SKINS 5.1 million under cap.

We just resigned Betts during the season, and it probably saved the team a ton of money.

True. Good call. Ladell did us right. I hope Cooley sees things that way too.

The problem with the franchise tag is that with all the escalators, it's essentially a one year thing. Works fine for 2008, but wouldn't using the tag on a guy make it harder to get a long term deal done.

I realize it could buy us more time, and that alone could be worth it, but we won't have the cap room in 2009 to Franchise him again. I'd like to see a deal done before November.

Yes, signing him to a long term deal would be, quite obviously, preferable to franchising him.

True. Good call. Ladell did us right. I hope Cooley sees things that way too.

Betts was a bit of a different situation though, at the time when he resigned with us i doubt he would have gotten big money anywhere else. No one really knew how good he was, outside of our staff.

Cooley on the other hand has shown over a couple of seasons how good he is and there will be big money for him out there if he hits the market. So it wouldn't make sense for him to sign a deal like Betts', he is simply worth more than Betts.

Not only that, he did a lot more with a lot less (receptions).

Yeah and as GTripp pointed out his moves after the catch are the best of any TE in the league. (Forgot about that in my little pro-cooley rant)

Yeah and as GTripp pointed out his moves after the catch are the best of any TE in the league. (Forgot about that in my little pro-cooley rant)

That's OK Aussie, your pro Cooley rant was well recieved! Capn. Chaos would approve.

Welcome aboard!

That's OK Aussie, your pro Cooley rant was well recieved! Capn. Chaos would approve.

Great to hear!

Welcome aboard!

Thanks.

lets just trade a fifth and a seventh for schobel

I believe that Cooley likes the DC area too much to want to leave. I also believe that he is a true Redskin. I don't see him going anywhere. He has made appearances at Beach Blitz, Keggs n Eggs, and various other things. I think he feels right at home here.

Betts was a bit of a different situation though, at the time when he resigned with us i doubt he would have gotten big money anywhere else. No one really knew how good he was, outside of our staff.

Cooley on the other hand has shown over a couple of seasons how good he is and there will be big money for him out there if he hits the market. So it wouldn't make sense for him to sign a deal like Betts', he is simply worth more than Betts.

I don't know about that. If Betts had hit the open market, he may have had quite a few suitors. He was coming off a career year and teams like Green Bay, Buffalo, the Texans and even Atlanta may have been willing to throw more money at him than we paid for him. Remember, when he resigned, the insanity that was this year's free agency had not yet even been hinted at.

Many salaries do indeed baloon next year, but there definitely is enough flexibility to restructure some players and cut others. Letting Brunell go after this year will trim at least $3.5 million off our 2008 cap. Cutting Phillip Daniels would trim another $3.0 million. We have the flexibility we need, we can take care of Cooley for the long term or we can franchise him.

That's fine. Given the Skins modus operandi, I do not doubt that there would be some flexibility. I haven't looked at the cap sheets so I wasn't sure just how much.

As there will be a 10M bump in the cap next year (which, as I recall, we are already tight against), I was more concerned that, if Cooley hits the open market, we could fairly easily be outbid for him as other teams will have significantly more cap room than us.