Tag Archives: 2010 NFL Free Agency

DE Would Put Big Blue Back On Map

While everyone and their mother has been flapping their lips about which linebacker and/or safety the Giants should add to their roster this spring, the team may be focusing on bringing the best player available to East Rutherford.

That player is free agent DE Julius Peppers.

Sure they need an upgrade at LB and safety, but what they need the most is veteran leadership on the defensive side of the ball.  They need an a**kicker.

Peppers is that guy.  He would restore immediate legitimacy to a badly wounded unit and is a considerable upgrade over Osi Umenyiora, who has basically talked his way out of New York and will most likely be traded.

By bringing in Peppers, the Giants starting DL would be: a healthy Justin Tuck, Chris Canty and Barry Cofield and….Peppers.  Behind them are: Jay Alford and Rocky Bernard in the middle and Mathias Kiwanuka and Dave Tollefson on the ends.  Not too shabby……

Umenyiora could be traded for a second rounder or a package of picks.  Those extra picks will allow the Giants to vie for a restricted free agent or two, a practice they would normally stay away from.

Some interesting players have been tendered at that second round level.  It makes no sense to get into the players in that group until Friday, because there is still time to avoid an uncapped season.  If no CBA agreement is struck by Friday, 212 players that would have been UFAs become RFAs.

They may also opt to keep the picks and bring in young talent.  The upcoming draft is deep and extra third and fourth round picks could reap some diamonds in the rough.

The Giants are expected to take a run at free-agent LB Karlos Dansby.  I believe that will happen.  I also believe that they will inquire about veteran safeties Antrel Rolle and Darren Sharper.

But it is the addition of Peppers that would be the first big step in retooling the defense.  Get him and the latitude to improve at the other positions expands.

The other wrinkle to signing Peppers would be to keep him out of Philadelphia, which is reportedly on the five-time Pro-Bowler’s short list of desired destinations.

Tagged 2010 NFL Free Agency |

The Giants have 11 restricted free agents this off-season and yesterday they revealed details on tender offers made to four of those players.

DT Barry Cofield received a second-round tender with a one-year salary of approximately $1.76 million.

DE Dave Tollefson was tendered at the same level but for $1.68 million.

OL Guy Whimper received an original-round tender (4th round) at a rate of $1.17 million as did former 3rd-rounder LB Gerris Wilkinson.

Thus far there have been no updates of any tenders being offered to any of the other seven RFAs.

Tagged 2010 NFL Free Agency |

Tenderness on the Block

In the Twiiterverse today there have been several tweets regarding players the Giants may offer tenders to.

Ralph Vacchiano premised the topic by stating that the Giants could offer tenders to all of their free agents risk-free.  The offers are not guaranteed should no other team claim them.  The Giants have to option to keep them or release them at any time.

Ernie Palladino has reported that Dave Tollefson will be tendered, but has no further information.

Tomorrow is the first deadline of the free-agent season.  Teams must announce all players they wish to place a tag on – both franchise and transition.

The free agent period begins a week from Friday. Last year the Giants broke fast by signing Michael Boley, Chris Canty and Rocky Bernard in the first 72 hours.  Will they be be as aggressive this year?  They’d like to be, but with RFAs, the process could take a few weeks.

Adam Schefter of ESPN reports “Dunta Robinson and Leigh Bodden are expected to be the most heavily pursued free-agent CBs”.  Whether or not the Giants have any interest in these players remains to be seen. They seem to be fairly deep at CB right now.

Tagged 2010 NFL Free Agency |

Each year before the free agency period begins in the NFL, teams are compelled to designate either a “franchise” or “transition” tag on a free agent they wish to keep for one more season.

This process is usually a simple one because by tagging a player, you agree to pay him a salary competitive to the top five or ten players in the NFL at his position.

If you don’t think he’s worth that, you take other measures. For an unrestricted free agent (UFA) you simply let him test the waters. For a restricted free agent (RFA), you slot him with the appropriate tender offer.

The Giants are looking at possibly doing the latter with all of their free agents.

On the UFA front, they can’t possibly be considering placing a tag on any of these players: Danny Clark, Fred Robbins, Jeff Feagles or David Carr.

Clark would cost $8.3 million to transition and $9.8 million to franchise. Carr would cost either $14 or $16 million; Robbins would cost around $6 or $7 million and Feagles at least $2.6 million. No way any of these guys get tagged.

From the list of RFAs, only Barry Cofield is a starter. The Giants must decide whether they think Cofield is worth a tag. By franchising him, they will agree to pay Cofield $7 million for 2010, which will be in the top five salaries of NFL defensive lineman.

He’s not worth that, nor is he worth the $6.3 million transition tag. The Giants will probably tender Cofield out at the going rate of players with four accrued seasons:

Right of First Refusal — $1,176,000

Right of First Refusal + Pick in player’s original draft round — $1,176,000*

Right of First Refusal + Second-Round Draft Pick — $1,759,000*

Right of First Refusal + First-Round Draft Pick — $2,521,000*

Right of First Refusal + First- AND Third-Round Draft Picks — $3,168,000*

*or 110% of player’s 2009 Paragraph 5 Salary, whichever is greater

It is my guess that they will not tender him out at the highest level, but probably in the middle somewhere where they can get decent compensation for him if he is snatched away by another team.

The Giants did a great job by not leaving any participles dangling for the uncapped season. All of their UFAs could walk and not be missed (Feagles will be missed, but he may retire anyway).

Their RFAs (Cofield, Sinorice Moss, Chase Blackburn, CC Brown, Kevin Boothe, Kevin Dockery, Domenik Hixon, Dave Tollefson, Darcy Johnson, Derek Hagen, Guy Whimper and Gerris Wilkinson) could likely be tendered or re-signed at a lower salary should teams show no interest. Most of these players are considered expendable, anyway.

The Giants may have three Exclusive rights free agents as well: Scott Chandler, DJ Ware and DJ Johnson. “ERFAs” are players that have no more than two accrued seasons in the NFL and may only sign with his prior team granted that the team extends a minimum qualifying offer to the player.

This off-season will present great challenges for the Giants, but one challenge will not be the one many other teams will be experiencing: struggling to retain their own players.

Jerry Reese has all of the main pieces locked up. Now what he needs to do is get some more main pieces. The money is there…..

Tagged 2010 NFL Free Agency |

• Feb. 25 – Deadline for clubs to designate franchise and transition players.
• March 4 — Deadline for submission of qualifying offers by clubs to their restricted free agents whose contracts have expired and to whom they desire to retain a right of first refusal/compensation.
• March 4 — Deadline for clubs to submit offer of minimum salary to retain exclusive negotiating rights to their players with fewer than three seasons of free agency credit whose contracts have expired.
• March 5 – Start of capped or uncapped 2010 NFL season.
• March 5 — Free agency begins.
• March 5 — Trading period begins.
• April 15 — Deadline for signing of Offer Sheets of Restricted Free Agents.
• April 21 — Deadline for old club to exercise right of first refusal to restricted free agents.
• June 1 — Deadline for old clubs to send tender to unsigned unrestricted free agents to receive exclusive negotiating rights for rest of season if player is not signed by another club by July 22.
• June 1 — Deadline for old clubs to send tender to unsigned restricted free agents or to extend qualifying offer to retain exclusive negotiating rights.
• June 15 — Deadline for old clubs to withdraw original qualifying offer to unsigned restricted free agents and still retain exclusive negotiating rights by substituting tender of 110 percent of previous year’s salary.

Tagged 2010 NFL Free Agency |

Below is a breakdown of the tender offers, listed by number of accrued seasons, for Restricted Free Agents in 2010.

As per NFLLabor.com…….

Player with THREE Accrued Seasons

Right of First Refusal — $1,101,000
Right of First Refusal + Pick in player’s original draft round — $1,101,000*
Right of First Refusal + Second-Round Draft Pick — $1,684,000*
Right of First Refusal + First-Round Draft Pick — $2,396,000*
Right of First Refusal + First- AND Third-Round Draft Picks — $3,043,000*

*or 110% of player’s 2009 Paragraph 5 Salary, whichever is greater

Player with FOUR Accrued Seasons

Right of First Refusal — $1,176,000
Right of First Refusal + Pick in player’s original draft round — $1,176,000*
Right of First Refusal + Second-Round Draft Pick — $1,759,000*
Right of First Refusal + First-Round Draft Pick — $2,521,000*
Right of First Refusal + First- AND Third-Round Draft Picks — $3,168,000*

*or 110% of player’s 2009 Paragraph 5 Salary, whichever is greater

Player with FIVE Accrued Seasons

Right of First Refusal — $1,226,000
Right of First Refusal + Pick in player’s original draft round — $1,226,000*
Right of First Refusal + Second-Round Draft Pick — $1,809,000*
Right of First Refusal + First-Round Draft Pick — $2,621,000*
Right of First Refusal + First- AND Third-Round Draft Picks — $3,268,000*

*or 110% of player’s 2009 Paragraph 5 Salary, whichever is greaterRFA

Tagged 2010 NFL Free Agency |

Giants on Dansby’s Wish List

Free-Agent LB Karlos Dansby (nee Arizona Cardinals) has whittled his destination wish list down to four teams: Miami, San Diego, Washington and the Giants.  In many experts’ opinion, the Giants stand a good chance of landing Dansby.

Washington will assuredly load up an offer with a heavy bonus attached should they be serious in pursuing Dansby. But everyone knows the Redskins need to concentrate on offense and they will most likely put their chips into improving on that side of the ball.

San Diego could sweep in, but their defensive needs are more urgent on the line and in the secondary.  Miami, who may be clearing out the middle of their defense (Joey Porter)  in preparation for a run at Dansby, could be the Giants’ main competition here.

Staying or Going…?

RFAs: Chase Blackburn, LB; Kevin Boothe, G; C.C. Brown, S; Barry Cofield, DT; Kevin Dockery, CB; Derek Hagan, WR; Sinorice Moss, WR; Guy Whimper, T; Gerris Wilkinson, LB; Domenik Hixon, WR; DJ Ware, RB; Dave Tollefson, DE; TE Darcy Johnson.

Of this group, the Giants have to decide who they will tender and who they will release.  If a player is offered a tender, he gets a one-year-deal at the market price at that tender level.

Blackburn, Cofield, Boothe, Dockery, Hixon and Hagen will all likely be tendered while the others may just be released.  C.C. Brown has become the poster child for the secondary’s failures. Whimper and Wilkinson may have finally run out of chances.  Moss most certainly will not be tendered.  Tollefson, Ware and Johnsons’ futures are all still uncertain.

The Giants are still hopeful that Rocky Bernard, Chris Canty and Jay Alford have something to give them, so Cofield could be a casualty here as well, but I doubt it.

UFAs:  QB David Carr, LB Danny Clark, P Jeff Feagles and DT Fred Robbins

Carr may be offered a contract by the Giants, but in all likelihood, he’ll look for destination where he could possibly start. Clark will only be re-signed if the Giants crap out in their LB search.  I don’t see either Feagles or Robbins returning.

…..but…Feagles has been talking up one final year. The Giants were concerned with his distance punting the second half of the season.  Currently, they do not have an immediate backup in place at punter, so this decision still looms…

Others

T Kareem McKenzie may end up being cut due to his high price and the emergence of Will Beatty.

Tagged 2010 NFL Free Agency |

What do the Giants need this off-season? They need to add as many useful players as possible without losing any key players or draft choices in the process.

With that in mind, the suddenly over-saturated restricted free agent list is probably not where they’ll be looking to add from. Signing one of these players would mean surrendering valuable draft choices, a practice this franchise does not usually partake in.

Here are the top-rated unrestricted free agent safeties, linebackers, offensive lineman and running backs that will be available March 5th:

Safeties

The Giants will probably add one through the draft, but they will take a look at veterans such as Tampa Bay’s Jermaine Phillips and Will Allen.  Along with 13-year vet Darren Sharper, one of these may be worth a flier.

Phillips, an 8-year man out of Georgia, spent the majority of 2009 on IR with broken thumb.  He may come cheap.  Allen also finished 2009 on IR, was a Pro Bowl first alternate after the 2008 season. The former Ohio State Buckeye is also a valuable asset on special teams.

The only other UFA safety I would recommend is a former Giant – Pittsburgh’s Ryan Clark. I know, this is not much to deal with, but the alternatives are just downright scary….

Linebacker

In the middle you could grab Gary Brackett or Larry Foote if you like.  Both are still pretty good players, but do they have more upside than Jonathan Goff? Hmmmm.

On the outside, there are some interesting names, but outside of Karlos Dansby are any worth bringing in?  Keith Bulluck, Tully Banta-Cain, Scott Fujita and Paris Lenon are not players that are going to help sell those empty club-level seats.

Offensive Line

At tackle, its unlikely you’re going to find one worth signing under the uncapped rules.  Any OT worth his salt will be tagged.  The top three remaining are Chad Clifton, Mike Gandy and Tony Pashos. Good luck.

On the inside, there are very few attractive names as well: Chester Pitts, Bobbie Williams and Stephen Neal. All of these players have been in the league a decade or close to it.

Center is where I worry.  Shaun O’Hara will be 33 this season and is the only pure center on the roster. The team needs to start thinking about finding an heir.  Adam Koets has been kept on the roster for three years and is said to be a possibility, but the Giants may look for a proven veteran.

Of the UFA candidates there is little to get excited about after 16-year vet Kevin Mawae.

Running Back

Every Giant running back was injured in 2009.  Brandon Jacobs banged up his knee in Week 1 and never got going. Danny “DJ” Ware was supposed to fill the void left by Derrick Ward, but he was banged up and also never got going.

Ahmad Bradshaw‘s feet and ankles troubled him all season and Andre Brown blew out his Achilles in training camp.  Gartrell Johnson, signed off the Chargers’ practice squad, was never integrated into the offense.

If all of these players make it back for training camp this season, the Giants may not need help at RB, but, they may decide otherwise in the interim.  The UFAs that caught my eye are Willie Parker and Chester Taylor. Both could help this team if healthy.

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