Free Agency/Draft thoughts 3/3

[BigPete]

Here are my current draft/free agent thoughts (03/03/2006)

 

 

let me know what you think

 

 

Currently we are around $7.9 mil under the 2006 salary cap number.

 

 

Free Agency

 

Release

 

Shaun Williams.

 

That will give us around $9.4 mil in 2006 cap space for free agency and signing rookies

 

 

Resign

 

WR David Tyree (RFA)

TE Visanthe Shiancoe (RFA)

TE Sean Berton

QB Tim Hassleback

DT Kendrick Allen

RB Chad Morton

 

CB Will Allen (Giants) (2006 cap number around $1.3 mil)

 

With the amount of quality CBs in the draft and the increasing number of quality free agent CBs, Will Allen will not get the level of contract he desires. Allen resigns with the Giants for a decent contract.

 

Sign

 

 

DT Kevin Carter (Dolphins) 32 - 6-6 305 (2006 cap number around $1.3 mil)

 

Carter is a quality dispruptive DT with 92.0 career sacks. He can also play DE if needed, but has played the last few season primarily at DT. Playing beside Strahan and Umenyiora on a legitimate playoff contender will be very attractive.

 

 

QB Jeff Garcia (Lions) (2006 cap number around $1.1 mil)

 

With alot of good QBs available in free agency and a strong rookie class will limit opportunities fro Garcia. Garcia gives us a former probowl QB, who can do the job if needed. His experience will help Eli's development and Garcia would be content with his role as a backup. The Giants give Garcia a chance to play for a legitimate playoff contender.

 

 

LB Derrick Brooks (Buccaneers) 32 - 6'0" 235 (2006 cap number around $1.3 million)

 

Brooks is a quality WLB. Brooks would be a huge upgrade out our LB corp. The Giants give Brooks the chance to play for a legitimate playoff contender.

 

 

Thoughts

 

With the CBA problems forcing teams to shed alot of veterans, the giants can get quality players cheaply.

 

 

That will leave us around $4.40 mil to sign rookies and leave as a reserve

 

 

Draft

 

Giants trade our 2007 1st to Denver for #29

 

thoughts about trade

 

EA is not afraid to be very aggressive on draft day, he does go after players he wants.

 

Denver does not have the cap room for two first round picks.

 

We would likely have drafted a LT in the first round 2007 anyway.

 

With Eric Winston on the board at #29, EA makes the move.

 

 

 

#25 LB Manny Lawson, North Carolina State, 6'5", 241 lbs, 4.43 40 time

 

An extremely fast, athletic, WLB prospect. Lawson is an awesome pass rusher, very good open field tackler and has all the tools to develop good coverage skills. Lawson will take some time to develop, but does have some experience at OLB. Lawson will slip due the the extreme depth of top talent available in the first round and at LB this year. A quality WLB to develop behind Derrick Brooks.

 

 

#29 OT Eric Winston, Miami (FL), 6'7", 310 lbs, 4.94 40 time

 

A quality, athletic OT to develop behind Luke Petitgout. Winston slips due to the amount of quality in this draft (inlcuding the OT class), and the fact he is coming back from injury.

 

 

#56 S Jason Allen, Tennessee, 6'1", 209 lbs, 4.39 40 time

 

A quality, athletic, ballhawk safety with great speed, instincts and is a very good tackler. Allen could also play CB. Allen will slip because the safety and CB classes are both very deep with top talent, and the fact he is coming back from injury. An immediate huge upgrade for our secondary.

 

 

#87 CB Will Blackmon, Boston College, 6'0", 198 lbs, 4.46 40 time

 

An athletic, physical, ball hawk with good speed. Blackmon is very raw, he is a development CB prospect but has the physical tools to be a top NFL CB. Blackmon is a quality punt and kick returner. Blackmon would be a huge boost to our special teams. Blackmon will slip do to the number of top junior CBs in the draft.

 

 

#123 WR Brandon Marshall, Central Florida, 6'4", 229 lbs, 4.55 40 time

 

A talented small school WR with great size, good hands and decent speed. Marshall gives us a quality WR to develop for the future and adds competition behind our starters.

 

 

#153 LB Tim McGarigle, Northwestern, 6'1", 242 lbs, 4.73 40 time

 

A talented small school LB with good mobility, instincts and tackles well. McGarigle upgrades our LB depth and improves our special teams.

 

 

#184 CB David Pittman, Northwestern St. 5'11", 182 lbs, 4.44 40 time

 

A talented small school CB with good speed and great athleticism. Pittman slips due to the extreme talent available at DB in this draft.

 

 

#215 OC Pat Ross, Boston College, 6'4", 301 lbs, 4.96 40 time

 

Some quality depth for our interior offensive line

 

 

 

 

My Giants Roster (03/03/2006) would be something like

 

Offense

 

QB: Eli Manning, Jeff Garcia, Tim Hassleback

 

RB: Tiki Barber, Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward, Chad Morton

 

FB: Jim Finn

 

WR: Plaxico Burress, Amani Toomer, Jamaar Taylor, Brandon Marshall*, David Tyree

 

TE: Jeremy Shockey, Visanthe Shiancoe, Sean Berton

 

OT: Kareem McKenzie, Luke Petitgout, Eric Winston*

 

OG: Chris Snee, David Diehl, Rich Seubert

 

OC: Shaun O'Hara, Patrick Ross*

 

 

Defense

 

DT: William Jospeh, Kevin Carter, Fred Robbins, Kendrick Allen

 

DE: Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck, Eric Moore

 

LB: Carlos Emmons, Antonio Pierce, Derrick Brooks, Reggie Torbor, Manny Lawson*, Tim McGarigle*, Chase Blackburn

 

CB: Will Allen, Will Peterson, Corey Webster, Will Blackmon*, Curtis Deloatch, David Pittman*

 

S: Jason Allen*, Gibril Wilson, James Butler

 

 

Special Teams

 

K: Jay Feeley

 

P: Jeff Feagles

 

LS: Ryan Kuehl

 

 

* rookie

[parlintm]

While there will be some discounts on FA's this offseaon, the salary projetions you have are a bit ridiculous.

 

Kevin Carter: Was making 6 Million this year. Very good player who will cost much more than 1 something this year.

 

Derrick Brooks: Base Salary of about 5 Million. Huge Salary bonus. There is NO CHANCE that he will be signed for less than 2 million. If a team like the vikings hears a player of derrick brooks' caliber is available for 3 million, they will take some of their huge cap space him and outbid us.

 

So we won't be able to get either of those guys.

 

Also, I believe Jason Allen will be gone by the early 2nd round.

 

I do like your idea of trading next year pick to Denver. Although, if these negotiations fall through (which you're basing the assessment on), next years draft will be more like free agency so I dont think Denver will trade the pick away. Signing a rookie this year for a rookie salary is great value for them.

[Money]

A couple things Pete.

 

First, I'm not sure where you came up with the Giants having $7.9 million in cap space ... most reports (Giants beat writers, John Clayton) place the Giants at almost $6 million in cap space.

 

Secondly, it was reported last week that Shaun Williams is actually UFA, contrary to the information on NFLPA.org. Thus, cutting him and opening up cap room is not an option. His departure from the team is factored into the recent calculations of the Giants cap space.

 

Last, is Brooks getting cut inevitable? I would think that he and the Bucs would find a way to keep him in Tampa. I will say that I saw him buddying up with Strahan and Osi quite a bit during the Pro Bowl, so if he did get cut I think we'd have a shot at him.

 

I don't think the Denver trade would be a wise decision. The Giants could easily get a top 20 pick next year, thus making the trade look like poor value. I hope they protect future picks and maybe even trade down.

 

Otherwise, good stuff. I think I'd prefer Glover or Pryce to Carter, but that's splitting hairs. And I think a draft that nets Lawson and Allen (as well as underrated guys like Blackmon and Pittman), both of whom I really like, would improve the talent on our defense drastically.

[parlintm]

I'm a huge manny fan too. Is 25 too high though? Is he better than simms, dqwell and howard?

 

Other than that, great draft ideas.

[BigPete]

These are just thoughts, I admit some are a little agressive, but thats ok

 

I don't expect people to agree with them

 

 

and they are probably not likely

 

but they are possible

 

A couple things Pete.

 

First, I'm not sure where you came up with the Giants having $7.9 million in cap space ... most reports (Giants beat writers, John Clayton) place the Giants at almost $6 million in cap space.

 

I used the figures off espn's site, saying we had $3.3 mil, and their article with the possible cuts and cap savings

 

 

Secondly, it was reported last week that Shaun Williams is actually UFA, contrary to the information on NFLPA.org. Thus, cutting him and opening up cap room is not an option. His departure from the team is factored into the recent calculations of the Giants cap space.

 

I am not sure about that report, in any case I used the info fron espn's possible cap casualties

 

Last, is Brooks getting cut inevitable? I would think that he and the Bucs would find a way to keep him in Tampa. I will say that I saw him buddying up with Strahan and Osi quite a bit during the Pro Bowl, so if he did get cut I think we'd have a shot at him.

 

I think his huge cap number makes it very likely.

 

Derrick Brooks has a reported $11,657,083 cap number for 2006 and the bucs save $5,499,998 if they release him

 

from reports Tampa Bay are $8.7 mil over the cap

 

I don't think the Denver trade would be a wise decision. The Giants could easily get a top 20 pick next year, thus making the trade look like poor value. I hope they protect future picks and maybe even trade down.

 

I was thinking about that, it is EA's final season, he is know for aggressive draft moves.

 

We do need a LT either this year or next (most likely the first round) and Winston has the tools to be a genuine stud LT.

 

I also don't think there will be anywhere near the same level of talent in next year's draft, especially at OT

 

We are likely to have a high draft pick again next year in any case.

 

Is it poor value if you have an LT with one year of development who talent wise is as good or better than the top OT prospects next year?

 

In any case, it is just an idea

 

Otherwise, good stuff. I think I'd prefer Glover or Pryce to Carter, but that's splitting hairs. And I think a draft that nets Lawson and Allen (as well as underrated guys like Blackmon and Pittman), both of whom I really like, would improve the talent on our defense drastically.

 

I thought about Glover and Pryce, in the end I went with Carter, he is a little bigger, has been a little healthier and has 92.0 career sacks (including 6 in each of his last two seasons)

[gmenroc]

Nicely thought through. Not sure that all those players will get to us in the draft, but I haven't looked into it too much. Just becoming familiar with some of the names at this point. Researching who we might draft is a little pointless in my opinion because the draft strategy could change big time depending upon what we do in free agency. And what we do in free agency is highly dependent upon what happens with this collective bargaining agreement.

 

The only glaring problem I saw was the draft pick trade with Denver. If I'm Denver and I can't afford 2 first round picks, I'm packaging the two of them together and moving up in the first round of the draft, not just picking up an additional pick next year. So that logic is a little off...to me anyways. Furthermore, we'd have to throw in more than just our 1st rounder next year to get the value from both sides remotely close to equal. No way that 1 first rounder this year is equal to 1 first rounder next year.

 

But other than that, as long as we shore up the LBers and Secondary in the offseason, I'll be happy.

[Pizan]

I dont like the idea of trading next years first for a couple big reasons.

 

1. If Tiki goes down with an injury we screw our self out of a top ten pick.

 

2. Just looking back at the Eli trade and with the understanding that it was possible for us to end up with a player like Merriman, makes it very hard to swallow. I will never want us to trade away future picks again mainly because you are putting way too much stock into one player. And that was for the first overall pick we traded for. You are talking about trading a future 1st for a guy that is coming back from a major knee injury. It wasnt any major knee injury either, it was a torn ACL in his left knee were all his weight is placed majority of the time while playing LT. To much of a risk IMO.

 

If Winston slips it has nothing to do with the quality in this draft. Its all about that left knee and if he can continue playing LT in the pros. I also understand it takes 2 years to recover from that injury thats why im not bringing up how he played this past season. If you watched some of those Miami games he was far from the player he was before the injury.

 

Personally I think he'll start his career as a RT in the pros and eventually make the switch to LT. I would not trade for him.

 

 

 

*also that 29th pick might end up going to the Jets for Abraham.

[gateb]

I dont like the idea of trading next years first for a couple big reasons.

 

1. If Tiki goes down with an injury we screw our self out of a top ten pick.

 

2. Just looking back at the Eli trade and with the understanding that it was possible for us to end up with a player like Merriman, makes it very hard to swallow. I will never want us to trade away future picks again mainly because you are putting way too much stock into one player. And that was for the first overall pick we traded for. You are talking about trading a future 1st for a guy that is coming back from a major knee injury. It wasnt any major knee injury either, it was a torn ACL in his left knee were all his weight is placed majority of the time while playing LT. To much of a risk IMO.

 

If Winston slips it has nothing to do with the quality in this draft. Its all about that left knee and if he can continue playing LT in the pros. I also understand it takes 2 years to recover from that injury thats why im not bringing up how he played this past season. If you watched some of those Miami games he was far from the player he was before the injury.

 

Personally I think he'll start his career as a RT in the pros and eventually make the switch to LT. I would not trade for him.

*also that 29th pick might end up going to the Jets for Abraham.

For all we know, we would've gone 8-8 if we drafted Ben. Since we payed so much to draft Eli, we had pressure to put him in. However, with Ben, it wouldn't been as forceful to put him in since we were 5-3. If we stuck with Kurt, we may have gone 8-8, 9-7 somewhere around that.

[Pizan]

For all we know, we would've gone 8-8 if we drafted Ben. Since we payed so much to draft Eli, we had pressure to put him in. However, with Ben, it wouldn't been as forceful to put him in since we were 5-3. If we stuck with Kurt, we may have gone 8-8, 9-7 somewhere around that.

 

 

I dont like the idea of trading next years first for a couple big reasons.

 

1. If Tiki goes down with an injury we screw our self out of a top ten pick.

 

2. Just looking back at the Eli trade and with the understanding that it was possible for us to end up with a player like Merriman, makes it very hard to swallow. I will never want us to trade away future picks again mainly because you are putting way too much stock into one player. And that was for the first overall pick we traded for. You are talking about trading a future 1st for a guy that is coming back from a major knee injury. It wasnt any major knee injury either, it was a torn ACL in his left knee were all his weight is placed majority of the time while playing LT. To much of a risk IMO.

 

If Winston slips it has nothing to do with the quality in this draft. Its all about that left knee and if he can continue playing LT in the pros. I also understand it takes 2 years to recover from that injury thats why im not bringing up how he played this past season. If you watched some of those Miami games he was far from the player he was before the injury.

 

Personally I think he'll start his career as a RT in the pros and eventually make the switch to LT. I would not trade for him.

*also that 29th pick might end up going to the Jets for Abraham.

 

 

Gateb you must struggle in your reading and english classes. It seems me or someone else is always pointing out something you missed.

 

*Helpful tip of the Day*

 

Read over the post twice or even three times before you reply.

 

And remember, Readers are Leaders!