Jake Long... His salary would actually go down Seriously though. As of now, no one. Who on this team is worth a top 5 salary? EDIT: I'm referring to the whole team. I'm thinking this question was not speaking specifically about our FA.
i guess yeremiah, maybe he can prove us he can stay healthy with another year, before we sign him to a multi-year deal. could be a smart move. a little overpriced though
If anyone amongst the pending UFAs, I would say Carey. Although after having one bad game against the Ravens, he is on the bad list for most of the posters here. People have a tendency to have short term memories and not look at the entire season. My rationale is in reality he is a better RT than we will find in free agency and to lose him just means one more position we need to address. I believe continuity is needed more on the OL than any other area on the team. We also have a very good fall back option at LT, if horror of horrors, Jake was out for any stretch of games. We were 9th in the league in yards per carry running behind RT and 3rd on right end runs. A lot of that success was due to Carey. BTW, we were 19th on left end runs and 20th behind left tackle. Our best success rushing was when following Carey. Our guard positions are unsettled when we have both starters coming off injuries and many believe on center isn't strong enough to be ideal on a Parcells/Sparano type of OL. IMO...letting Carey go would be a mistake.
yep..........and Tony even said he was are best run blocker. That's what makes this year so interesting cuzz we have like 6 guys that are FA that are going to be the the best or second best or three best at there position, but we do have the money to get them all back.If we want to. The smart thing to do is to bring most of them back and we all know Bill isn't a dum dum.
Outside of Jake Long and Will Allen, I really don't think you can make a legitimate case for anyone else on this team.
I'll throw a dark horse in there - just for fun. Andre Goodman. His play this year was similar to the year before his shoulder injury; where he showed the ability to play very well. What would our secondary have been without him opposite Will Allen?
Totally agree with this one. Is Carey worth being paid as one of the top 5 tackles in football? No, but on a one year deal with no huge signing bonus, is probably something manageable under the cap. As you state, makes for one less position the Dolphins have to address and more continuity is established along the line. Although I would be willing to use the franchise tag, I hope they can get a reasonable long-term deal done with Carey.
Frankly no one. I think we could let most of our FAs go and replace them with equal or better talent in the draft or free agency at a lower price than would be required to franchise them. I DO want to resign some of them, but not at franchise player prices.
If anyone; maybe Carey. Because he is a past first rounder, that has value, I would hate to just see him get to walk for nothing. He does have that value because he can and does play both sides in the tackle position. As for the rest; no way!
Gotta go with Mr. Clean on this one ... if I were pressed into making a decision on who to franchise, it would have to be Carey, if only by the process of elimination. Channing Crowder, I think, gets a pretty bad rap here. He's a young playmaker, only 26, and plays in a scheme that benefits him. His detractors will point out that he rarely causes fumbles and doesn't make a lot of stops behind the line of scrimmage. Still, the man is a tackling machine, but that alone doesn't make him worth the franchise tag. Yeremiah Bell is on the other side of the spectrum, I guy I think gets by too much on reputation. Sure, Bell led the team in tackles this year, but what does that say when a guy from the secondary is first on the team in tackles? Yeremiah is a thumper, but he can't hang onto an interception to save his life, and he's only completed one full season - this one. Bell is also a little old for this - he's already 30. The franchise tag doesn't make a lot of sense for a guy that's battled so many injuries. Andre Goodman has only had one half of a good year. Way too inconsistent to consider paying top 5 cornerback money to, especially since he has been a journeyman at best. Goodman is also 30 years old, which makes him too old for the franchise option, at least in my opinion. No, if I'm picking one player that I have to franchise, it's got to be Vernon Carey. He's been our best and most consistent lineman the franchise has had, at least up until we drafted Jake Long. Why not bookend him with Big Jake, and call the tackle position settled for the next 3 to 5 years? He's only 27, and has a proven track record, even starting at LT for us last year, though his play dropped a little bit this year at RT. Carey provides us with stability and continuity along the offensive line, and with Marc Colombo (thankfully) off the market, I don't see anyone else out there that can give us the kind of production we've come to expect from him year in and year out. If you draft someone, sure that's an option, but why squander a draft pick when you have a proven commodity on the team already? No ... it makes a lot of sense to do what it takes to make sure Carey is starting at RT next year.
Franchise Carey if you get a contract on Bell, otherwise Yeremiah. He's a hellavu playmaker and someone we need to keep! Even Rodney Harrison said the other day that he's a Pro-Bowl caliber player! And if we didn't keep him NE would probably try to sign him...
Do you think this is because Long isn't as good a run blocker as we all thought he would be or due to the attrocious play at left guard?
Smiley did a good job this year. You only have to look at the differences between when he was in and when he was out to notice. I don't think the other guys played like complete crap but there was a difference. Also, I'd be curious to know the amount of runs where jake was on the right side due to his positioning in the wildcat vs. where he normally is at LT.
I'd renegotiate with Ernest Wilford for a contract that expires tomorrow. Then I'd franchise him, giving him even more money. My logic. If $7 million only buys 3 catches, we obviously need to give him more money.
That wasn't the question, or at least that wasn't my understanding of the question. It was which one player would you keep if you could only keep one. I say Jake Long because of his playing position, skill, and youth.
If you put it on anyone you're best off putting it on Bell. Not sure if he's top 5 material, but Safeties tend not to get blockbuster deals like CBs, DEs, or LBs. I know Reed and Polamalu have moster deals, but I think there's a sizable dropoff after that. Also is it split up into FS and SS or is it just S?
The original question was, who would you franchise? It had no mention of when. I'm assuming that Two Tacos is saying that he would franchise Jake Long when his contract ran up.
