Lance Briggs - Potential Free Agent

[BrunellMVP?]

Originally Posted by Giantone

I think you might have to re -vist the cap again.

Man, we hear about our impending salary cap doom each year...yet each year we go out and sign our main targets...what don't people understand? So long as Synder is the owner, we can continue to push payments back into perpetuity...it will take fundamental monetary change (likely regime) to change this...

[Paintrain]

Originally Posted by Giantone

I think you might have to re -vist the cap again.

Cash trumps cap.. Re-structure deals, convert salary to bonuses.. That's the 10 second version.. I believe Schneed is the resident expert and will be glad to give you the full version..

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by Giantone

I think you might have to re -vist the cap again.

If you're going to be a fan of another team and be on this board, at least be capable of having knowledgeable discussion. Otherwise, you bring no value to us and should just go away.

You know nothing of the salary cap. Read up:

I'm going to list the ways to get the cap number down. You can debate the merit of making certain moves on this list, but if we don't cut a certain player, you can bet we'd restructure them, which would also save some money.

Expected Roster Cuts:
Phillip Daniels - $3.0 million saved
Mark Brunell - $3.4 million saved
Total Savings for Cuts: $6.4 million

Keeping These Players, Restructuring 2008 Base Salary, Prorating over Remaining life of Contract:
Randy Thomas - $4.3 million saved
Clinton Portis - $3.8 million saved
Jon Jansen - $3.7 million saved
Chris Samuels - $3.4 million saved
Cornelius Griffin - $2.8 million saved
Santana Moss - $2.4 million saved
Casey Rabach - $1.8 million saved
Total Salary Restructure Savings: $22.2 million

Keeping These Players, Restructuring 2008 Roster Bonuses, Prorating over Remaining life of Contract:
Ladell Betts - $1.7 million saved
Clinton Portis - $0.4 million saved
Andre Carter - $1.9 million saved
Antwaan Randle-El - $1.2 million saved
Total Bonus Restructure Savings: $5.2 million

So I see ways to reduce our 2008 cap number by about $34 million. So do I think armageddon is coming next year? NO.

But I wouldn't go making ALL of the moves I listed above, either. We're starting to push a little too much into the future. And if we get rid of Brandon Lloyd, that move will eat up some more space.

Bottom line, we won't have to dismantle the team, but we won't have lots of flexibility, either. We'll need to draft very well.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by Giantone

I think you might have to re -vist the cap again.

Right.

We've been hearing this same crap since 2000.

Believe me, nobody is worried about it.

[freddyg12]

I remember posting a thread about Briggs in the offseason when he was holding out. As soon as he started talking I knew the skins would be interested in him.

He was promised something like a $20mil signing bonus if that trade was made. At that price, we should stay away. If somehow he tests the market & nobody's offering him what he wants, he's certainly a good OLB. I just doubt that he will be relatively cheap, can't see him settling for less than $15mil guaranteed.

[Hog1]

Based on the response, that's a solid........maybe???
I really like what the team is doing with young talent. I would like to see them continue to travel that road and leave the $$$$ FA's alone whenever possible. I am excited to see more of Blades

[#56fanatic]

I am one of the Chad Johnson idea lovers. I think the guy is an awesome receiver and we would be pretty hard to stop with Him, Santana and Randel el lining up. I think our D needs to be addressed with a DE. LB position, we have some guys that can play, but if we can get a reasonable priced FA to come in and play while Rocky is out, or let HB win or lose the job is fine. The guy was the best LB in the big east, and one of the best in the country. I would like us to get a CB in the draft. Smoot is oft injured, springs is getting old and Carlos wont be back until mid season. I think of the FA out there for CB, they will be too high priced. Draft a couple of O-lineman mid round.

MOCK draft has us taking a DE out of Miami.

[redsk1]

Overrated!!!!!!

[freddyg12]

I like the briggs idea more than CJ. While he's a great reciever, he has shown more of that dreaded selfish WR behavior over the past couple years & that might be why the bengals won't make much of an effort to re-sign him.

A dude like CJ is not what our young qb needs. We need his talent, but not attitude.

[Rock31]

freddy,

Isn't Romo young? Isn't he saddled with TO? Looks to me their relationship is working just fine. You can't blame everything on JC's youth. You'd think Saunders/Gibbs learned from their mistake of watering down the playbook for JC this season. Would you want to make another possible mistake by blaming JC's youth on not bringing in a proven marquee player who could transform our offense into a scoring machine?????

[freddyg12]

Originally Posted by Rock31

freddy,

Isn't Romo young? Isn't he saddled with TO? Looks to me their relationship is working just fine. You can't blame everything on JC's youth. You'd think Saunders/Gibbs learned from their mistake of watering down the playbook for JC this season. Would you want to make another possible mistake by blaming JC's youth on not bringing in a proven marquee player who could transform our offense into a scoring machine?????

good point about Romo/TO, but if you remember the first games Romo played, he was looking TO's way too much. This issue resurfaced in the philly game last week. Don't call the TO experiment in Dallas a success just yet, he's got plenty of time to screw that team.

JC will be in his 4th year next season, so you're right, the youth tag is wearing out. Maybe I should've just said we don't need a player w/such selfish tendencies as Johnson. It's a double edged sword - you want a wr that is confident & wants the ball, but you don't want him to lobby the qb to the point of forcing plays.

That became an issue in Gary Clark's last years here. He was constantly griping to Rypien to get him the ball & it affected Rypien's play (and that was one dude that didn't need help screwing up). They let GC walk in free agency to the cards.

overall, I just don't see C. Johnson as a good fit, regardless of his ability. I especially don't see him as a good value free agent. I would rather us pick up Briggs if the price is right, but I doubt that it will be.

[MTK]

I wouldn't be surprised if we pursue Briggs. The problem with Rocky is his knees were a known issue when we drafted him and his health will probably always be a concern. The truth is due to his knees he's a bit of a risky commodity.

[SmootSmack]

We could use another linebacker. Rocky has an injury history, MW has been nicked up quite a bit lately, and Fletch is no spring chicken. While Briggs could be a fine addition to this team, I'm sticking with my Karlos Dansby campaign.

[SC Skins Fan]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

We could use another linebacker. Rocky has an injury history, MW has been nicked up quite a bit lately, and Fletch is no spring chicken. While Briggs could be a fine addition to this team, I'm sticking with my Karlos Dansby campaign.

Agreed, Dansby is a better player with a cheaper price tag. Not come off as a complete clone or anything, but the players to target (depending on $$, draft, etc. - and I'm not saying to get all of them) are Dansby, Justin Smith, Bernard Berrian, and maybe Trufant (but the dollars for Trufant will probably be way too high).

[redsk1]

CJ would wind up getting p***** b/c he wouldn't get # in our offense. It just wouldn't work.

Briggs i believe is a good player but i do think he has benefitted from playing on a great Chicago defense the last few years. I think we would be overpaying for Briggs if we got him. I'd rather spend the $ on other areas like oline, dline, safety, wr if we had to.

Too much $ for that player.