Defensive Tackle Carousel and Overpaid Free Agents
NFL March 1st. 2008, 4:54pm
NFL Free Agency is just 40 hours old and we’ve already had 3 (at-one-time) All-Pro tackles move cities via trades. Per Jay Glazer at FoxSports, the Jaguars have traded Marcus Stroud to Buffalo for for 3rd and 5th round draft picks. Stroud is probably excited, seeing as Buffalo is a hotbed for steroids (I made that up).
On Friday, the Panthers traded Kris Jenkins to the Jets for 3rd and 5th round selections and Detroit sent Shaun Rogers packing to Cleveland for a 3rd round pick and cornerback Leigh Bodden – apparently Bodden is no better than a 5th round selection.Â
On the surface, the trades seem to work well for all involved. Not working well, however, are 4 signings that seem waaay overpriced – at least in this man’s opinion.Â
4.) Jeff Faine – A “quality” center gets $37.5 million over 6 years for agreeing to play in Tampa Bay. Yes, I realize teams have more cap room again this off-season, but an average of 6 million per seems a bit drastic even in this year’s context.Â
3.) Justin Smith – Reports indicate he signed a 6 year $45 million deal with $20 million guaranteed to play in San Francisco. Smith had just 2.5 sacks last year, and he’ll get $32.5 million over the first 4 years of the deal. For what it’s worth, the 49ers confirmed he will play right defensive end and would slide inside to tackle on passing downs. To Smith’s credit, he’s played in 170 straight games and since he’s white, he’s lauded for “working hard” and playing with a “motor that never stops”. But he ain’t worth $45 million.Â
2.) Asante Samuel – 6 years $57 million, with $20 million guaranteed in signing bonuses. Don’t get me wrong, Samuel is a great cornerback with a knack for making big plays, but like Nate Clements last year, he’s the beneficiary of an inflated market. The deal is even more bizarre in that Philadelphia has Samuel overtaking Lito Sheppard’s spot at LCB.Â
1.) Gibril Wilson – Who else but the Raiders would win the award for most overpaid free agent within the first 40 hours? I guess that’s what it takes to get people to play in Oakland. Like Dexter Jackson and Larry Brown before him, Wilson is a moderately good defensive back from a Super Bowl winning team. Henceforth, he’s getting paid like a Hall of Famer. He’s now the 3rd highest paid safety in the league, having inked a 6 year $39 million deal, that includes guaranteed bonuses of $16 million. Â Congratulations Raiders!
Anyone who belives our economy is in steep decline clearly doesn’t work in or follow the NFL.
EDIT: Don Banks has his early Free Agent thoughts at SI.com – which means plenty of Justin Smith and Gibril Wilson. Jesus, Raiders.
21 Responses to “Defensive Tackle Carousel and Overpaid Free Agents”
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March 1st, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Surprised to see the Browns give up Bodden, he was one of the few playmakers on that defense. If Stroud can stay healthy, thats a nice pickup for the Bills. You didn’t even mention the previously good but now overrated Faneca getting 32 million over 4 years.
March 1st, 2008 at 5:09 pm
I love Philly’s signing of Samuel. Talent-wise, they have the best secondary in the NFL, easily. I like the approach of “We may already have an above average secondary, but if we sign this guy, he puts us way over the top.” As opposed to “Let’s scramble to give big contracts to average players, because we have a need.”
March 1st, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Yeah, it was a tossup between Faneca and Faine. As for Samuel, that’s definitely the other viewpoint, and obviously makes sense. I don’t know why, but there’s a nagging voice in my head that repeatedly tells me Samuel isn’t as good as he really “is”. I don’t know why.
March 1st, 2008 at 5:28 pm
I hope Cleveland has fun with that fat ass Rogers. Spots of brilliance overshadowed by stretches of lazy, non-inspired play. If he’d lose about 100 pounds he’d be a beast on the field.
March 1st, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Weeze, that is a great assessment. Very nice.
March 1st, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Samuel doesn’t deserve that money period. I really don’t know why the Eagles paid for a position where they don’t have any need. Samuel was a good player on a good team where he took advantage of the systems played.
The Browns are trying to at least improve their defense. Corey Williams and Rogers are good players, but i agree with SpartanFan. With the trades now the Browns don’t have a First, Second or Third Round Pick this year right?
March 1st, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Oh well, this is new “Browns, Stallworth agree to contract”. Braylon, Jurevecius, Stallworth and Winslow? Not bad at all…
March 1st, 2008 at 5:46 pm
My Jets just handed Alan Faneca the largest guaranteed contract for an OL in NFL history. This would be the opposite of the strategy Weeze discussed: the Jets are clearly wayyyy overpaying for a need.
But I’m not complaining–in fact, I’d like to preemptively defend this move: 1) unless you want 2nd-tier guys, you will always overpay in free agency; 2) Other than Nick Mangold and D’Brickashaw Ferguson, the Jets’ OL was more or less a series of turnstiles last season–especially LG Adrien Clarke, who was single-handedly responsible for Clemens getting injured against the Pats; and 3) Faneca was by far the best G on the market, and while his talent and experience will be a big boost, his leadership will also help bring along the development of D’Brick and Mangold.
Unless, of course, he suffers a precipitous decline. Since this is the Jets, this is the most likely scenario.
March 1st, 2008 at 5:57 pm
I really think the Jets did the right thing. Since Kendall left the OL dropped in performance, and you saw a running back like Thomas Jones not being able to run like it’s supposed to. Two years ago with Kendall as a left guard the team was able to have a solid running game…so i believe this was a move they need to make if they want to improve.
What i don’t understand, is why they refuse to pay Kendall a extra million last year and then give so much guaranteed money to Faneca. Mangini must be crazy, and the move of Vilma just because Mangini refuses to quit the 3-4, horrible just horrible.
March 1st, 2008 at 6:11 pm
CH4OS: the one thing I don’t like about the Faneca move is that it never should have been necessary. Letting Pete Kendall go was an unqualified disaster, and Mangini and Tannenbaum need to be called out on it. On the other hand, Faneca is 3 years younger than Kendall and 10x the player Kendall has ever been. Does that justify paying a guard $40 million? No, but that’s the nature of the beast…if you want good FA players, you have to overpay, period.
I completely support the move to a 3-4, and as such I support the Vilma trade. You say it was horrible to trade him “just because Mangini refuses to quit the 3-4″…you honestly think Vilma is so good that the Jets should build their defense around him? Vilma alone is not talented enough to be the centerpiece of a defense. He’s so small he could play safety. He can’t shed blocks, he doesn’t rush the passer particularly well, he’s barely above-average in coverage, and his lofty tackling statistics are inflated because he makes half of them 5+ yards downfield. He’ll excel in the Saints’ 4-3, and I wish him the best, but he was a poor fit in Mangini’s defense and I’m glad we got something in return. Now we can build around a guy who actually is talented enough to construct a defense around: David “Hitman” Harris.
March 1st, 2008 at 6:24 pm
My point against Mangini and the Vilma situation, is that the players on the defense were best suited to a 4-3 than a 3-4, and still he refused to adapt his style to the players he had.
I know that coaches should use systems they think it’s the best, and that’s what he did, but i don’t think he handled the situation in the best manner. Trading for Jenkins was a good deal also if he return to his old form, he should thrive in a 3-4 defense. I think the Jets are one classic example of easy/tough schedules. In 2006 they had a cake walk schedule and they go 10-6, now this season with a normal schedule they go down even IMO with a best team. Revis is a awesome CB and T.Jones is a good RB that was crushed by playing behind a underachieving OL.
Still with all this moves i don’t see how the Jets will reach the Playoffs this season.
March 1st, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Agreed on all counts, esp. the schedule…although I think they’ll be better than last season, for sure. I’d predict somewhere between 7-9 and 9-7.
The team was definitely a 4-3 team when Mangini got there, but it wasn’t a good 4-3 team…Ferguson was gone so we had no NT (same problem we’ve had in the 3-4), Abraham was disgruntled, our secondary was in shambles, and our LBs (other than Vilma) were complete JAGs. Edwards and Bradway screwed up that team beyond recognition (see: offensive line), so I think it would have entailed a rebuilding project even if we brought in another 4-3 guy.
March 1st, 2008 at 6:56 pm
The Saints are $30 million under the cap, and they didn’t even get a chance to get to talk to the top 2 free agent cornerbacks. There is no way in Hell that you are a Super Bowl contender with Usama Young and Jason “Redefining ‘toast’” David as your starters. That’s why you overpay.
I do like the Vilma trade, though.
March 1st, 2008 at 8:22 pm
The Browns traded for Williams AND Rogers?
Does Phil Savage have a wedding on Day 1 or something?
March 1st, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Even in the offseason, the Bengals find a way to miss a tackle.
March 1st, 2008 at 8:27 pm
I was okay with the 49ers signing Smith to that contract until I read this post and that Don Banks article. But they’re in need of good defensive linemen, so I’m going to ignore all of the logical things being said about him being grossly overpaid.
Also, one big difference between the 49ers and Redskins is the fact that the 49ers owner doesn’t bear a striking resemblance to a Keebler elf.
March 1st, 2008 at 8:38 pm
*ZING* – there’s your winner folks.
March 1st, 2008 at 11:42 pm
Could we all chip in and get Chris Mortensen a Gillette Fusion?
http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=&categoryId=2459789
March 2nd, 2008 at 12:25 pm
philly can have samuel. ever since he dropped that interception in the super bowl, he has been persona non grata.
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:35 pm
As good–no, great–a lineman as Alan Faneca was for most of his time here, his play dropped off a good bit this season. The Steelers made it clear before the season that they had no intention of overpaying a guard on the back-end of his career, so the Jets get the honor (?) cutting a ginormous check for a guy who was great and is now all about the paycheck (otherwise why would he go to the Jets?).
On one hand, I shudder to imagine what the Steelers O-line looks like this season. But, on the other, I don’t particularly want a guy on my team who would play for the Jets.
And, I intend no offense to Jets fans…it’s just that your team is a weak excuse for a National Football League franchise.
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:21 am
@The412
None taken. We’re doing our best to turn that around.