I had never seen anything on it prior to the draft in the local media, especially Joe Reedy, which are usually pretty on top of all things Bengals, and Marvin Lewis is a lot more forthcoming than anyone in the Davie building will ever be. That's why I asked Boik, but from everything I had heard they were all-in with Cedric Benson. I do know they were high on Cedric Peerman, who was a practice squad/game day inactive for them last year, and they usually carry fewer backs than most teams do as is, so who knows. I just know Daniel Thomas wasn't mentioned prior to the draft.
I think Sproles is the target. I could see him playing a COP role in Daboll's offense where he gets 5-8 carries and 5-8 receptions per game. And you get to add his return skills as well. I like Williams and Bradshaw, but I don't know how anyone can not see them as injury risks. Personally, the injury risk puts me off enough that I would take Sproles over those two even though they have better feature back potential. I might even bring back Brown at what I expect to be a much cheaper contract over those two. I might have them as better than Brown at this point, but among injury risk types of relatively comparable talent I tend to favor the one with the cheapest contract.
I'll certainly acknowledge Williams and Bradshaw both carry more injury risks than Darren Sproles. But I think they're both also much better running backs than Sproles is. That said, I'd be okay with any of the 3, though I want Bradshaw more than the other two. So long as we don't have Daniel Thomas and Ronnie Brown or Daniel Thomas and Ricky Williams I'll be happy.
His durability just seperates him from Williams or Bradshaw, both of whom are tendered FA which means they need to have a deal cut in FA to even make it to the FA market, which I suspect won't happen. Meanwhile Sproles just cranks out 2,000 yd seasons yr after yr, with typically a good YPC avg in limited touches, he would be like adding Leon Washington.
Smith is under contract for 3 more years. Davis is under contract for 4 more years. As you say, Big Jake is not going to make much of a difference. I have Soliai at $12M, a long term deal is around half of that. That leaves Langford and Wake. Both are due BIG raises, and well worth them. In addition to what we now have, Merling-$1M, Langford-$1M, Berger-$1.5M, W Allen-$1.5M, and Crowder-$2.5M come off the books next year. Then there is Starks-$4M, Bell-$5.8M expiring after 2012, and Carey-$5M signed through 2014. Carey, and maybe Bell, will be gone before their contracts end giving a potential $9M cap savings. Still in VG shape. Now look at the players leaving likely next year. Merling but we have Odrick, Berger but we have Pouncey, W Allen but we have Carroll, Crowder but we have Edds, Bell but we have Jones and Amaya. Again just leaving Wake and Langford, and again in VG shape. Our FO and coaches have set up a player rotation of youth, guys coming into or being in their prime, with a sprinkling of vets, which allowing us to go out with the old and in with the new while having the money to fill needs. In this regard, I have been very impressed.
I like Sproles as well but wonder the cost. He got $6.6M last year as a franchise guy. How much is he worth? I'm also looking to the Saints and hoping Pierre Thomas or Chris Ivory may be available. Ivory(23) will be a third year player who ran 137 times for 716 yards, a 5.2 avg, and 5 TDs last season but only caught 1 pass. Thomas (26) was injured, only playing in 6 games, last year, 83 for 269 and 29 catches for 201. In 09, 147 for 795, 5.4 avg, 6 TDs, and 39 catches for 302, 7.7 avg, 2 TDs. In 08, 129 for 625, 4.8 avg, 9 TDs, and 31 catches for 284, 9.2 avg, and 3 TDs. His speed is average. The Saints signed Thomas to a strange 4 year deal this year before the draft. There was no signing bonus, a first year guaranteed $640K, and a $2.7M roster bonus. If traded or cut, he costs them little, and they did draft Ingram. The rest of his contract is 2.6, 2.5, and 2.6. He can also return KOs, averaged 22-23 yards. Either one would be a very nice fit with Thomas and Sproles, or without him, without costing a lot.
I think the one thing that you haven't accounted for is how much other teams will have...if, as we all suspect, the sal. cap goes up, as you say, to $150M, everyone else will have money to spend as well. Naturally, some will be tighter than others, but the bottom line is that even if we have the extra bucks to spend, other teams will as well and as you pointed out already...will there be any players to pay that money too....
According to pro football reference, Bradshaw played in 16 games with 11 starts in 2010. http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/B/BradAh00.htm
4 yrs and 500 carries, how many times was he active but unavailable? How many foot and ankle operations? http://www.nj.com/giants/index.ssf/2010/04/ahmad_bradshaw_running_again_a.html
In 2010, he played in every game and only 4 games was he less than 15 carries. http://www.nfl.com/players/ahmadbradshaw/gamelogs?id=BRA254359
