Earthlings…I bet you were wondering about me…even afraid…
“What is Wedge up to?” You mumbled to yourself. Is the Earth safe?
Well rest assured Earthlings. You are still very much a target of mine.
I’ve been watching you since the NFL draft last April…
And you know what, I’m still not impressed! Why does your pathetic species deserve to survive? With a simple push of the button I can destroy your entire species!
If I am creative enough about it, I might even get a promotion
So be very afraid…
But Earthlings here is the thing…
I really enjoyed watching the Dolphins make a playoff run in 2016
It didn’t last long once we got there…but next thing I know – it’s January and the draft is just a few months away. And this year there are some exciting prospects which has me thinking less about the destruction of your planet.
Like Anthony Walker, Jr. from Northwestern
Walker is a 6’1, 235 Junior linebacker out of Northwestern. I love his story!
Walker is not some blockhead linebacker who throws his fragile Earth head into the ball carrier to bring him down. Northwestern isn’t known to produce a lot of NFL stars, rather the school is known for its academic standing. Walker fit right in when he was there.
He actually graduated from Monsignor Pace High School in Miami Gardens with a 4.7 grade point average. While at Monsignor Pace his father was his coach and teacher…he has a close relationship with his father today and boasts about calling him everyday while at Northwestern…sort of sweet isn’t it…maybe Earth is worth sparing?
Ah Yes Football….
Walker’s most impressive year was 2015 when he tallied 120 total tackles, 4 sacks, 3 forced fumbles and an interception. In one game vs Duke, he recorded 19 tackles. Walker actually had 6 double digit tackle days in 2015.
Walker finished his career at Northwestern with 276 tackles in three years including over 60 solo tackles in each of the last two years. He all had four interceptions, six forced fumbles and 7.5 sacks in that time.
On December 30, 2016 Walker announced his decision to enter the NFL Draft, in doing so he became the first Northwestern player to declare early for the NFL draft since 1996.
While he played Mike Linebacker at Northwestern, some scouts think he projects better outside in a 4-3 defense mainly because his size might be a detriment in the middle or in a 3-4 scheme.
Walker is an instinctive and cerebral linebacker who grew up on football. He has an excellent work ethic and clearly loves the game.
If I were going to compare Anthony Walker, Jr. to a alien weapon of destruction, I would go with the Smart Self Operable Lunar Jack Hammer. I use it to chisel into a planet’s core when I want to cause a divesting earthquake.
You can watch his highlights here:
Finsmob Unleashed 
ESPN Jaguars reporter Mike DiRocco expects Jacksonville to release Julius Thomas this offseason.
Signed to a monster five-year, $46 million deal ahead of the 2015 season, Thomas has answered with 46-455-5 and 30-281-4 receiving lines in 2015 and 2016, respectively, while missing 11 games to injuries. He scored 24 touchdowns across his final two seasons in Denver, but the Jaguars failed to use him like the Broncos did as a field-stretcher down the seams. Thomas isn’t going to make defenders miss on short passes; he’s a run-straight athlete in the mold of Jared Cook who could benefit playing in an offense that better plays to his strengths. Releasing Thomas would save the Jaguars $4.7 million against the cap.
___________________________________________
Now we’re talking!!! Someone Gase knows pretty well. Only 28, still has some good football left in him.
Piggy,
Most first and second round picks end up playing. Sure, there are always misses, but that’s not the norm. Some teams are better at it than others. Ireland tended to over value guys by about a round. I used to say it often.
coaching has A LOT to do with it. Teams with great coaching can take guys in 2nd and 3rd rds and get solid/impact starters from those guys while others with first rd picks littered throughout their rosters can’t get out of the cellar.
If we consistently hit on guys in the first 2 rounds for a period of 5 years or so we would be a much better team today then we are now
I really think that is what separates teams
And then if you are able to find a gem a year in rounds 3-7 well that is fantastic
If you did that for 5 years (the length of a rookie contract)
You have 15 very good players
I don’t think you are necessarily wrong
There is value to be had there and it’s a real skill
But nailing those early picks
That’s the job
That makes the draft worthwhile
Once you miss those if you miss those
It’s hard to make up for those misses
It doesn’t matter if you draft a Reshad jones or a Vernon Carey
You are not going to put the best players in the field week in and week out
getter,
Now if we only had a QB who could throw a seam pass and use a TE like that. Hehehehe.
We will once Tanny is healthy again soon. 🙂
Ireland has been gone since 2013 and we’re still harping on that dude. LOL
We’re 3 offseasons past him, soon to be 4. Move on! 😉
Tim screw that F’n Jeffro, why you even bring him up for! smh 😉
The Flying Pig says:
January 17, 2017 at 10:13 pm
We had a GM (Ireland) who seem to struggle a lot in the 2nd rounds
It’s to illustrate a point Tim
Not to beg for him to be fired post mortem
You brought him up. That’s all I’m saying. Didn’t know I’d be challenged on it that way. LOL
Ireland was so bad we have to pretend he never happened…lol
If you find yourself in the fetal position in the shower
And you can’t explain why…
It’s probably Ireland…lol
Piggy,
another thing to watch with Cunningham is his “assists” or combined tackles. watch what he does to be in on a play that’s not even in his area. he could be covering a rb coming into his area and recognize the play going somewhere else and leave his guy and be in on the play and almost be the first guy to get there.
he’s in on plays that most other lb’s can’t even get to.
He’s all over the field
And gets there is a split second
Honestly though that is why the Wheeler comparison gave me a chuckle
Bc wheeler was also all over the field
But then he would dive at a guys feet …lol
I don’t think Cunnigham squares up the way we think LBs are supposed to
But he does stop guys in their tracks
And he doesn’t throw his body around
He’s a smart defender
Tim, you’re cool bro….I was being facetious.
Cunningham definitely has very poor tackling technique. He tackles almost completely with his upper body and no lower body. It looks like he must have really strong hands though. He’ll definitely need to improve his technique at the next level. Guys in the NFL will run through his arm tackles and likely run over him. Long, lean, quick. I wouldn’t put him in the middle though.
I project him as a WOLB. That being said if I’m a lb coach I’m projecting what I could develop this guy into. If he lands on the right team (MIA) with the right coaching this guy becomes elite talent at the lb position in the NFL
again, we can talk all day about whether or not Cunningham is a good tackler but you compare him to other lb’s who have half his total tackles who some, like Jeremiah, think is a better prospect for some reason and the difference is the other lb never even got close to making the plays Cunningham was involved in.
yes, his technique needs refinement, he needs to build more strength to take his play to the next level but how anyone can discount the fact that he’s made the number of tackles he’s made and you actually see it on the film just boggles the mind.
Lou,
I can see why people like him. His overall athleticism is quite good, but he’s gonna need time for his body to develop more. His lower body is quite lean and looks weak. He’s relatively tall, so guys at the next level will get under him and use leverage. I don’t like how he takes on blockers. He’s gotten away with bad technique because he’s athletic. He will have to learn how to sink his hips, drop his pad level and not just rely on his upper body. i’m gonna go find film of his bowl game and find out why he only had 6 tackles. I worry about guys who don’t show up in big games….especially when they play at “smaller” schools.
they said the same thing about Shazier when he came out of Ohio St. Lean and lanky and needing to add some bulk. You’re correct that he’s used some bad technique on some of his tackles and I think you’re right that he’s gotten away with it for some time because he was able to do it. Some of his tackles are high and he could end up getting called for a horse collar in the NFL if he continues to do so.
But, I think he has such strong hands that he’s been able to do that to a lot of guys he’s taken down. And, you’re right again, he’s going to miss too many tackles at the next level if he continues to do that.
However, his tackling technique isn’t that bad on all of his plays. I’ve watched tons of his games and he’s hitting guys pretty hard and tackling pretty much just like anyone else. Again, the thing about him is he’s in on so many more plays than any other linebacker that I’ve watched to this point. He seems like he’s always around the ball.
It kind of makes sense to bring up Ireland. He’s the reason we have hardly anything of value from that time period which caused us to basically turn over the entire roster. A lot of teams have good players on their roster, a solid foundation from 5-10 years ago, our team is bereft of successful draft picks from that time.
Chow?
Nope – not going there.
Thanks for the feedback on Lacey D and Toba 🙂
Tim is still trying to defend his boy Ireland lol too funny Tim. We know your tricks.
When you start reading an article from some dude on a good looking website you are not familiar with and figure you know more than him about the Phins…..and yeah the point ain’t about cutting Albert but rather who would be LT if we did.
———————-
“It is rumored that tackle Branden Albert may be too expensive to keep on the roster. If Miami is able to use a first or second round pick on a highly touted offensive tackle to combine with Tunsil they will improve drastically in run protection. This is a necessity for the Dolphins in the offseason.”
“Bill Belichick and Adam Gase tie for AFC East coach of the year”
Tie cause on ESPN’s AFC East the Pat’s beat guy and our own James Walker voted for the evil genius.
http://www.espn.com/blog/new-york-jets/post/_/id/66355/bill-belichick-and-adam-gase-tie-for-afc-east-coach-of-the-year
Definitely not defending Ireland. I just find it funny that people can’t let the past go. We’ve had two GMs and three offseasons, going on four since he was here. LOL
The fact that we’re still talking about him 4 years later just says how bad he was. We still can feel the effect he had on this team.
I actually don’t think Ireland was that bad….just not particularly good. Sorta like with Philbin and Sparano.
IF howard and cunningham are both there at 22 do we go howard?
Howard?
Do you mean Foster ?
Who are you referring too?
Oh I get it
oJ Howard
IMO TE is not a priority
Hands down I would take Cunningham over OJ Howard
If we don’t improve up front defensively we can’t improve
A TE might help the offense take it to the next level
But what we need to do to get better is improve defensively
Besides guys like Jordan Legget are nice options late
I probably would go interior OL before I went TE
I would agree, except that’s what I thought last year and we went offense. You never know with Gase. He might say the best defense is good offense 🙂
Seems Gase really wants to keep Reshad Jones around. We’ll see if they offer a redo and this was from the Dolphins site, but…….
“I was so impressed with how he helped lead our guys even though he wasn’t playing. He stood next to me before every game and he was such a lightning rod for energy for our guys. He tried to help our young players as much as he possibly could. It was great for me to see a guy that it hurt him so bad to not be out there with everybody. But those guys, they felt his positive energy every week on the sideline. He was always out at practice and making sure guys were competing and giving it everything they had.”
“Guys respect him so much. He’s such a good player. Seeing him develop as a leader, that was something that was very impressive to see. … We developed a great relationship. He has been a guy that I’ve really enjoyed being around this season.”
LAndry and Jones are the type of players we need on this team.
I dont know why you wouldnt want to keep him around. He is a hard ass worker, he is extremely talneted, he performs ever facet of a S’s job well, so he is extremely flexible when doing a defensive formation. There arent many negatives when it comes to Jones.
Tim has a quilt made out of gum wrappers
Nah I burned it. LOL
Randy he does tackle with upper body but he wraps people up with his arms. He has done a a few what i would call “risky” tackles, but so does Foster, so does a few other top candidates. Also the ones he generally doesnt wrap up on well is one that those other guys wouldn’t have even gotten to, so he basically tackled this guy bthe way he did because its the only way he could have and gotten the tackle. He makes some just amazing plays where an average guy wouldn’t have gotten a hand on him, so he tackled with hands, bcause thats all he could to make that play. I have seen 90% of his game and if anyone thinks he isnt a good LB, or rated 50th in this draft is trying to find a reason to drop his draft grade.
his 40 time may drop him. according to everything I’m seeing he runs a 4.74. Shazier ran an amazing 4.38 at his pro day. Unbelievable. But, you still gotta love what you see on his tape.
And, yes, he gets to plays that a lot of other LB’s wouldn’t have had a chance at and that’s why he tries to tackle so many with just his hands because it’s the only chance he’s got.
Let me just say, the one thing I can’t stand about a LB is a guy who’s running side by side with a ball carrier. WTF is he waiting for? I’ve seen too many of them in this year’s draft. Cunningham doesn’t do that. he takes them down.
there’s also a lot of guys who take wide angles on guys when they’re running around the outside and give up a lot of ground on the ball carrier rather than going down the line of scrimmage and trying to get there to make the tackle. again, Cunningham doesn’t do that.
Davis does that A LOT.
There is MAYBE one player i would select if they and Cunningham were there at 22, and thats Myles Garrett or possibly Derrek Barnett. It would be hard for me to turn down a pass rushers who could be our next Jason Taylor, franchise and future ring of honor type of guy at a position that is so crucial these days. I feel the same about just off the wall talented CB’s, but even though there are several i like, there are none i like that much. Cunningham could be our Bobby Wagner, and say what ya want about the Seattle secondary, their defense is great starts with him.
I think you can strike Garrett off your possibilities at 22 list…
😛
unless you’re talking Garrett Bolles.
D
My first impression of Cunningham was similar to Randy
I feel like my first impression was wrong
I have done a 180
Every prospect has flaws
I’m pretty convinced Cunningham will be a difference maker on D in the NFL
Just a quality all around LB
I’m all in on Cunningham
I think we are going through the Hyperanalysis phase of the draft process now…lol
Never said i expect Garrett would be there at 22, im just saying he is a guy i would pass on Cunningham for. Cunningham i think is going to be iffy as far as being there and especially if his combine numbers are good, which i expect they will be a lot better than it sounds that others are saying they will be.
I don’t know
he has all the makings of some one who be there at 22
maybe into the 2nd round
berserker
I don’t know guys
This is a pretty cool image for LBs isn’t it?
is that Brady under his right Foot ??
what’s left of Brady
Brandon Albert would cost MIA $10.6M if they kept him this season vs $3.4M in dead money from his remaining pro-ration of his bonus over the next 2 seasons. No more guaranteed money there.
Expect Albert to be cut as soon as possible to clear up cap space to make room for FA signings.
Zeitler can run into the $45-50M area.
I expect most of these guys to stay with the teams they are with though.
I’d be surprised if we cut Albert. Maybe a restructure but I don’t see us cutting him. We’ll see.
So much depends on what we accomplish in FA before the draft. If we’re able to sign a LB, say Jamie Collins, or Melvin Ingram, then it’s totally possible that we draft OJ Howard if he’s there. It sure makes it less of a necessity to grab a LB with our 1st pick.
I bet we do not pursue Collins or Ingram or Hightower
I think that is just grumblings from the fane
is it really cost effective to use free agency to bring in pass rushers
“Expect Albert to be cut as soon as possible to clear up cap space to make room for FA signings.”
I expect nothing of the sort. I’d be shocked in fact. 10 a year is a bargain for him. We need to be adding quality depth on the OL, not trading our best OL and cutting our 2nd best OL. You’re getting carried away GM Lou!
I’d be shocked too.
3.4M in dead money is too much
It also doesn’t make sense from a talent standpoint. Albert does get banged up we know that. But the last two seasons he’s missed 6 of 33 games, not 22. LOL
I still think Albert can play
I think the one thing that supports moving on is that Tunsil can be our new LT
and that move is inevitable
but will it happen in 2017 ?
(Piggy shrugs)
Yeah finally get a talented 5 and then let them go. Ugh!
D says:
January 18, 2017 at 4:40 pm
Never said i expect Garrett would be there at 22, im just saying he is a guy i would pass on Cunningham for. Cunningham i think is going to be iffy as far as being there and especially if his combine numbers are good, which i expect they will be a lot better than it sounds that others are saying they will be.
I oinked it the first time
I am really enjoying watching film of these Beserkers
(Piggy slams his through a wall)
Piggy
We have to spend the money somewhere, and we need LB’s badly. Why not sign a vet? You want 2 rookies running around making mistakes? I think signing 1 starting LB, and one depth LB makes a lot of sense. One of those depth LB’s can even be Jenkins. That’s fine with me.
We will see how much $ we have after you deal with Still, Simms, Branch, Landry and even Jones
if you have $ like that spend it on Eric Berry
draft a berserkers!!!
(Piggy staples his own forehead)
Or spend your FA bringing in depth on the OL
I dont see Zeitler going for more than 40mil a year unless we are talking about a 5 year contract, which we could be since this is going to be the time in his career he is going to try to lock up a big chuck of years. Top RG contracts are capping out at 10mil per, with just over 15mil in guarantees. A young guy like Zeitler looking for a extended number of years on his contract, i think signs a 5 year 9 mil per contract, with 20mil in guarantees so fast it leave a smoke trail behind the pen. That puts him as a top 3 RG, it gives him more in guarantees than the other 2, and comes out to a full guarantee for 2 of the 5 years. For a guy with a record health wise, and at only 27 years old, giving those kind of guarantees shouldn’t frighten us.
We dont have to cut Albert to do that either, we can easily fit him in with the close to 48mil we will have in cap space just by cutting Williams and Misi
Zeitler has to compete with several top OG’s this year. Lang from GB, Warford from Detroit, Norwell from Carolina, Leary from the Cowboys (whom im pretty certain will be with a new team, since they already have La’el Collins and Zach Martin as their starters.
I dont think Lang will be able to be tagged either, since GB will likely have to choose between tagging he or Tretter, their OC, and OC’s usually win that decision. Panthers, and Detroit really dont have anyone else they would have to use it on, so they might use theirs on Norwell and Warford, and Zeitler MIGHT be a target for Cincy though they probably will think about using it to keep Kirkpatrick, their CB.
It’s either Eric Berry or Reshad Jones who gets paid. We’re not paying both. That’s a lot of cash at safety.
I agree with Mike at LB. We’re going there in FA and maybe even two of them. That doesn’t mean the most expensive LBs in history or even this year, but proven pros who we deem upgrades over what we have. I’m not counting re-signs, I’m talking new LBs. Then draft one early at some point and let them play their way in. I’m re-signing Alonso to a 1st rd tender, I’ll take my chances there. I’ve been a Jenkins supporter but his durability is starting to look like Misi. We have to shake it up. We have ST’s and depth in Hewitt and Hull (ERFA).
Piggy,
3.4 for dead money is acceptable to most Front offices if the player is severely underperforming his contract. We get caught up in the dead money number, but it’s accounting nothing more. We’d actually SAVE cap space by cutting him.
That said, Albert is definitely not underperforming his contract. So there’s no point in eating the dead money. All IMHO…
I mean if I was done with Albert
I would be like okay
but 3.4M in dead money just to free up money to replace some one who might not need to be replaced
You can’t really take on those cap hits
Gotcha, my take exactly…
Piggy, I think we will look to FA for DL, LB and OL depth and competition. I think when everyone is healthy, we have a solid secondary.
The Flying Pig says:
January 18, 2017 at 4:30 pm
I bet we do not pursue Collins or Ingram or Hightower
I think that is just grumblings from the fane
is it really cost effective to use free agency to bring in pass rushers
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Collins is an 4-3 OLB, or has been the whole time in NE. From everythign i have seen his is projected to be a 10mil per contract tops in FA. Hightower is a 4-3 MLB, which top salaries there top out in the 10’s but you are also comparing them to Keuckley (who actually gets 12per), Wagner, and Bowman, which they are not. Id think Hightower does get 9-10mil just because of his rank in this FA, but not more. Either way we likely would only use 20 of 48mil in cap space signing a top LB and a top OG, and those are definitely positions we should be shopping for in FA.
I guess I assumed Belicheat was still a 3-4 guy
Tim you dont have to sign him to the top tender, you can give him the lowest tender and by nature of his 1st round draft grade, you automatically get first round return if someone tries to sign him and you refuse to match.
Why does he have a 1st rd grade, he was a 2nd rd pick?
My bad, i could have sworn he was a first round pick, ok so we would get a 2nd round pick offering the lowest amount lol.
3.4 mil in dead money isnt crap if you are saving 7.2….. you have to be concerned with that number not so much the dead money number. That said i dont think we cut Albert, i dont think there is a need to at this point, but i also wouldnt be completely shocked if they did. Im not a fan of doing it either, just to be clear.
FA and draft time is on its way, time to send our own packing because the grass is always greener with new. LOL
Only 2 players i really care to send packing, Williams and Misi and can you really argue against either one of those?
Mario? Yeah I think he and Misi are gone.
Sims can’t be that expensive, and he thinks he’s worth more than he is, then he can be an ex-Dolphin as far as I’m concerned. I don’t see him as a big ticket TE, he’s a backup or 2nd TE IMO. As far as Reshad, I’m all for locking him up. I’d like to sign Stills as long as the $$$ doesn’t get out of control, and we know from past experience, that can happen fast, as we way overpaid for Mike Wallace. We’ll see what happens.
I think Sims winds up getting something in the neighborhood of Zach Miller kind of money, 3mil per. Maybe Brent Celek kind of money, which is about 4mil per,
D
Tim is right, and I’ve been saying that all along. We have to give Alonso the highest tender, and then if someone signs him, we get their 1st RD pick. Alonso was a 2nd RD pick by the Bills (#46) in 2013
Yeah i just realize my blunder, for some reason i thought the Bills drafted him in the first.
Im not offering Stills more than 6-7per, i might make it nice on the guarantees side but im thinking 6 with decent guarantees, or 7 with a little less that way. He isnt a feature WR for us, though he is valuable in some ways. I think we could do better too personally, someone that would be a better target for Tanny. He is a good receiver, but he doesnt do for us what i think he would for other systems and i think there will be other systems that will be willing to pay him because he will be more featured there. I dont think we keep Stills, it wouldn’t stop me from trying, but i think ultimately we will be unable to match what someone else might with what we likely will have to offer Landry to keep him.
D, from last year’s numbers RFA tender offers are as follows from 3rd to 1st – $1.671 million, $2.553 million, and $3.635 million, respectively. I’m putting a 1st on Alonso. I’ll let him walk for a 1st rd pick. It’s sound business. Releasing Misi pays for that.
There isnt really a 3rd, there is lowest, and 2nd and first. Lowest doesnt get you a third as compensation, it gets you whatever their draft grade was. Like Williams which is a RFA, we put the lowest on him and people laugh and just make an offer because if we dont match we get nothing in compensation. We have to put a 2nd or top tender on him or just not tender him at all.
Kiko we _could_ put lowest tender on him, but if we did, given he was a second round pick instead of first like i thought, we would only get a second in return, a second round tender on him, of course would be a waste of a tender since we got the same protection with the lowest tender.1st round tender is still a bargain so might as well do that.
One question would be, if you did get an offer from a club for him, and lets say its in the top 10 of salaries for a MLB (lest say it was a 7-8mil per kind of contract), do you match or take the first rounder?
You are right on no 3rd, I now remember that. I’d put a 2nd on Damien Williams. I like him as a #3 game day back for STs and 3rd downs, depth etc.
I put the 1st rd tender on Alonso easy. Like I said releasing Misi pays for it. As for that big deal, that comes down to how the team feels about Alonso’s durability long term. He is a slender LB especially upper body. But it looks like he’s recovered from the knee, that wasn’t an issue this year. He had a groin injury and then the dislocated thumb/club hand which is pretty common and not career ending.
Im not dealing with Reshad until after the dust settles in FA, and he shows up on the field again. Id do a deal before next FA starts for sure, however.
That’s how I feel. Jones and IAQ will likely be our penciled in starters for 2017. I have no problem with that. We need our young corners to take the next step and for Maxwell to have his best season ever. LOL
If we were in a better position at CB, id contemplate cutting Maxwell this coming year too, but i just dont feel our young guys are there yet. I also still look to add a guy in draft to compete, maybe someone midlle rounds like that Stribling guy out of Michigan, or Dwayne Thomas out of LSU.
Sorry not cut, trade. I think there would be someone who would give up a decent round pick for him.
D, you think Jordan Lucas has any upside as a CB, nickel or safety mix DB like a Michael Thomas, or he’s probably not good enough?
This is out FA list and estimation of what they will likely demand for us to re-sign.
Chimdi Chekwa —- Not really going to worry over this one.
Nicholas Williams —- Same
Andre Branch —- Im thinking 4-5mil per
Jason Jones —- gone already, but if we brought him back it would be roughly at last years rate 1.5mil
Jermon Bushrod — Again, it would liely be at the same rate, maybe slightly more. 2mil
Damien Williams — Cost of a 2nd round tender
Kiko Alonso — Cost of a 1st round tender
Spencer Paysinger — probably roughly same as last year 675K, maybe a little more 850kish, if brought back.
Donald Butler — probably wouldnt be brought back but again, if so would be under a mil per kind of contract.
Jelani Jenkins — really kinda depends on our LB situation, and what we do as far as bringing in someone else. I think anywhere from about 2mil per to 4mil per depending on if he looks like he is going to be a starter or not.
John Denney — He may or may not be back, we will see but i think it would be at 1.25-1.5 mil per at very best, most likely lower though.
T.J. Yates — doubtful he will be back or if he is it probably wouldnt be on a non-guaranteed contract and cut after PS. Something league minimumish.
Michael Thomas — Probably couldget him back at 1-1.5mil per
Bacarri Rambo — Probably 750k-1mil per if that.
Sam Young — 750k – 1mil per if that
Dominique Jones — doubtful he gets tendered.
Jordan Cameron — doubtful we attempt to re-sign
Dion Sims — 3-4mil per
Kenny Stills — 7mil per would be as high as i went but i think he will get more elsewhere.
I think therefore to re-sign all the guys we are concerned with its going to take 23 mil to re-sign our own and off the estimated 31mil we have right now in cap space, the 8 mil carryover, and the 12.7 we get for cutting Misi and Mario Williams, we have about 52mil in cap space. That means we have roughly 29mil left to work with to get FA’s. We could easily squeeze in a top OG, and LB, and have a little left to play with for depth players. Id much rather go for a couple big FA’s that could really help us with our starter quality, and a bunch of nickle and dime guys. Even if we go big we probably are still looking at 10mil or so left over.
Tim Knight says:
January 18, 2017 at 5:50 pm
D, you think Jordan Lucas has any upside as a CB, nickel or safety mix DB like a Michael Thomas, or he’s probably not good enough?
————————————–
What little we saw of him i think he looked like a rookie…. He was pretty solid at PSU, has position flexibility and i think probably has a little higher upside than Thomas, but Thomas has him on his ST contribution. Id say is Lucas doesnt find a way to contribute more on ST’s this year he might lose his place on the team, either that or he needs to really show significant improvement as a NCB/S hybrid. I like the idea of him more than McCain at NCB, but he hasnt shown any reason to believe he would be better yet.
Good stuff! I still have hope for McCain. He flashes too. The slot is not easy. Nor is it for him to play outside on WR’s over 6 feet, but we had few options late in the year. People complain about Albert, our entire starting secondary was down a good part of the year.
I think McCain is in the wrong system is all. I think when we were under Philbin/Coyle, McCain was the right guy for slot there, but under Joseph, in a press-zone kind of system, a more agressive and physical DB system, he wasnt best suited and thats kind of why i think Lucas would be better than him, i just dont have any evidence to support that belief.
Actually i forgot to figure in Alonzo’s tender amount and Williams, so would be a little less than that…their tenders would make it more like 29mil to resign all our guys. 23mil left, and around 4mil left over if we signed top guys at OG and LB.
Obviously we could hop for a little less to re-sign Stills or draw our line lower. We could likely drop Denney for ra ookie/league min vet, or get him to re-sign for less. We could let Jenkins walk and we probably are back up to a 7-8mil left over. We could also let Branch go if he didnt do a more team friendly deal, something in the 3-4mil range, and cut Dion Jordan, which in itself would be a 3.1mil cap savings, to trim a little more fat.
Sorry was supposed to be a reply to my own post above this one.
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Can watch Beckwith, Tredaveous White, Riley, Godchaux, Lewis Neal, Dwayne Thomas, and Jamal Adams…..
This one is a little longer and feature more of the whole defense instead of focusing on Thomas
Too bad Arden Key wasn’t available to enter the draft. I think that guy is going to be a beast.
I will say though if you wanna get jazzed up by Reuben Foster just watch this highlight vid lol.
I watch this every night before I go to bed
😀
Eddie Jackson if fully recovered from his injury would be an interesting safety prospect as well.
His best is Ed Reed, but is he consistent?
No Alabama players on this team. They don’t deserve it.
They are like excuses
Worse
That’s one way to clear the swamp.
The guys at the office will love this one….lol
Don’t look now
But it looks like a pair of safeties are shooting up draft boards
Malik Hooker and Jamal Adams are considered top 10 picks
Solomon Thomas (Stanford DE) is another guy in that is now in that area
Unless Albert agrees to renegotiate his contract which I doubt happens he’s a cap casualty this yr. The only thing remaining on his contract in terms of cap hit is the pro-ration of his bonus over the next two yrs if we release him. That’s the $3.4M.
if we keep him this season we have to pay him $10.6M. We don’t need him. We move Tunsil outside to LT. We’re going to sign a FA G and we’re going to draft another.
We’re not paying Albert $10.6M this yr. Not happening.
M. Williams and Misi will be off the books is going to happen. Dead cap at $4.3M vs. $17M in salary. Please! Start there.
most definitely.
Mitchell as well
Mitchell is really cheap for a DT esepcially since he is pretty consistently decent-good. He makes for a perfect cut since i dont think he is much to nothing in dead money, but i really would have him WAY down on my list of targets to cut. You wont find many backups that make much less than Mitchell.
Those are the two obvious ones, but they know it. So there would be no hurt feelings…..they could still be on the team next season but it will be for less.
I am hoping one of you draft experts will tell me that Jadar would be a good fit for the team. “Career mode on the Madden”….awesome.
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Jadar Johnson has been one of the most impressive draft prospects of the week, so it’s no surprise that scouts have made it a point to track the Clemson safety down. But Tuesday, Johnson was extra excited to speak with one club in particular.
“I’m a Miami Dolphins fan. I’ve been a Dolphins fan since I was a little boy, so when they came up to me, that was a big deal for me. It was like the career mode on the Madden (video game) where you can pick your team. I wanted to say, ‘C’mon man, please pick me. It would be perfect.’ I didn’t tell them I was a Dolphins fan — I wanted to keep it business-like. But I so wanted to tell them.”
Steve on Eddie Jackson, he is pretty consistent, most of Sabans players are unless they are freshmen and sophomores and they usually figure out how to be more consistent at the year goes on and if they dont they wind up not being starters anymore. Its just the nature of the expectations that Saban puts on his players. Saban isnt very tolerant to Juniors and Seniors who dont show up game after game, because truthfully he has so much talent behind them, he doesnt have to, he can start the grooming process for the next man up. He figures that if you dont have that kind of guy, you can get inconsistency out of the younger group and still be building towards something ya know.
Only question to me will be his injury. As a side not i think Eddiie Jackson out, was 100% why Bama lost that championship. Jackson is in there, i can promise, Renfrow, or Legget one would have not had the kind of game they did. They got over on guys with little to no experience, and again, inconsistency.
Alabama players will for sure be on our team if we are lucky enough to get a shot at them. Gase has already said he knows what kind of players Saban puts out so if Saban green lights him on one of his guys you can bet that moves them up some on our draft board.
D.. New Blog up… 🙂