Current 2014 Free Agents

[Skinzman]

Originally Posted by KI Skins Fan

Bruce Allen said that he wanted to add 20 new players to the team. That is a very large number of players to add in one offseason. If he indeed adds that many new players, more than half of them would probably be UFA's. That's going to require alot of cap space, which makes me wonder if signing Orakpo is a good idea for a team that finished 3-13 last season and is planning to make alot of personnel changes during the offseason.

I doubt that the Skins can or even want to sign Orakpo to a multi-year deal. So, to me, the only question for the Skins about Orakpo is "Can we improve the defense more by tagging Orakpo for $11M or by signing two mid-tier FA's to more favorable, longer-term contracts?".

The Skins need alot of help on defense but we have Jackson and Jenkins at OLB, so the cupboard isn't bare at that position. I'm starting to wonder if the Skins might just let Orakpo walk in favor of picking up two good players at other positions.

Jackson is a FA also, so technically we only have Jenkins. Jackson may be the better overall OLB, but still cant rush the passer as good as Orakpo. So it depends on what they want from the OLB's as to who to resign. If they are finally going to let the OLB's be a true pass rusher, as some reports have said, then Orakpo is the better choice. If they are only going to let them rush 60% of the time, then Jackson may be the better choice and will be cheaper.

The salary cap is going up in future years more that it has in the past. The new TV contracts go into effect this year and will hit the cap next year, and according to reports, those TV contracts are much larger than the ones that just expired (Plus the addition of one more since they recently signed a Thursday night contract). Some of that money has already been used up since it was brought forward to keep the cap from going down the last 2 or 3 years but the cap is still expected to make some jumps in the next few years. 11 mil for a player with a 120 mil cap is quite different than 11 mil with a 150 mil cap. The better GM's will have this in mind when signing long term contracts. Signing Orakpo to a 5 year contract at 11 mil per may be a steal in a couple of years depending on how high the cap goes.

Orakpo is going to get that since salaries are going to be going up as the cap does. Its actually probably better for Orakpo to be tagged and hit FA again next year where the price tag for a pass rusher will probably go up.