo is more of a technician, while Colombo is more physical and attacks his blocks, so you get to see both ways."

One of the area's that Free knew he wanted to improve on during the season was his pass-blocking — something he didn't get a lot of experience doing at run-oriented Northern Illinois.

The key for him was getting a good initial stride at the snap of the ball to be in position to face an onrushing defensive lineman and then rely on his technique to keep the defender away from the quarterback. Most of that learning was done in practice and was often done against the Cowboys' top pass rusher in linebacker DeMarcus Ware.

"I went against him quite a bit in practice and developed a pretty good relationship with him," Free said of Ware, who led the Cowboys with 14 sacks this season. "During practice he would help us out with different things."

With his rookie season completed, Free is getting a much needed break from football. Since the start of training camp for his senior season at Northern Illinois, he has been going almost non-stop for almost 18 months.

He won't return until Dallas to start preparations for next season until mid-March and plans to enjoy the time off over the next month or so. Not that he's going to do much relaxing.

"I couldn't see just sitting around and doing nothing," Free said. "I don't have too much planned right now. I'm just taking it easy, doing some light aerobics and light lifting. Then, I'll get into more lifting and running.

"(Strength and conditioning coach Joe Juraszek) sent me a program to work on and I'll do that up until I go back to Dallas."

When Free returns to Dallas, he will be under the tutelage of a new offensive line coach in Hudson Houck, the replacement for Tony Sparano who is now the head coach of the Miami Dolphins.

Free had talked with Houck on the phone and was looking forward to working with him in the offseason in preparation for what could be his first season as a regular in the Cowboys' lineup.

"I would definitely hope so," Free said. "It's something where I just have to go out and work hard in training camp to earn the spot."

 

[utrunner07]

lots of over reacting here in the past 16 hours.

 

[LarryCanadian]

Flo is the toughest own Free Agent decision the Cowboys have probably faced in the last number of years.

He didn't play great in the 2nd half against the Giants. But did you see the game yesterday? The Patriots' vaunted oline looked like crap from every side/direction.

Flo did pitch shutouts for 5 out of 6 halves against them this season. Then the Giants coaching staff took a risk and went all out against us pass rushing in the 2nd half and it worked for them in the game against us, and all throughout the playoffs actually.

Flo doesn't have upside as some have said, and could have relatively large downside if not motivated or dinged up again. On the other hand he is a pro-bowler and this year recognized as an "All Pro". That doesn't really fit with the "11th best LT in the league". He shut down a bunch of top DE's this season, and even when playing mediocre, there were areas for Romo to escape to, because Flo wasn't being pushed back at all. Go watch Tucker, Fabini, Petiti on tape and see how they got pushed back into a constantly collapsing pocket. At least this year our oline was pushing the other team and when pressure occured it was because there was space between our oline-men to run through.

I think it will come down to money. If Flo doesn't wish to play in Dallas for a bit of a home discount and wants to be paid huge dollars, I think the team will let him walk. If Flo is willing to sign a reasonable 3-4 year deal (it will still be huge obviously) then I think the Cowboys work to resign him. They may very well let Flo test the market and see what the going price is for him.

I'm pretty sure there will be 3-5 interested in Flo and 2-3 very willing to offer big dollars, even if the contract isn't for 5+ years.

I could even see Phili and Washington taking a run at Flo.

LT is important, but I suppose teams have shown it's not the end of the world to replace them as people have posted here. On the other hand, none of those teams were the Cowboys, because when Flo went down in the past, we absolutely sucked on the oline. Sure we have 3 young guys in McQuistan, Free, and Marten, BUT we are kidding ourselves if we think they have even been slightly tested. The simple fact is they haven't been and we don't know what they have at an NFL level.

It's a huge risk to lose a guy who at the very least is an above average LT, and to replace him with basically a rookie LT, and hope to take the next step to win the superbowl. Indi tried this year, and the rookie played pretty well, but made some gaffs in playoffs.

LarryCanadian

 

[Clove]

The coaches and ONLY them know if Free/Mcquistan can do what Flo does or come close.

The same judgement was made about Glenn vs Reeves. They just believed that at some point we need to see what some of these youngsters have, and eww, bad example. Reeves stunk...

 

[theogt]

The coaches and ONLY them know if Free/Mcquistan can do what Flo does or come close.

The same judgement was made about Glenn vs Reeves. They just believed that at some point we need to see what some of these youngsters have, and eww, bad example. Reeves stunk...

Eek...I'm not too happy with how that decision turned out. Hopefully they realize you can't gamble with LT the same way you can with nickel CB.