NFL Free Agency

[-Jrabbit]

That gives them bargaining power to ask Trent Green to rework his $9MM cap number for 2007 downward.

[-Jrabbit]

With free agency 2 days away, the "cap cuts" have begun in earnest. Per ESPNews, the following players have been waived:

Jamal Lewis, RB (Baltimore)
Eric Moulds, WR (Houston)

[-Jrabbit]

More releases:

Brad Johnson, QB (Minn)
Brian Simmons, LB (Cinci)
Dexter Coakley, LB (StL)
Derrick Blaylock, RB (NYJ)

[Lord Avalon]

Broncos will trade for CB Dre Bly, send RB Tatum Bell, OT George Foster, and pick (5th rd?) to Lions. Not official till Friday.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Wow, the Broncs sure reloaded that secondary after the death of Darrent Williams.

[Lord Avalon]

Steelers cut Joey Porter.
Saints release Joe Horn.
Cowboys cut Drew Bledsoe.

Edit: Chargers sign Lorenzo Neal to 3-yr ext worth $5.1M, making him the highest paid FB in the league.

Jags sign RB Fred Taylor to 3-yr ext http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2784565

[reismark]

*evil laughter*

McCardell among several cut by Chargers

Nice to see traitors finally getting what they deserve.

[Lord Avalon]

Hey, reismark:

Broncos near deal to send Plummmer to Bucs

By Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com

ESPN.com has learned that the Denver Broncos have reached agreement in principle on most of the elements of a trade that will send veteran quarterback Jake Plummer to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Under the terms being discussed, the Broncos would receive a middle-round draft choice, believed to be a fourth-rounder, in exchange for Plummer. The trade could be announced as early as Friday.

Tampa Bay re-signed Chris Simms to a two-year contract earlier this offseason. But with Simms coming off a 2006 season in which he underwent an emergency splenectomy, the Bucs have been shopping for a veteran quarterback to bolster the depth chart.

Veteran backup Tim Rattay became an unrestricted free agent on Friday and was not expected to return to Tampa Bay.

Plummer, 32, lost his starting job in Denver to rookie Jay Cutler late last season and the Broncos have been entertaining trade offers in the offseason. A 10-year veteran, Plummer has started 136 games in stints with Arizona (1997-2002) and Denver (2003-2006). He has completed 2,484 of 4,350 passes for 29,253 yards, with 161 touchdown passes and 161 interceptions, for a passer rating of 74.6.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2785459

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by reismark
*evil laughter*

McCardell among several cut by Chargers

Nice to see traitors finally getting what they deserve.

Yep, like Simeon Rice getting on IR last year . That traitor to the Cards had it coming for a while .

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Lord Avalon
Hey, reismark:


http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2785459

HAW HAW!!

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AjCu40tVG39rIkHGfsFU_4Q5nYcB?slug=jc-plummer030207&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Plummer retires to avoid trade to Tampa Bay

By Jason Cole, Charles Robinson and John Murphy
March 2, 2007
The Bucs want Jake Plummer, but the feeling isn't mutual.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made a deal to acquire the quarterback from Denver on Friday for a fourth-round draft pick in this year's draft.

But according to a league source, Plummer has decided to retire, nullifying the deal that would have sent him to Tampa Bay. Plummer apparently was not interested in joining a team which would not name him to an immediate starting spot, which the Buccaneers refused to do...

[snoopy369]

This way he sticks it to the Broncos as well and avoids them getting a 4th rounder for him

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Lord Avalon
Broncos will trade for CB Dre Bly, send RB Tatum Bell, OT George Foster, and pick (5th rd?) to Lions. Not official till Friday.

This trade makes no sense to me. Is Dre Bly really worth that much ?? Or has Tatum's stock fallen that far...

A young RB that's at least close to being a starter for most teams, an OT that's young and definitely a starter coming from one of the best o-line teaching systems in the game, AND a draft pick, for a CB who's 30 and decent, but not top 5 or anything...

This doesn't even make sense as a salary dump to me ... unless Denver was going to cut Tatum and figured why not add him to a trade or something?

[Lord Avalon]

Apparently Dre Bly didn't fit the Tampa Two system, and Denver needed a CB. Plus with their rushing system, they can plug just about anybody in there and get a 1000 yds out of them. And they do have a history of trading away their RBs. Lions also needed an OT.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by snoopy369
This trade makes no sense to me. Is Dre Bly really worth that much ?? Or has Tatum's stock fallen that far...

A young RB that's at least close to being a starter for most teams, an OT that's young and definitely a starter coming from one of the best o-line teaching systems in the game, AND a draft pick, for a CB who's 30 and decent, but not top 5 or anything...

This doesn't even make sense as a salary dump to me ... unless Denver was going to cut Tatum and figured why not add him to a trade or something?

Bly is considered to be a top tier CB (and would be a great compliment to Bailey). Especially after the death of Williams, the Broncs needed to do something.

As for Tatum Bell, the Broncos philosophy makes a lot of RBs look really good. However, Tatum Bell didn't even win the job clear out. Mike Bell was originally named the starter. It seems to me that the Broncs realized Tatum wasn't as good as his rep may have been and capitalized on it. Though the Lions are going to use him as a backup, which is kind of interesting.

The offensive lineman is coming from one of the best lines in the league, but it is a blocking system that ONLY Denver and Atlanta did last season (and now maybe only Denver after Petrino took over in Atlanta). You don't know how he'll look in a more traditional scheme which looks less at agility and, probably, more at size.

[snoopy369]

Yet it's perhaps the best blocking team in the league.

Interesting.

I suppose this is each team giving up what they saw as something they could afford for something they needed... and certainly the Lions will be worse for this on defense. I'm still confused by the 5th rounder, though. Seems like an unnecessary addition. Makes me think of Madden, and when I do a trade always trying to get extra low draft picks just because the comp undervalues them and has a little leeway available