ESPN's Pat Yasinskas does not expect the Saints to bring back free agent DT Sedrick Ellis One of the biggest busts of the 2008 draft class, Ellis has managed just 0.5 sacks over his last 31 games. His fate was likely sealed even before the Saints made the move to a 3-4. Ellis will get another chance, likely on a "prove it" deal with a 4-3 team.
GM Rick Spielman reiterated that he wants to re-sign free agent RT Phil Loadholt One of the unsung heroes in Adrian Peterson's miraculous 2012 season, Loadholt is a candidate for a major payday. He's missed just one start in his four-year career and is one of the game's premier run-blockers at 6'8/343. "Continuity is a huge part of it on the offensive line because those guys have to work as one unit and they have to know each other inside and out," Spielman said. "We'd love to keep Phil Loadholt, so we'll try to do everything we can to keep Phil Loadholt but we also have a lot of guys we'd like to keep."
The Packers could save $5.45 million in cap space by releasing ILB A.J. Hawk Hawk is coming off a solid bounce-back season that saw him pile up a career-high 120 tackles, but is now 29 and the Packers have options on the inside. Desmond Bishop (hamstring) and D.J. Smith (knee) are both expected to return healthy and free agent Brad Jones could be retained cheaply. It's highly unlikely the Pack will keep both Hawk and Charles Woodson.
not saying its what we're gonna do, but if i could, id clip kelly & seymour, lose their actual big $ contracts and deal with the cap implications, replace them with ellis and dorsey (if both were available) - ellis comes dirt cheap, dorsey comes at a bit of a premium since he did put up decent #'s but never has been in his natural fitting 4-3 DT since LSU.
clip mcclain, bring in hawk to fill in any LB role (since the guy can actually tackle BUT only if he came on the cheap)
loadholt is a guy i always wanted us to target. big, mean, nasty run blocking hammer on the right side.
not sure how active or inactive RM is gonna be in FA. i personally see this being a bloody offseason for us followed by potentially 1 more before he really begins the bottom-up building of this process.
I joke with my wife and tell her she had to wade through a lot of crap to get to a rose...lol....same thing RM is having to deal with. Players not worth their pay, and by cutting them, he's getting nothing in return, PLUS a much unneeded cap hit. It's gonna take a little time for him to clean the books of the old regime.
I read something interesting provided its true from Freshs post the other day. Still no official word on Richard Seymour and his status just speculation. But according to the one report once his contract voids the Raiders will be at 119 M and some change of the 121 M dollar allowable amount for the salary cap with only 37 players on the roster.
Again nothing official yet just speculation. But I was doing some research on the contracts and the givens to go are DHB, McClain and Brisiel with those cuts depending on how the cap sees fit is they would save close to 8 M on DHB while taking a 3 M dollar hit. McClains bonus money should void, his final year already has on his contract. If his contract does indeed void 6 M and change is gonna come off the books for this year and another 7 or 8 comes off the following year. Brisiel isnt in the same company because he has 4 years left but his highest base salary is this year. They would take close to a 3 M bonus hit this year on his deal but would gain close to 2 M back in base salary.
16 M would be freed up with those 3 gone dropping that number down to 103 and 34 players. Some of the trade candidates in Darren McFadden and Sebastian Janikowski could free up as much as 9 M with two more spots opening up. 32 players left on the roster and 94 M on the books leaving 21 roster spots and 27 M to play with.
Also in doing research the Raiders re structured Tommy Kelly and his contract last year and for some unknown reason gave him more guaranteed money. He was scheduled to make 6 M base this up and coming season with 3 M in bonus. Now they pay him 6 M in base and 5 M in bonus money, not to mention if they cut him they would take the bonus hit for the final year of the his contract which in next year and that would completely make the cut a wash.
They may have to ride out one more year with the likes of Kelly and Branch. After that as long as there is no more restructures with those two, they could be free and clear for the most part with their respective bonuses and salaries. Not with Branch so much but if he continues to be Branch the patience is gonna run extremely thin with them.
The list I've looked at that would be cost effective and could work for the team and for the party involved are as followed. First the Raiders own. Mike Mitchell, Desmond Bryant, Matt Shaughnessy and Khalif Barnes I think could be brought back for reasonable deals. The carrot to attach to the end of the stick is the opportunity to start. Michael Huff needs to stay at cornerback, that opens the opportunity for Mitchell to start at safety. Bryant can start at DT. Shag could start at DE. Barnes could find a spot on the line and in the least provide depth if nothing else so the likes of Willie Smith or whatever his name is can pack sand.
Outside of the Raiders. Sedrick Ellis, Ron Brace, Glenn Dorsey could all be provided with the opportunity to compete for a starting gig. Who else can offer that? They are perceived busts and rightfully so, but they also wont command much money. Jason Smith the former number 2 overall pick and Ram bust if he still wants to try and give it a go could have the opportunity to start and could probably be pursuaded by the likes of Lincoln Kennedy to give the Raiders a try. Spagnola has a pretty good resume with offensive lineman and that could also help grease the wheels to try and get Smith here.
Nick Barnett was released by the Bills and while he is 32 he has versatility to play in both a 34 and 43. He has some left in the tank and has ties with RM. He too like the list above could be looking for in the least the opportunity to start.
Adrian Wilson, Charles Woodson and Nnamdi Asomugha have all been rumored to be on the chopping block. I doubt Woodson or Wilson would come here but you never know. Andre Carter did because he wanted to play and nobody was knocking down his door. Aso is a California native and was originally a safety converted to corner. His big money days may be over and many may feel he is done.
Many people said we should have gone after Nick Barnett when he was dumped by the Packers.As he's been released again by the Bills I don't know what he's got left in the tank.
But can he be much worse than RoMac? Albeit a short term solution.
Kit you went three for three with that list IMO...not as positive on Ellis as the other two but still could work. Obviously we are taking hypotheticals here but I've always been a fan of Loadholdt, and AP's season last year just raises his stock. Guy is a mountain. And Hawk would be a double upgrade over anyone on our LB corps, although that isn't saying too much.
The Raiders are gonna be garbage next season. We will get under the cap easily with the cuts that need to be made but the part of the cap we can use is gonna be low due to the large amount of dead money. Then we get to take the cap space we did create and sign a few inferior free agent players on short term deals to get us through the season just to fill the spaces we created with cuts. Then we have very little money remaining to load up the back third of the roster with inexperienced players. In spite of our low talent roster this season, it will be even less talented next season. Man, sounds allot like last off-season again. We are not going to be really building anything of consequence until the following season. That is just the reality of it. I think coaching will be better this year because we have a better staff around Allen but it won't be enough to turn water into wine. Weaker roster, better coaching equals same result: 4-12.
I'd take Hawk in a heartbeat, but he has been here before. Last time they cut and resigned him at a lower salary with his blessing. He loves playing for Green Bay and as long as they pay him a decent salary I think he'll stay there.
IMO we must start from the ground up. That means through the draft. We need to grow vet Raiders and leave cap room open for FA's when were ready for the next step.
Plugging in a bunch of high priced FA's now who's contracts will be ready to expire in 3 years (the time when we hope to be good again) is ridiculous.
We'll face signing our own young talant or bringing in new players on the cheap who dont know the system to repace them.
Im tired of bringing in non Raiders trying to get a payday.
We'll face signing our own young talant or bringing in new players on the cheap who dont know the system to repace them.
Im tired of bringing in non Raiders trying to get a payday.
Yep. Here we are obsessing about getting younger and building this thing from the ground up and cutting bloat. Then we entertain big signings that are castoffs from other teams who will require big contracts. Pass
Lets stick to the program. Get young and coach the players up. Develop what we draft and bring young guys in free agency.
And why did Reggie give Kellly MORE gauranteed money? An older player? whats the startegy? For a quick fix with a current cap situation?
No to Ellis I just have never thought he was very good...overrated by draft "experts". I'd rather take a shot at Glenn Dorsey and pair him with Dez and Bilukidi. Dorsey reminded me alot of TK while at LSU but I think with him playing 3-4 end he has become discipline and might be a stud DT still.
Just read Jarvis Jones was cleared by nfl doctors, that right there sold me on him as our pick. Keep reading hell fall down boards still so if we can trade back and get him were golden. Jarvis Jones- 1A DMoore-1B then Star, Werner Warmack. If we ended up being able to resign Shaugnesdy, Bryant and Wherker along with Dorsey, I'd say draft Jones and move Burris into the middle. He has to work on his pass coverage and consistency but he has sideline to sideline ability and is relentless.
Hawk = RoMac? Please. Rolando McClain barely makes 120 steps a season, much less tackles. If Hawk stood stll he'd probably get more than RoMac. Hawk is no all pro, but I'd take him over McClain in a heartbeat. But like I said, he ain't going anywhere.
I have stayed away from NFL for a while - just to clear my head and free up my wife. lol!
Still, looking at the Raiders is a thing of joy. As said earlier - we will be CRAP AGAIN!
Yes - count on it dear nation - but, this MUST be part of the plan. Until all the horrible AL deals are off the books - completely off the dead money weight - we have little chance to compete - unless...
RM has a draft plan which includes trading out of #3 pick to obtain more picks including a 2nd and additional third - and - we hit on all picks (much like Seahawks last year with Wilson, Wagner, Irvin...)
I am so resigned to now just sit back and laugh at our upcoming signings of 1M a year players and draftees which Allen and Tarver must form a defense from.
I absolutely loved how competetive we were at the end on D. Brandian Moss, Joselio Hanson, Dez, Miles, Wheeler, Mithell, Huff at CB, - Are you kidding? And who was that MLB playing all over the field? Gaither - come on?
If we are going to be crap - just put guys out there who are good players then and design around them - win lose or draw!
Wisc you are talking out your ass. Disappointment yes, as big as Romac!? Hawk was a mid first rounder who could start on half of the teams in this league. RoMac is Jawlarus on defense and would be second string on any other team at best.
Since when is the 6th overall pick - mid round? Hawk has been a disapointment to the extent of McClain, probably not, thats tough to do. But I doubt he would be much of an upgrade for the money they would have to shell out for him than even in house candidates for as slim as the linebacking depth is.
