Sun-Sentinel: free agents to watch

Ron Bartell is an interesting Free Agent.

 

He is depending on the cost. He has size and speed that with time could become quite useful for the along with a re-signing of Goodman. He'd give the Dolphins a fairly-sized young CB who can really perform.

Sometimes it's a good thing to be fairly unheralded. I've always preferred good players from sucky teams such as CBs from teams with zero pass rush, wide receivers from teams have terrible offensive lines and can't protect. It's usually the best way to acquire position players.

 

Some great points in all your posts, Jaj.

- Playing against 3-4 teams, moving the NT is a priority, so we need a larger, more powerful center than Satele.

- Glad to hear Brown's an Unrestricted FA. I don;t agree with pursuing RFAs in the salary cap world. I am willing to either pay a high sum for talent (FA) or draft the talent for cheaper and wait to develop them. What I won;t do is overspend money AND lose a draft pick too for RFAs. Worst of both worlds.

- Speaking of restricted Free Agents... if you are Jeff Ireland, and you plan to let David Martin go, then maybe you do consider looking at Owen Daniels. He;s a fine receiving tight end. 70 catches, 862 yards. 2 TDs. I only do this if I a) already planned to let Martin go and b) already planned to spend a draft pick on a TE.

- Cost-wise, I don;t think we would sign Carey if we signed Brown. FAs are at a premium salary, and we are already carrying Jake Long and Justin SMiley's salaries on the O-line. Satele is not much, but he ain't league minimum either (under a million, though, I beleive). It's either Carey or Brown, imo, since signing both would sink way too much money into the O-line for the Front Office's salary cap comfort.

- Can see us pursuing Dansby, but this deep playoff push is gooing to raise his price tag, unfortunately. I wonder if Calvin Pace ever wonders if he shoulda stayed in Zona? Probably not with the overpaid contract he got from the Jests. If we don't pursue Dansby, then I could see Suggs. Either way, we pursue a LB in Free Agency and go fishing for the other in the draft, since we need both a MLB and OLB upgrade.

- Atogwe is only a little better than Hill. Atogwe is no Pro Bowler. If there is a bidding war for him, I don;t get involved. If he finds little interest in his services on the open market (a la Donte Stallworth a couple years back) then he'd be a decent upgrade.

- I don;t like TJ Houzyamama because he'll probably cost a fortune and bring baggage with him. I would actually be content to continue developing Ginn, Bess, Camarillo and especially London but we need a veteran mentor who can start. A possession receiver type with a bit of height. I like Amani Toomer. He's coming from a winning culture, he can provide the veteran leadership and mentoring to the younger receivers (the way Penny does for the QBs, Porter for the LBs, Ferguson and Holliday for the DL, etc). Sparano has said he wants a young team with at least one older veteran at each position to help the kids. That was gonna be Wilford. Well, that failed. Toomer is a savvy veteran with good routes, good hands, and not a lot of speed. He complements Ginn nicely. He is 6' 3" and can make the tough catches and take a hit. Most importantly, we won;t break the bank signing him. IMO, he'd be good for 50-60 catches and 700 yards next year with 4-6 TDs, working with a guy like Chad.

- I don't watch enough games to comment on OTs and OGs around the league. I will say that none of the names are jumping out at me (I liked Gross, but he sounds like he'll be overpriced). I'm content with hitting the draft for an oversized Center/Guard hybrid like Max Unger, Alex Mack, Dallas Reynolds or Andy Levitre (not a center, but can play all the other line positions)

 

Jaj, did you just suggest adding Jason Taylor? Interesting thought, if so.

Is the new culture well-established enough here to manage having his influence back here? I don;t think so. I think Jason and the Dolphins are better off apart at this point. Especially since he and Porter play the same position in this defense.

 

The more I think about it, the more I don't see the fit.

- questions about the relationship, commitment level, possible distractions
- this regime isn;t likely to sign an aging player who sat out most of last year injured
- How many great weakside linebacker pass-rush only specialists do you need? Porter's not stout against the run either, so we'd be better off letting JOEY be the guy coming in on more 2nd and longs and third downs and finding a stronger, bigger first down OLB instead of a redundant second pass rush specialist for the weakside.

 

I am convinced this regime will keep Bell, especially as the other safety position isn;t exactly great right now.

Also, Bell proved he could stay healthy this season.

Plus they love his style of play. He's the ONLY member of the secondary whom you could call 'very physical'.

 

Your avatar for some reason has me falling on my *** laughing today.

 

1. Has to be answered by Jason. He has to show commitment. He didn't commit rape and something horrible so they may forgive and forget.
2. At a low cost I can't see him being denied for his age.
3. He'd play SOLB and LOLB. Porter and Roth switched many times this past year.

As for Carey vs. Brown I might take Brown in that situation based on the fact that the tackle class is also extremely talented this year as is the center class. Atogwe? If Hill were a C average starter, I'd say Atogwe is a B starter. Not sure if that's worth the 5-6m it would take to sign him.

To be entirely honest I'd like nothing better than to sign our own free agents and find a couple of lower level but valuable players at CB or WR (a veteran as said would be wonderful).

 

I'm just not convinced that Carey is all that comfortable right now. He seems less than happy, his play has been okay, but definitely not 'superior'. I wonder if his style of play and his personality suit this regime and vice versa?

The irony is, Vernon playing mediocrely (new word) down the stretch probably helped our chances at signing him.

Anyone who WAS considering giving him big time Left Tackle money would have to do their due diligence and watch that Ravens game, where Carey did not impress anyone. I think there won;t be a lot of "Left Tackle Money" out there for Vernon, which is good news for us, potentially.... but only if he comes back AND plays better again.

I want 2007 Vernon Carey, or 1st half of 2008 Vernon Carey.

To be fair, a lot of Vernons issues could have been from the unsettled situation at RG... and with Satele struggling at Center more, the RG was busy helping Samson, leaving Vernon on an island with less and unreliable inside help the second half of the year.

 

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnwyQFe3wRA"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnwyQFe3wRA[/ame]

 

Well, Jason's a waste on the strongside, imo. He just doesn;t have the power and he gets pushed around too much. He sure doesn;t stack the point of attack against a double-team. Of course, we are talking about using him exclusively on 3rd downs, I guess. He'd be a liability in the run game, I think.

Yeah, Atogwe is a letter-grade up, certainly, though he only registered around ten more tackles and one more INT than Hill this year (and Hill didn't come into the season as our starter), so not sure how much better he'd be. Maybe $4 mill a year, but not $6 mill a year, imo. hell, even that sounds expensive. lol. But, hey, in the NFL that's a relative bargain.



- Also curious to see if either Olshansky or Canty get interest from us at DE.

 

Classic

 

To be sure he would, no more so than Charlie Anderson though and Joey Porter who he would essentially replace and substitute for respectively.

I still can't see Miami spending heavy money on the secondary. I mean just look where they threw at cash at last off-season. If it costs you 8m to get Terell Suggs and 5-6m to get Atogwe I'll take that ****er Suggs. It's just cost effective improving at the line. If you're not perfect there than I guess the idea is don't go away from improving.

I mean even with WR a major need we went relatively cheapo. Wilford was not a major free agent last year. They just don't really believe that the difference between skill-position players warrants heavy cash. Look at Dallas, Parcells was forced into signing Owens. He probably though Terry Glenn and Crayton were good enough to win it all and he might be right. Look at how many Superbowls the Patriots won with Deion Branch as their best. Ginn Jr. is not far off of that level. The team needs a large #2 and Toomer makes some sense as you've said.

As for safety I'm not sure at this point. It's always possible they sign one but they did zero to improve the secondary last year and truth be told they're not that bad.

 

They are not young either though, wouldnt hurt to bring in someone witha few more years than some of the guys we have now.

As for where they are spending money, they will fix what they feel is broken really. They spent loads on the lines last year. They can either do the same this year and try to finish it off, or they can spend more on positions they skimped upon last FA.

Aside from Asomougha, Dansby and/or Scott should be our main targets. Suggs would be great but doubt the Ravens let him go.

 

well its either him or jordan gross who will get the tag, so it could happen, but i dont want peppers.

give me otogwe, brown and dansby and i´m a happy man

 

S O.J. Atogwe, St. Louis



http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/player_main.aspx?sport=NFL&id=3283

 

Daniels is very tempting but I think Texans tag him, plus I believe this regime is happy with the duo we have.

 

WOW MUCK!!....Thats whats up brother, thats a balls out statement..

 

Is Jordan Gross from Panthers a FA? I think he was tagged for this season.

 

Damn the rams and thinking of using the franchise tag on him.

 

He is a FA, but I don't see us going after him.

 

I'd much rather have Suggs than Atogwe. Not even close. The closer to the LOS any player's position is, imo, the more difference they make on every single play. For example, Suggs would imfluence the run defense AND tyhe pass defense. Atogwe would have little to no effect on our run defense.

The big question, to me, in the secondary is whether they pay to re-up Goodman. He played amazing football for the latter half of the year (as well as any Pro Bowl corner did). Will he be priced above what this front office is willing to pay for a secondary player? I hope not. I want him back.

 

Give me players that can get pressure on the Qb and our Cb's are instantly better.

Haynesworth is one that provides a great push on the inside.

The Strongside is in need of upgrade at Lb as well as FS.

 

There are some good free agents comming up this year they wont be cheap, but a few key pickups would go quite a ways to put this team to the next level. IMO.