Free Agents

There really isn't a thread for this so I decided to make one..

Who should we pursue, at what position and why?

I have a question.. What do you guys think if we bring back Brandon Siler as a 3rd ILB?

Not sure about names, but I think we just need to go after guys like we did in 04. Get legitimate starting veterans, they don't need to be stars. But for that to work, we need to get at least 2 players in the draft that make an immediate impact.

I understand that in 04 we had much better draft position, but I think that is the way this offseason should be approached. Make a trade or 2 to get quality starting caliber players (Oben and McCardell in 04), sign a couple solid starting caliber free agents (Goff, Godfrey, Foley in 04), and get a couple impact players in the draft. I think going out and getting the big named free agents is a recipe for failure, as if you look around the league year after year, for every Jered Allen, there is 10 Albert Haynsworth's, and it is extremely difficult to figure out what players will continue playing at a high level and which will just sit back and count their money

While I would love to see us sign Carlos Rodgers, Cliff Avril, or even Mario Williams, I don't think we have much cap room to sign anybody worthwhile. Expect to sign another injury-prone player past his prime.

If we don't re-sign Bob Sanders, I hear LaRon Landry refused to get surgery on his injured achilles, opting to go with the same treatment that didn't work last season... he sounds like the guy for us!

Im going on the assumption that VJ/mcneill/Tolbert are gone (pretty much a foregone conclusion) and gaither/garay are back

Target #1 - Tyvon Branch - SS - Oakland - Personally i think hes right there with Mario williams as the top defensive FAs available and would be the perfect SS to team with weddle, plus it weakens the raiders which is always a plus

#2 - Pierre Garcon - WR - Colts - Hes not a #1 WR but hes still one of the most underrated WRs in the NFL and a hell of a #2 and would give us some speed, something we are severely missing.

#3 - Robert Meachem - WR - Saints - VJ is not going to be replaced by 1 guy so we need to sign 2 guys to fill the void. Meachem actually has #1 potential and has the size and speed that can go a long way to replacing VJ. This would leave us without a #1, but would give us 4 #2s and we can have a packers-esque WR core

#4 - Justin Forsett - RB - Seahawks - Need to replace Sproles (was obvious that rivers/norv need a guy like that for this offense) and i think AJ would rather sign a guy to a small contract that use a fairly high draft pick (3rd/4th) on one

Now i know we wont sign a single one of these guys, but still, fun to hope

Assuming were drafting an OLB, WR, CB, TE, RB, OT, and ILB/S
Assuming we re-sign Gaither, Garay, Gregory, Hardwichk, Harris, Hester, Jackson, McMichael, Mruczkowski, Dombro, Tolbert, Goodman, and Windt
Assuming we cut McNeill, Castillo, Jammer, LaBoy, E. Brown, and Novak

# 1 - FS - Tyvon Branch - IF he hits FA, which will be a tough decision for Oakland cause they also need to retain Michael Bush who's been a valuable back due to the injure prone DMC.. But Branch is a cornerstone player on that defense and they will most likely keep him.. but no doubt we have to go at him if he hits the market

• Richard Marshall played FS and played well there for the Cardinals when Rhodes went down with an injury..
• James Sanders, Chris Harris, and even Bryan Scott are guys I don't mind signing to 1 year deals..

# 2 - DE - Robert Mathis - Another IF, and also if we decide to go another route at the draft I think Mathis would be a reliable pick up

# 3 - Jovan Belcher - ILB - I think it would be great to have run stopping dynamic player.. also you have

• DeAndre Levy, Bradie James, and maybe even Lofa Tatupu

# 4 - Cliff Avril - 3-4 OLB - IF we can afford him I think we should make a run at him as well. This guy is a pass rusher on the rise. Solid in run defense and even dropped back in coverage well. Great awareness and takes the ball away well. Lions will have a tough time locking him up as he doesn't want the tag.. Could also be cheaper than Mario Williams and better reliability

# 5 - Jameel McClain - ILB - I really like this kid. Has that Ravens intensity in him and I wouldn't mind signing him to a 2 year deal.. would be a solid number 3 rotational ILB with Spikes..

# 6 - Kendall Langford - DE - Could be a solid pick up as well at DE if we cut ties with Castillo, which most likely will happen, but will most likely cost more than what we would pay Castillo this year

Maybe, the Raiders won't be able to franchise Tyvon Branch after all......

Raiders have to dump plenty of salary
Posted by Mike Florio on February 28, 2012, 11:28 PM EST

In two weeks, each team must be in compliance with the 2012 salary cap, whatever that number may be. In the offseason, cap compliance is based on the cap numbers of the 51 highest-paid players on the roster.

The Raiders may have to dump more than a few of their top 51 in order to get under the cap.
Based on the “top 51″ report for each team as of February 28, a copy of which PFT has obtained, the Raiders stand at $145.7 million. That’s more than $16 million more than the next team, the Giants.

The full list can be seen here.

If the 2012 cap lands at $120 million and based on the availability of $3.23 million in 2011 cap space that can be carried over, the Raiders still must clear more that $22 million in the next two weeks.

As an added bonus, they don't have a draft pick until the 5th round.

Al sure did put a lasting touch on his way out.

Have to admit, old Al knew how to go out in style.

LOL Raiders

They will always be LOL worthy as long as they aren't winning the SB.

Garay is expected to hit the open market
Posted by Mike Florio on February 29, 2012, 7:43 PM EST

With all the talk about Chargers free-agent-to-be receiver Vincent Jackson, not much attention has been devoted to the team’s other potential free agents.

Among the free agents is defensive lineman Antonio Garay. According to a league source, it’s unlikely that the Chargers and Garay will work out a new contract before March 13. Which means that Garay will hit the open market.

Garay, who entered the league in 2003, joined the Chargers in 2009. A career backup, he became a starter in 2010. Last year, he appeared in 16 games with 13 starts.

He has experience in both a 4-3 and 3-4, but he most recently has played in a 3-4.

Crap!!!......... cross that one off the list.

Tyvon Branch to get the franchise tag
Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on March 1, 2012, 4:58 PM EST

New Raiders G.M. Reggie McKenzie is currently in slash-and-burn mode. But there are some Raiders that he wants to keep.

Jason La Canfora of NFL Network reports that safety Tyvon Branch has been informed he will receive the franchise tag. DeSean Jackson was the first player this year to officially get the tag on Thursday.

We’d argue that Branch is the best player in the Raiders secondary. The franchise number for safeties is relatively reasonable (under $7 million), so the move makes sense. This eliminates any consideration of Michael Bush for the tag.

It raises some question about whether the Raiders will retain safety Michael Huff, who is due to make $8 million in 2012. $4 million is guaranteed for Huff, so we’d guess that the team will keep Huff. (We also would have guessed the team would keep Kamerion Wimbley. And that’s not looking too likely.)

Branch is a ferocious hitter than can cover a lot of ground. Raiders fans don’t seem overly impressed with McKenzie’s moves so far, but we suspect they will like this one. They should.

Also... Raiders will get a few comp picks, but nothing worth writing home about. Absolute soonest they'll pick is the bottom of the 3rd (comp pick for Asomugha). But they'll likely get comp picks for Aso, Miller, and Gallery considering all three got notable contracts and I can't think of a noteworthy qualifying free agent the Raiders brought in, as Al was busy investing ridiculous contracts into the likes of Wimbley, Huff, and Routt.

Report: Saints want to pay Brees like a “very good,” not “great,” QB
Posted by Michael David Smith on March 1, 2012, 7:48 PM EST

If you think Drew Brees is a great quarterback, Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis apparently disagrees with you.

According to a report from Jason Cole of Yahoo Sports, Loomis thinks Brees is very good, but not great. And therefore Loomis thinks Brees’s new contract should be commensurate with what a very good quarterback, but not a great quarterback, gets paid.

Citing three league sources, Cole writes that Loomis made the distinction between Brees being “very good” and “great” in a recent discussion about the status of the soon-to-be free agent quarterback’s contract. When Loomis was asked why it was taking so long for the Saints and Brees to reach an agreement on a long-term contract extension, Loomis described Brees as “very good” when others called called him “great.”

According to the report, Brees and the Saints are about $5 million a year apart on a new contract. Which is apparently the difference between what a great quarterback makes and what a very good quarterback makes.

If they tag him he's gone in less than a 1 week. I'd bet the Chiefs would give up a 1st and a 3rd and pay him 15 mil a year with a smile on their face. They'd be instant Super Bowl contenders.

Ward would be great in this offense! A rivers/wayne tandem trumps rivers/jackson for lesss coin as well. We desperatley need someone to pressure opposing qbs think avirl would be awesome

If Jackson is on the roster Ward is a 4th reciever here at best. And he'll want #2 reciever money, and there is no way in hell I'd pay him that considering all our other issues.

Except that the way the franchise tag works is that if the Saints elected to play hardball, they could force the Chiefs to sign him to that contract and then cough up two 1st round picks as compensation. Would never happen though, Loomis and more importantly the Saints' owner knows that their buy-rates go down the bloody toilet if they let Brees walk in any fashion.


That said, I'm also reading this:

http://eye-on-football.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22475988/35062254

Should be noted too that they both have the same agent - our good friend Tom Condon - so it's entirely possible that Condon's trying to play both sides to set the market for one through the other or vice versa.

Report: Chargers to have $26 million in salary cap space
by Dan McLellan, CBSSports.com

Departing players will adjust the salary cap space for the Chargers to at least $26 million, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. How cap space will be generated: expected release of DE Luis Castillo ($5 million), expected release of CB Dante Hughes ($1 million), expected release of LT Marcus McNeill ($10.5 million) and the retirement of LG Kris Dielman ($5.5 million).

I can see them signing Micheal Bush. But I am sure the Chargers will look at a lot of players as a smoke screen as to whether or not teams want VJ. FA means nothing until a player signs.

Other than Fleener I can think of very few guys off the Stanford squad from last season I'd go out of my way to scout - by that I mean travel. Owusu is worth a look as a late round flier, but ultimately what's going to be a determining factor for him is his ability to pass eval from team doctors regarding the amount of trauma his brain has suffered from multiple concussions. Jonathan Martin... engh... I suppose this may be more of a contingency plan in case Gaither just asks for the moon, but he needs SERIOUS footwork re-tooling if he's ever going to hope to play the left side as a pro and really it needs to be something he addresses anyway. I think there's a darn good reason he didn't run at the combine - he and his agent want to ensure that his shuttle is run on the most comfortable environment possible because it's going to make or break his stock inside the Top 20.

Bama... yeah, this one I get. Due diligence on guys like Upshaw (who should likely shed weight for his pro day to try and get his times down a bit more) and Barron (assuming he's even physically able to workout - I still think he's a mediocre fit for us). One would hope this might be more for the prospects that aren't the "top of the draft" type guys: Chapman, Maze, Menzie...

Try a chunk of salt.

I prefer to take anything from Hacksaw with a full lake of salt:


Better yet... can we just ship Hacksaw to Utah?