2006 NFL Offseason

The free agent picture is still up in the air as franchise tags are still being sorted out, but there are a bunch or players to watch. Shaun Alexander, Edgerrin James, Jamal Lewis, Antwaan Randle El, Ty Law, Sam Madison, Steve Hutchinson, Mike Vanderjagt, Ryan Longwell, Adam Vinatieri, Terrell Owens, Jon Kitna, Brad Johnson, Daunte Culpepper, and David Givens have potential to be on different teams next year. I'm sure there are some other big names out there, but these are the ones that come to mind.

I keep waiting to hear the news of Favre, but it seems less likely every day that he'll come back. If he retires that puts Aaron Rodgers under center. Hopefully all the injuries will heal and he'll have a solid backfield and at least two sure-handed recievers. Hutchinson is the best O-lineman I can think of that should be a free agent, and there are a couple of quality DB's to be had in Law and Madison. Hopefully Thompson will get in the game and either bolster the O-Line or defense.

The way the "franchise tag" gets used really pisses me off. It was supposed to be somewhat of an honor, and something teams used to make sure they didn't lose their Joe Montana, Brett Favre, etc. type player.

Instead it is just a tricky little tool that gets used in sometimes surprising ways when some high, but not truly FRANCHISE player is about to be a free agent. It sucks.

I'd like to see the Franchise tag be something more interesting. Like, you tag someone with it, and for the next 3-5 years only HALF of their salary counts toward the cap. If the player is injured and unable to play for the entire year, you can change your tag to someone else.

The tag system gets stretched to the limits. I think it's a big reason why teams want to sign guys to long term deals. If you lock somebody up for 5-7 years you can use your tag on your best freeagent instead of your best player. Saavy front office staffs always find ways to use any system to their advantage.

The Colts just signed Reggie Wayne to a six year deal for this very reason. With Wayne locked in for six years they free up their franchise tag for someone else.

Owners vote to break off talks with players on contract extension

the Whole Hinds Ward thing all over
and how many wont show for training camp this year?



Well it is starting already huh?

http://tinyurl.com/gold6

I have to say that as with any pro sport, I would love to see a strike. I say that when this is my favorite pro sport by far.

There is WAY too much money in pro sports. Ticket prices are bullshit. The salaries are obscene. The players think they are nobility. The owners think they are Gods.

They all need to come down about 400 notches.

Ticket and concession prices need to be about HALF (or lower) than what they are now.

The current negotiations between owners and players could go a lot of different directions. I'd be surprised if we saw a strike. The effect this should have on the 2006 season is that players will be unwilling to sign long term contracts and teams will be unwilling to pay huge dollar amounts for short term deals. It could get ugly, but I think both the owners and players realize it is in their best interests to avoid a strike. They both need to maintain the status quo to keep their respective status.

Deal Reached

Details are still coming out, but it looks like the free agent bonanza is off and the salary cap will be in place for the next six years.

Lots of movement so far. Edge is going to be a Cardinal, which should be interesting given their passing offense. They could be a threat next year. The Ravens will have Jamal Lewis and Mike Anderson in the backfield next year. Brandon Lloyd and Antwaan Randel El will be catching balls for the Skins. Antonio Bryant replaced Lloyd with the 49ers and Bryant is replaced by Joe Jurevicius. Longwell will be kicking for the Vikings.

Interesting moves so far. I think the 49ers came out great with the WR shuffle. They got an upgrade and some draft picks by trading Lloyd.

Culpepper to Miami and Brees to New Orleans

It'll be interesting to see how they both do with their new teams.

In other news, TO and Keyshawn both got cut. There is some karma at work there.

And Kitna is going to the Lions.

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Originally posted by Gadiantor

And Kitna is going to the Lions.

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When I read this, for some reason I immediately thought you said Kitna was thrown to the Lions (watching too much Discovery channel maybe).

But then on second thought, having to play for the sucktastic Detroit Lions is just about as bad.

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Originally posted by Aristotle
When I read this, for some reason I immediately thought you said Kitna was thrown to the Lions (watching too much Discovery channel maybe).

But then on second thought, having to play for the sucktastic Detroit Lions is just about as bad.

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Heh, I wish I had thought of phrasing it that way! He's in for a sucktacular year as a backup for a team that refuses to succeed.

Wow. This is pretty huge:

Vinatieri agrees in principle to deal with Colts

The Packers are really starting to piss me off!! They have TONS of cap room to play with, but aren't taking advantage of it. I think Vinitiari is overrated, so I'm not crushed that we didn't get him, but if they don't get someone to replace Longwell things are going to suck... I'm not counting on lots of TD's next year if Favre doesn't come back.

Walker wants out of Green Bay

Dude, Green Bay has plenty of cap room. Would it have killed them to give this guy a long term deal after he showed potential in 2004? His injury to start 2005 puts the Packers in an akward position. You can't give the guy a big contract now, and you slapped him down when he tried to get taken care of last time. I don't blame him for wanting to leave. Now they can add WR to the list of needs as well as kicker. This has been a great offseason so far for them. :rolleyes

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Originally posted by Gadiantor
Walker wants out of Green Bay

Dude, Green Bay has plenty of cap room. Would it have killed them to give this guy a long term deal after he showed potential in 2004? His injury to start 2005 puts the Packers in an akward position. You can't give the guy a big contract now, and you slapped him down when he tried to get taken care of last time. I don't blame him for wanting to leave. Now they can add
WR to the list of needs as well as kicker. This has been a great offseason so far for them. :rolleyes

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Bye bye Javon.. Just another whiney bitch in the same mode as TO. He signed a long term contract, had ONE good year and threatens to hold out for more money. He's threatening to retire if the Packers don't trade/cut him. I say go for it! Right now, i hope he blows out his other knee!

Also, the Packers did NOT have this much money under the cap last year. I think they ended up about 1 million dollars under the cap, but if you remember correctly, Walker wanted money that was comparable to the contract Randy Moss signed.

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Originally posted by vin
Bye bye Javon.. Just another whiney bitch in the same mode as TO. He signed a long term contract, had ONE good year and threatens to hold out for more money. He's threatening to retire if the Packers don't trade/cut him. I say go for it! Right now, i hope he blows out his other knee!

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I don't think he is a whiney bitch ala T.O.

T.O. *demanded* a new contract after he had already negotiated a mega contract that was paying him $7 million a year (which was huge when he signed it).

Walker is making chump change:

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Walker was slated to earn base salaries of $515,000 and $650,000 over the final two years of his contract.

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It is lame and stupid to pay someone $515,000 the year after they make 89 catches for 1,382 yards and 12 touchdowns. Yes, he was under contract, but so what. The smart thing to do is hook him up. The negotiation would have gone very much in GB's favor since they would have had the option to just stick to the old contract.

Furthermore, Walker already showed up on time to camp once under a shitty contract. He just doesn't want to do it for a 2nd year, regardless of the fact that he got injured last year.

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Originally posted by vin
Bye bye Javon.. Just another whiney bitch in the same mode as TO. He signed a long term contract, had ONE good year and threatens to hold out for more money. He's threatening to retire if the Packers don't trade/cut him. I say go for it! Right now, i hope he blows out his other knee!

Also, the Packers did NOT have this much money under the cap last year. I think they ended up about 1 million dollars under the cap, but if you remember correctly, Walker wanted money that was comparable to the contract Randy Moss signed.

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Yeah, last year was a little tight with cap room, but they could have at least negotiated with Walker instead of putting the smack down on him. With all the cap room this year they could have easily worked something out especially if they used incentives. I don't disagree with the decision not to give him a big contract, he hasn't proven himself yet. I disagree with how the Packers handled the situation. He's got the potential (well had before he blew his knee out) to be a great reciever, and the Packers wanted to keep him at a bargain price. Javon didn't start whining until after the team showed a complete unwillingness to renegotiate the contract at all and Favre came out and said they could win without him...nice way to boost the kids confidence and get him to be a team player. We needed every WR we had last year and then some...Boerigter might help...and we've got Cundiff now to do kicking duties...I'm just not impressed with how things are going this offseason.

Ok, here are a few more stats for Javon Walker.
2002 he had 23 catches and 1 TD
2003 he had 41 catches and 9 TD's.
I admit that I didn't remember that he had that many TD's in 2003, but his salary isn't as bad as you made it sound either. You forgot to mention the 4.3 million dollars in guaranteed money he received over the first 2 years of the contract.

I always liked Walker, and I actually did want them to extend his contract. I even wanted them to do something for him after the injury (especially after he fired Rosenhaus as his agent).

One of my big problems with him is that in this latest outburst, he's partially blaming the fans for his situation. He said that the Packer fans turned against him last year after the threatened hold out, and now he doesn't feel welcomed anymore. This is completely untrue. The fans (at least the vast majority) didn't have a problem with Walker, it was Rosenhaus they blamed. The fans and local media were also extremely hard on Favre for getting involved in another players contract issues.

With that said, I agree with Gad that this has been a very disappointing offseason, and Walker would be extremely difficult to replace.

God, I hope this happens:

NFL might vote to rein in TD celebrations

It happened. Players are only allowed to dance, spike, dunk or spin the ball after touchdowns. If they do anything with props or leave their feet (with the exception of jumping...things like Steve Smith's rowboat celebration) it's a 15 yard penalty.

Sounds good. I just hope it doesn't get lame like in college.

Favre returns for another season

The Packers still need some upgrades on the O-Line and for all the WRs to stay healthy or Favre might hit 30 INTs next season...

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The Packers still need some upgrades on the O-Line and for all the WRs to stay healthy or Favre might hit 30 INTs next season...

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Not only is Favre coming back, but they also sign Charles Woodson. I'm note a huge Woodson fan, but he's a HUGE upgrade over Ahmad Carroll. They still have tons of holes, but at least they did SOMETHING.

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Originally posted by vin
Not only is Favre coming back, but they also sign Charles Woodson. I'm note a huge Woodson fan, but he's a HUGE upgrade over Ahmad Carroll. They still have tons of holes, but at least they did SOMETHING.

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I'm cautiously optomistic about Woodson. His 6 starts last year worry me. I'm sure he's fully recovered from his broken leg, but the last time he started 16 games was 2001. Ahmad Carroll might still see plenty of playing time from the bench. Hopefully Woodson will stay healthy and have a big impact.

The local newspaper said that one of the reasons Woodson chose Green Bay was that the coaches agreed to let him play on offense. Not sure that's the best thing for a guy with injury problems, but I guess that's the only way he'd sigh.

Scary part is, if Walker doesn't come back, Woodson may be the 2nd best receiver on the team.

The Giants signed LB LaVar Arrington and CB Sam Madison, both three-time Pro Bowlers. They're filling their holes nicely. I think all we really need now is a solid DT and a little more help in the secondary. Our kicking game is still solid, despite some slip-ups last year. Jay Feeley is a good kicker, even despite that miserable choke-fest in the OT loss against Seattle, and we have one of the best punters in the league (the venerable Jeff Feagles).

All in all, I'm pretty optimistic that the G-men can do something this year :)

PS: Fuck Dallas

PPS: Fuck TO

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Originally posted by Wyden


PS: Fuck Dallas

PPS: Fuck TO

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Word. I'm actually cheering for the Eagles to double up on Big D this year.

I'm sticking with my local team, the Colts, and man I am not that excited about this offseason.

I consider the whole Vaderjackoff -> Vinatieri thing to be a wash at best, and a possible downgrade at worst. Maybe the clutch thing is true, but I am dubious. Some of Vinatieri's most clutch kicks in history have been the game winners only because he missed kicks earlier in the game.

I am very, very worried about their loss of Edge. He did EVERYTHING - run, catch, block. He was a machine. :( The only upside is that the RB who replaced him the year he was out had over 1,000 yards. We'll see.

Other than that, they pretty much just stood pat. That is never really that great.

At least they didn't lose someone like Randle-El like the Steelers did (it seems like that's gonna hurt).

So far, it looks like the AFC is still the grown up league and the NFC is the kids table.

I'd be more concerned about the loss of Edge than the kicking situation. But even more than that, I'd be worried about Manning. Right now it looks like he's got an 800-lb monkey on his back in that he can't come through in the big game. I believe Indy had the talent last year to go all the way and I know it goes beyond the QB position, but Manning is looking like the Anti-Montana. No matter what you knew Joe could turn it up in the postseason. Even if the Niners had gone 10-6 and backed into the playoffs, you KNEW they'd be a force in the postseason. Manning looks brilliant in the regular season but can't seem to get it done when it REALLY counts.

Between this and the comments he made about his O-line(provided they weren't blown out of proportion by the media), I'm wondering how far the Colts can really go with Peyton. And this comes from a dude who was swinging off his jockstrap the past few seasons. He might be my first pick in fantasy football, but that ain't gonna win the Colts no rings.