Pay to Play

one win for a $2mil kicker? considering BP’s strategy, a kicker might equal 2 or 3 wins a season. thats a well spent $2mil.

sign a younger OT, one who can start on about 3/4 of the teams in the NFL, not a lock for the pro-bowl, just a solid starter. a younger guy will be around for 3-4 years, that justifys the money.

I dont care if it cost $1.5 mill or $2mill, we HAVE GOT TO GET A GOOD KICKER!!!! I dont think i can survive another year like this one. I remember sitting in the stands at the panther game, with Cundiff lining up for what should have been a chip shot, i just knew he would find a way to blow it. And he did. Luckily Peppers bone head play gave us life. But we didnt even know if extra points were a sure thing this year. The position is a MUST FIX.

Rafael,

Do you think Charles Woodson will now take $4 million to play safety for the Boys? I know you have been against it, but these numbers would support the Cowboys going after him. If he is cut, I can’t see teams interested him in playing CB offering much more than we could for him to play S.

Raf,

One more thing. How much do you think Backus, or any of the other OTs will cost now?

Eric R,

Woodson might take $4 million to play safety for the Cowboys, if no team offers him that much to play corner. Please give evidence that no team is willing to do that.

Woodson is so overated, he has never lived up to the hype ot the $10 mil he’s getting, always injured. I think we need a TRUE free safety, not a player learning a new position again, we’ve had anough of those. We need a player that we can plug in a play the position.

Mr. Bill,

I am not saying no team will offer this or that. All I have ever siad is that Dallas offer him $$$ to play FS.

Let’s say that we do try to sign a FA safety. Is there a young free safety available? Schulters will be 31 this year. Chavous will be 30. Who else?

Derrick,

I agree with you he was overpaid lat year. That does not diminish the player he is. I have stated that becuase of the rules in the NFL today, he could be a very good free safety. Woodson can press and cover players like Shockey, Cooley, LJ Smith (all TEs in our division), plus the premier TEs like Gates and Gonzalez. He is also good at reading a QB and a pretty solid tackler. If we sign him, he is the type of defender that can do a lot of things, including blitzing. IMO he would be well worth $4 million, and definately worth a phone call.

Well, i guess LeCharles Bentley won’t be franchised. He’d be a real good pickup for us. He is not undersized like johnson. It would be nice to take someone else’s young probowl center instead of someone taking ours(stepnoski)

Woodson-Pretty solid Tackler. LOL
Please watch:
Oakland vs. Dallas 2005
His solid tackling let the Boys back in the game.

J-Man,

Bentley is a good young center but Miami has already stated they’re going to make at least one “major signing” for their o-line and he’s mentioned as a top candidate. I don’t know if Dallas can afford a bidding war for him, which would get awfully expensive.

EricR,

Why? What is it about Woodson that makes him so desirable to you? I’ve never seen anything from him as a pro that makes me want him. He’s not a good tackler. He’s always had a huge salary, he’s had durability issues and he’s had a rap from time to time of dogging it.

What makes you think, money aside, that Parcells would pursue him above other safety candidates? I see no evidence that he would be a good safety.

Let me 1st say congrats to the Steelers. It`s not easy to get beat in almost every aspect of the game & still win. Maybe they should take this officiating crew with them to Disney this year. After all they did more than the players to decide the outcome of Super Bowl XL.

I have said from the beginning they should trade down if they can. BP wants to win now ! Look for him to turn to FA for an offensive lineman.

I am the first to agree that spending millions on an over 30 player , I feel BP will go for it. He went for Rivera last year now only RG remains the question mark. Agreed A Runyon type FA only may have a couple of years left but so does BP. He just signed a two year ext & I feel he will honor it but after that I feel he`s gone. So look for him to go with the fastest route.
I look for BP to make another big FA signing & using the draft to solidify the “D”. With Flozell, Allen, Rivera & an experienced RG he will be much closer much faster.

Rafael,

Because he makes plays! He can cover all the TEs in our division, but also sit back, read a QB,and make a play on the ball. .. The players available, IMO, aren’t as good as Woodson. … My thinking was/is get a OLB with our 1st rounder, a 330+ lbs NT in the draft, a bigger type ILB in the draft, and a play making FS in free agency. That would solidify this defense for years to come.

Eric:
First off, I can easily see a team offering Woodson at least the 4.7 millions that are paid for transition corners to play corner as he’s solid in coverage. He can tackle, he’s much better in that scenario than Deion, but he doesn’t wraps up too often. And in the end, 4 millions is alot of money if you take a look at the amount of money invested in the backfield.

Dallas would be loads better if they sign a 2nd or 3rd Round FS or even if they sign one of the top Free Agency Safeties.

madcowboy:
Next year Chris Hope will be 26, Will Demps 27 and Marlon McCree 29 (Carolina), that’s why they’re on the top of my radar. Chavous, Dexter Jackson, Schulters and Idrees Bashir are all over 30.

BTW, with the 2 starting corners this team will have in 2006 and the 2 guys backing them up (Glenn and Reeves) you don’t need as good of a cover safety, there’s still a need but it’s of a player that doesn’t gets caught too often looking to the line of scrimmage instead of just doing his job.

Raf,

If Parcells makes a trades Glover to land him another day one pick, its reasonable to think he can select:

Carpenter
Kai Parham
Steve Fifta or Domata Peko

Thus with a play making S like Woodson, this defense is set to be a “playoff caliber” defense … for the next 2-3 years. I like Woodson over Chavious or Hope because of his cover skills. When we blitz an extra guy, Woodson can blanket Shockey, Coolie, or Smith. Do you think any soon to be available FS can do that? Plus he is a pretty good blitzer.

Chandus,

It may be so that another team offers even more than that for him to play CB, but to try to persuade him here won’t hurt. I have said all along that if he values winning over personal occomplishments then Parcells maybe able to sell him. If the numbers aren’t right move on … but he is worth a stab at.

Charles Woodson stays hurt. Charles Woodson is NOT a saftey. He would have to learn the position. Charles Woodson is overrated. Charles Woodson is up there in age in football years. There are much better options than Charles Woodson. IT WONT HAPPEN !!!

Chris Hope is alot better than Woodson, Id rather spend money to get him away from Pitt than go after Woodson. With that kind of money spent on a FS we could probably sign Julian Peterson. Theres more important needs than FS and money wont be spent too much in that area.

Kedamac:

I agree with you.

Woodson is an overated , often injured malcontent who isn`t great at his best position of CB. Now you want to overpay this guy & switch him to safety. Please what are you guys grasping at ? Is this the best option we have ?

Now is the time to start thinking which are teams that look like trade partners in the near future, for that I need to know which are the needs of the teams Drafting after pick 18. This are the ones as I see them:

19. SD: FS, CB, WR and MLB.
20. KC: DT, CB, OL, MLB and WR.
21. NE: OLB, MLB, WR and S.
22. Den: DT, DE, C, WR and FS.
23. TB: OT, OLB, G and SS.
24. Cinn: DT, DE, TE and SS.
25. NYG: CB, OLB, G, MLB and WR.
26. Chi: TE, OT, OG, WR and CB.
27. Car: OT, OLB, C, TE, WR and DT.
28. Jax: CB, OT, RB, OLB and OG.
29. Den: DT, DE, C, WR and FS.
30. Ind: OLB, RB, CB and SS.
31. Sea: OG, WR, OLB and FS.
32. Pitt: WR, RB, OT, FS and CB.

The team that jums up the most to me as a trade partner is Denver, with their second 1st rounder, having the 18th and 22nd they would be in a great position to land Brodrick Bunkley and Matthias Kiwanuka. Dallas would have to give their 5th rounder in return for the 29th pick and the Denver 2nd rounder. 18th pick value: 900; 29th value: 640; 61st value: 292; Difference: 32 points.

How much does everyone want to pay Cory Chavous? Chavous was moved to FS because he was too slow to play CB. Ironically, he was drafted the same year as Woodson, who was then, and is now, a better football player. A lot of the techniques used for playing CB, are used at playing FS. Its not a tremendously hard change from CB to S. So if we are going to pay Chavous $2-4 million, then why not Woodson? Woodson is faster and more of a play maker. If Parcells is going to sign a solid but not great FS (which I think Hope is), then $2 million is ok. Heck I’ll sign Hope for $2 million, if that is what he asking. But if the Tuna is going to spend $4 million, then who is a better athlete than Woodson? … Me, I would rather go with the more expensive play maker at this point.

id rather get hope for 2 m illion and spend the 2 million i just saved on oooo i dont know vanderjagt

EricR:
Take a mathematical standpoint, Dallas also needs to sign an OLineman (OT is the most expensive position and we need one), a FS, a Kicker, a DT (if Glover’s gone), a FB and maybe a WR. Without Glover Dallas could have something close to 15 millions and there’s no way in hell that Bill Parcells is going to give 30% of the cap space to just one guy.

Drop it, it just makes no sense. Dallas isn’t a team that needs a playmaker to go for the long run, they need from 5 to 8 good supporting cast players and they need the money to sign all of them.

I have been thinking about this free agency thing a lot lately, and the one thought that keeps occurring to me over and over is that Parcells and JJ are very hard people to predict. Parcells is predictable about bringing in his former players (Fergie, A-Glenn, Bledsoe, etc.), but that is about as far as I can figure him out. JJ is predictable in that he will go after a big name player like Joey Galloway, Deion, Marcellus Wiley, et al, and I can only hope that Parcells has enough power of persuasion over him to have curbed this tendency. Otherwise, JJ is a hard one to predict too. Think about some of those drafts and FA’s when he was running the show without Big Bill’s football wisdom to keep him in check.

The more I think about it, I would be surprised to see more than two substantial FA signings this offseason. I don’t include kicker in this, so adding that in there would be three significant signings. I also doubt JJ and BP will bring in one of the big name FA kickers. I could be wrong, but my guess is they will find someone that is either not too well known or is a complete unknown.

The other two big FA’s? I am not really sure who they would be or what position they play. A few weeks ago I was convinced that they would pay the price to bring in a fairly well known FA RT, but the more I look at the field of potentially available RT’s/OT’s and the CBA situation, the more I am losing confidence in this idea. There are names out there, as we have all been tossing out there, but being able to outbid the other suitors, sell them on playing for this team/QB/coach/city, and come to terms on a contract is going to be a bit more difficult than I originally thought. There are a lot of unpredictable connections and relationships that can lead a player to go somewhere new, and they could be relatively unknown to those on the outside. I am saying do everything possible to make it happen, but there is going to be a lot of demand for OT’s this offseason.

Last off season none of the CB’s I thought Parcells was going to go after to fix the secondary ended up being the one. I didn’t know much at all about Anthony Henry until he was signed, and until he played so well I wasn’t sure how good he would be. He ended up doing great. It wouldn’t shock me to see something like that happen with Kicker, RT, and possibly FS, but that’s about it. Someone none of us are mentioning much who is flying under the radar and comes in and gets the job done.

EricR,
you have to get off of this love affair with Charles Woodson, he’s not even a top ten tier corner in the league, go watch him play, its all hype, A true free safety is smart and the quarterback of the secondary, Chavious fits that mold, there’s a difference, A good free safety reads the play before the snap and adjusts the d-backs in the pre snap read, thats what made Darren Woodson such a valuable player in our defense. Charles Woodson has never lived up to all the hype he got coming out of Michigan, always has nagging injuries, toe problems and is too much of a showboat and misses too many tackles on the field.

BTW – As a die hard fan I would love to see him sign a RT, FS, K, FB, and possibly a LB of some sort. I am only saying I have a feeling they aren’t going to be filling that many positions in free agency this year. Not stay pat like 2004, but not fill so many this way like last offseason. It would be great if they did though.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, this team needs to forget about free agency this year. Save the cap room and see how many starters and servicable role players we can get from the draft, rookie FA’s, and last year’s sick call and AWOL. Hope springs eternal, but this is a team headed in the right direction with too many holes to fill in one year.

Derrick,

Chavous is a safety because he was too slow to play corner. Period!

I can deal with the thought of spending the money elsewhere, but come on get off Woodson stinks deal. Sure he was overpaid last year, but the guy is a very good player. He made huge plays when the Raiders were a good team. He has been caught on a bad team the past few years. That doesn’t make him a bad player.

Chandus,

Some of those positions will be addressed in the draft. FB, WR, and K should come relatively cheap. I don’t know how much money they have or expect to spend on FS. But if anyone is going to get a big deal (around $4 million), Woodson’s name should be up there (IMO). The names being thrown around here, Hope Chavous, aren’t as good as Woodson. So whatever you want to shovel over to either of them, Parcells might as well offer that to Woodson first. …. Like I have said many times, if the price isn’t right, then move on. All I am saying is if we look at the group of free agent FS available, they aren’t anything special, but with Woodson he is. His speed and football intelligence would make the position change simple. It makes sense, if he becomes available, and if the price is right.

What good would Woodsons speed (not as fast as he used to be because of injuries) and so-called intelligence do us on the sideline hurt? Oh, and overpaid once again when the money could have spent on someone more durable, cheaper, better, and with experience at F.S. I’d rather get the real Woodson b4 Charles … Darren.

If you all want an in depth draft site, here it is:

http://www.nfldraftscout.com

Also, the combine will be telivized on the NFL Network.

Eric R,

How can you say Woodson is better than Chris Hope at FS when Woodson never played the position?

Woodson is a small minded player, CB’s make alot more money than S’s, he will not change positions. I can think of at least 5 teams that will pay him the money he wants, or relativly close. He won’t go from 10 millions dollars to 4 million. He’s tired of 1 year deals, and probably will want a bigger signing bonus than Henry.

As Woodson goes at CB, he would be in a fight for the 3rd spot in Dallas. T-New is better, as is a healthy Anthony Henry.

Here’s my wish list and roster for 2006-2007:

Sign K Ryan Longwell to a 3 year deal. (Mike V could work too)
Sign RT Tom Ashworth to a 3 year deal.
Sign FS Corey Chavous to a 2 year deal.

Trade La Roi Glover for a 2nd round pick.
Trade down from 18 to end of the first to get a 3rd round pick too.

1st: OLB Bobby Carpenter
2nd: C Nick Mangold
2nd: OG Charles Spencer
3rd: NT Jason Mahalona
4th: FS Anthony Smith
5th: FB Garrett Mills
6th: TE Anthony Mix
7th: WR Ben Obamanu

QB: Bledsoe, Romo, Henson
RB: JJ, MBIII, Thompson
FB: Garrett Mills
WR: Keyshawn, Glenn, Crayton, Copper
TE: Witten, Mix, Ryan
OT: Adams, Ashworth, Petiti, Columbo
OG: Allen, Rivera, Spencer, Peterman
C: Mangold, Johnson

LE: Canty, Ellis, Coleman
NT: Fergie, Mahalona, Pepper
RE: Spears, Ratliff
OLB: Carpenter, Fujuita
ILB: Burnett, Fowler
ILB: James, Shanle
OLB: Ware, Thorton
LCB: Newman, Glenn
RCB: Henry, Reeves
SS: Roy, Davis, BerryO
FS: Chavous, Smith

K: Longwell
P: McBriar
LS: Ladoucer

That is IMO a super bowl caliber team, without using too much cap space, and very realistic. Thats a top 5 D and a top 10 O. What does everyone think, Super Bowl Caliber and reasonable?

Lou c- I like the look of your team. I wouldn’t consider VJ as a kicker though. He seems like he has a few lug nuts loose. I would love to see the draft go the way you have it projected.

lou c:

I like your picks. Both FA and draft. That would be a great lineup.

If we are really going out on a limb, as some of us seem to be doing today…I would like to see us trade our 2007 2nd & 5th round picks for the 2006 2nd round pick of some team in the top 16. Might as well do the same with a 2007 3rd round pick package for a 2006 3rd rounder from another team too. Throw in a deal for Glover or Ellis and we could get everything done. Of course that isn’t at all likely to happen, but it would be nice with all the underclassmen coming out in this draft, the CBA questions next year, and Parcells’ window of opportunity to load up and get some quality and depth at key positions. Next year’s draft is going to be a lot thinner because of all the juniors coming out this year, and if the Cowboys have a good record those 2007 picks will be lower in those rounds anyway. Too bad it probably won’t happen, that would be my dream scenario since a lot of us are sharing them today.

Ahhhhh…if only Jimmy Johnson were still the coach. He and Jerry were the greatest horsetrading duo in NFL history!!

I think you have to be careful in the FA
market.It was just a few years ago that
the Mediots were screaming for one of those high priced FA corners….that are
where today???Dallas has shown some patience of late hopefully it will continue.

my dream scenario is that we could go back to 1992 and relive 4 awesome years.

mike:

Yeah, but then we couldn’t blog about it.

Becker2,

I hear you about being patient, but our Oline situation is dire. We have no choice but to pay whatever the market rate turns out to be for a hired gun at RT.

If we only do one thing this offseason, we should buy a new RT.

If we do two things, we should buy a new kicker.

I think FS isn’t one of our top priorities. With T-New and a healthy Glenn, Henry, and Roy, we have one of the best secondaries in the league. And Parcells thinks Reeves is going to be a player too.

I think our more pressing needs are OT, OLB, and K. And man I hope Rivera was just playing hurt this year and will be better next year. And man oh man I hope Flozell doesn’t get hurt again last year. Remember we were doing pretty good with Pettiti starting until Flo went down. With a healthy Flo, Rivera, and a FA like Ashworth, we should have one of the better O-lines in the league. And if Bledsoe still doesn’t get it done, we should run him out of town.

MC,

I don’t disagree with you its just to spend alot of money on a RT or a kicker who may or may not be the answer is not always the best solution.Kickers this past year have had rough time.Even the best guys like Vanderjagt missed some important kicks.Two years ago the Jets were a
kicker away from the title game or so
they thought.They spend a number 2 on
a kicker and sign Ty Law.They lose a
NT to FA and their center and qb to
injury etc. I think we still are more
than one or two players fromcontending

Anyone see M. Holmgren NOT show up for
the Handshake?Think he was pissed
about the refs

I agree with everyone about the need for FA’s at these positions. The thing I keep thinking is that Parcells always seems to do things that I never expect. Who knows what he will do? We could have Curtis Martin on the team next year. I doubt it, I think it would be nuts, but you never know with BP.

I’ve started turning my attention a bit to figuring out how the rest of the NFC East is going to shape up in September. Since our success will largely be determined by our strength relative to those teams. I sometimes wonder if that is part of the reason BP took A-Henry instead of one of the smaller CB’s on the FA market last year, so he’d have a bigger guy to match up with players like T.O. and Plaxico Burress in our division. It might be instructive to figure out if a particular FA out there will match up well against certain standouts in our division or even has a history against them.

Did anyone hear Mike Holmgren in Seattle in front of their crowd? It was pretty funny, he said something like “We were preparing for the Steelers but forgot to prepare for the men in stripes” It was something like that, I saw it on ESPNEWS, I’m sure the NFL will fine him for it, since they fine just about everything you say they think is negative.

We need a young play-making Wr…im shocked no one said that..

“I knew it was going to be tough going up against the Steelers but I didnt know we’d be going up against the men in stripes as well” — those were his words lol. I must say from watching it that he has a point.

Lou,

That’s a great roster you got there. Unfortunately, we have no answer for the Zebras. They’ll beat us everytime!

Imagine, Bledsoe tripping over his own feet and he’s ruled “Down by contact,” before he can get back up to throw the ball to a streaking Terry Glenn for a TD!

Top it off with Larry Allen getting flagged for being an “Illegal man downfield,” when he’s two yards behind the line of scrimmage. The “Official” response is, the Zebra thought he was wearing #83 instead of #73 and he bore a striking resemblance to Golden Richards. Ouch!

Ironman:
And who might that young playmaker at WR might be? This is one of the thinnest WR’s crops in the Draft in the past few years and lots of damaged goods and average players will be available in FA, that’s why nobody’s mentioning WR. And forget about Reggie Wayne, he’s headed to a Franchise tag.

blee:
All the guys in the backfield were healthy when Eric Parker torched the secondary for a 33 yarder, then when Santana Moss torched them twice in less than 4 minutes, then when Brandon Lloyd torched them, then that was Porter, then Jeremy Shockey, then Jerramy Stevens and against Arizona Henry went down and wasn’t the same anymore. Dallas needs a better FS, they could survive with Davis, but if you can have better, wouldn’t you pull the trigger?

If anyone really thinks that $4 million is not all that much to pay for a free safety, consider that $4 million times 22 starters would be $88 million, or only $5-$7 million under the proposed salary cap for 2006. I would also like to point out that we are not just talking about $4 million for 2006, but for each and every year of the contract length. This for a position that is usually one of the cheapest on the field. I wonder how we would fill out the rest of the 53-man roster.

By the way, since the franchise fee for safeties is $4.1 million, that means that that figure is the average of the top-5 salaries at safety (both free and strong). It also means there are probably only two safeties making more than $4.1 million in salary. If we gave $4 million to Woodson, we would be making him (probably) the third- or fourth-highest-paid safety in the NFL. The question then becomes, would Woodson be the third- or fourth-best safety in the NFL? Well, lets see. There’s Brown, Chavous, Dawkins, Harrison, Lewis, Lynch, Palomalu, Reed, Sanders, Sharper, Williams … Hmmm! … Don’t think so!

Ironman,

There is a smaller faster WR in the draft projected to go in the 3-4 round named Brandon Williams. He is an exceptional returner. I think he can be used on some plays, much like Washington uses Moss. The Cowboys have time to be patient with him, as he can develope behind Glenn, Keyshawn, and Crayton for a year or two before he would be leaned upon heavily. At the same time he can contribute immediately on special teams.

lou c,

Chris Hope is nothing special when I watch him play. In fact I have seen him miss a tackle and miss a coverage assignment in these playoffs. Both times resulting in points for the other team.

Cory Chavous was drafted as a CB, and was too slow, so they moved him to S. He is hardly ever making plays on the ball, but does a decent job of tackling a player after they receive the ball.

Woodson is faster than either Hope or Chavous. He reads QBs well and is very good at making a play on the ball while its in the air. Woodson blitzes well and has good recovery speed.

My other point here that doesn’t seem to be getting through to many people is, only if the price is right go after Woodson. He is a better football player than anyone available on the free agent market at FS. So if Dallas is planning on spending $3-4 million on a player like Chavous or Hope, then at least give Woodson a call to see what he is looking for. … If we sign Hope or Chavous for $2 million, thats fine with me. You all keep saying its Woodson who will want more, but who knows what either of these players want. That is just a guessing game, and if anyone might be running to the bank it will be Hope. He just came off a Super Bowl year, and history tells us players who played for the SB Champions cash in big the next year in free agency. They are some of the most grossly overpaid players in NFL history.

All I have ever said is to give Woodson a call. See his asking price. See if he will make the move to FS. If it fits, then sign him. But a phone call never hurt any body.

Raf,
I agree to some extent on Bently and a bidding war. But Centers are the least expensive of the lineman. Plus he is 26-prime age. he is also 300 lbs and good on both the pivot(johnson’s weakness) and to the second level. Centers in the draft are more like johnson and may not be a good fit for us since we don’t have what you would call a finesse line(or a quick one). We have big guys which is why we don’t do many screens. Bently would be a real good fit. Jeff Hartings would be good too but he has been in the league 10 years now. Plus, with the loyalty the steelers have, he would probably take a pay cut to stay instead of being cut. I do think johnson would be good but it would be in a different type of line…an Alex Gibbs type of line.

i wonder if pete hunter would move to safety now? lol

J-Man,

Hartings knees look like railboad stations, he’s had so many knee surgeries. It’s a minor miracle he’s still playing. He’s one of those guys who will need knee replacements after he retires. There’s no way I’d pursue him. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if he retired, how that he’s won a ring.

If we are going after a guard in the 2nd, make it Gilles. NOT Spencer.
NO on Woodson. UNLESS he really wants to play FS and get PAID like one(which will not happen). Chavous is probably the best bet of the FA’s.
Center- need better there. Bentley probably too expensive- and there really is no other FA worth while.
Mangold of Ohio State might be gettable in the 2nd. If we do not go for guard. OT- Backus is probably the only one that could be gotten reasonable.

Eric

The standard hit on a Woodson deal, would be the incredably high amount of cap dollar that would be involved with the secondary of the defense…

but, I’ll be your huckleberry-just imagine a secondary in a nickle situation that could then field:

Terence Newman
Anthony Henry
Aaron Glen
Roy Williams
Charles Woodson

I’d say that would cover the non-tackling aspect that would revolve around considerations of Woodson. The tackling aspect would have to be covered by the defensive line/linebacking group…
The Cowboys were much less than stellar at covering tight ends and running backs this past season…and that would be shored up a ton!

Eric R enough with this Woodson shit. Woodson has missed 20 games in the last 4 years compared to Chavous’ 3 in his entire career. Chavous’ first year at saftey he picked off 8 passes. Sounds like he does have some ball hawking skills. Chavous also had to suffer playing for the lowly Cardnals for his first 4 years. Playing for a secondary like the Cowboys have would probably make him even better. Speed is not required at safety like it is at corner so speed isn’t a problem. I think Corey Chavous would be a good fit and cheaper than Woodson. Woodson will probably get an offer to play corner somewhere for more than the $4 mil that I wouldn’t even want to give him.

I don’t think Hope will be going anywhere in FA. No owner/GM is crazy enough to bid up safeties’ market values with all the CBA questions lingering around and so many good safeties in this draft class. I bet Hope stays with the Pitts unless Sean Taylor gets convicted. Then I could see Danny Boy offering him twice the going rate for his services to get a flash fill for the position to cover his ass. I don’t even think Hope is that special at all, it’s always Palomalu who is the ballhawk.

Eric R:

I have avoided the temptation to weigh in on this Woodson thing until now. You say it is worth a phone call to his agent or him to solicit interest. Ok. I will say I agree. A Cowboys rep (lower tier, not one of the real decision makers for fear of embarrassing publicity) should go ahead and make the phone call. Then…about 15 seconds later…when the call is over and our rep is told “We’ll get back to you on that one, um, thanks for the interest.” we can at least say we tried. That way if no other NFL team offers Woodson a chance to play CB (I give that about a 2% chance, being generous), then his agent will know to call us as a backstop to his NFL career. Otherwise, the Cowboys need to start thinking about how best to fill the FS spot. Is that reasonable?

Sterling:
Polamalu’s getting the clippings because his system and habilities allow him to be. System: They have one cover safety (who by the way, is 5-11 and that’s the main reason for which he’s been burned, but he’s only been burned like 3 times in all the games in which I saw him play and that’s a pretty good number if you take into account that I saw 3 games of the regular season and all of the postseason) and they have a guy that’s free to roam the field and read the QB, who gets most of the clippings in that scenario?

That’s why I was one of the biggest bandwagoneers for Hope, until I realized that he could win the whole thing to settle a price tag that’s to hard for me to swallow when there’s a good crop of Safeties in the Draft.

CKnight,

Since you wanted to be rude!! You are probably the same guy crying over Moss’s big plays. Pouting about Shockey and Cooley ripping us in big situations. Our problem last year wasn’t tackling WRs and TEs, it was covering them, especially when we blitzed. … Go look at the number of passes Woodson has broken up in his career. In less games then Chavous he has deflected or intercepted 83 balls (Chavous 54). Woodson speed will help him get to balls that Chavous can’t. I’ll give you 3 games, off the top of my head, last year that Woodson probably makes a huge impact on.

1.) Santana Moss’s 2 TD passes against Washington. (Wash. game 1)

2.) Shockey’s big reception for a TD to get the game into OT. (Giants game 1)

3.) Covering Cooley, when he torched us. (Wash. game 2)

All season people like you are crying “Roy can’t cover” … “Davis can’t cover” … and I propose we go and get a very good cover guy to play S, and you want to kill that idea. Put Woodson out there at FS against Washington on Monday night and this team makes the playoffs!! … You offer up speed doesn’t mean as much. Please! It will help a player cover more of the field. Speed will help a S to catch a WR that he had a late break on. Woodson’s speed and PROVEN ability to break up passes would be a nice fit. Plus he can blanket TEs in our own division. Players that have given us fits!! You tell me, will you throw to Shockey if you see Woodson covering him?

I would throw to Shockey when I realize the bum the Cowboys got to plat F.S. (C. Woodson) is on the sideline hurt once again !!!

What’s up with this Charles Woodson fetish? He’s a bum, and it wont happen.

Eric R
You forgot to mention we didn’t score many points in those games. In 5 of the six games we lost we didn’t score more than 13 points. Am I the only one here that sees a problem with that???? Teams are going to score on us. We can use an upgrade a FS but what is that going to do if we only put up 13 points? nothing. I’m not saying Woodson is the answer I think we can get it from the draft myself.

Eric R:

We all realize that Woodson can cover, he was once an outstanding cover CB before he was slowed by all his nagging injuries. I believe he still will be a very good CB in the NFL. If your idea is to have a formerly great cover CB brought in as a FA to play FS, there are a lot of other CB’s on the free agent market, some that might even consider your idea. Why don’t you mention any of them? Or is it that you really like Michigan Wolverines players? I have noticed you mention them a lot.

I can imagine that teams such as the Chiefs (usually a good home for former Raiders), Lions, Patriots, and Browns would all be teams that would be very interested in a good FA CB like Charles Woodson. I think the most likely might be the Browns because they have a great need for a good CB, have a former DC as the head coach, have tons of cap room to sign a good FA at CB, and if Woodson was going to take less money to play anywhere it might be to go back home to Ohio. Either way it ends up, there are going to be no shortage of teams looking for his services.

Btw, is it really that hard for T-New to play right corner once in a while? Or assign him to the Santana Moss’s of the league? As I recall most of the long passes happened on the Henry/Glenn side…

Sterling,

You are right about other teams offering Woodson a contract. I have said that the odds of getting him are slim, but you just never know what a player like him is looking for. I have seen plenty of veteran players that never won a championship opt to play for less money for a team they think has a shot to win. All along I have said that if Woodson values winning over personal occomplishments then there may be a door of opportunity for both he and the Cowboys. And I have also said that if Dallas is going to offer anyone big bucks to play S, then Woodson’s name should be on the short list. … Rod Woodson made the same move and did it to play for a Super Bowl team. He became a Pro Bowl safety. I believe that these players have similar skills and are in similar situations as when Rod decided to change positions.

Eric R:

I understand that, but like I have said from the beginning, with all the parity in the league and so many teams that could be poised to make the jump into being a contender, then for him to choose the Cowboys would probably require more than that as an incentive.

If he truly values winning and wants to go to a contender, why wouldn’t he go to the Patriots where they have a perennial title contending team, a glaring need for a CB with his skill set/talent, and have rejuvenated players like Rodney Harrison and Corey Dillon. That seems like a more natural fit for him than playing FS for the Cowboys.

I also see BP and JJ filling the FS spot as economically as possible. By that I mean a more ‘value’ oriented player, low priced with high upside. Someone who can quietly come in and complement Roy and the rest of the secondary, but is not a big name player. That is why I can’t see Hope or Chavous being the guy in the end.

Yeah, Sterling, just like I’m starting to think from some time now… I wouldn’t even be surprized if Parcells passes through FA without a FS and waits for the 4th or 5th round in the Draft and picks a guy we haven’t even talked about.

Chandus:

That’s what he did last year, but I still am not sure if he drafted Beriault in the 7th (6th, whenever it was) with the idea of making him a FS eventually, or if he was taking the top player left on the board, or if he felt it was necessary to have a back up for Roy, or if he wanted Beriault for special teams.

Any thoughts on that pick in hindsight? Could Beriault be our next FS? That wouldn’t be my first guess, but I wonder what everyone else thinks.

I wouldn’t bet on Beriault’s favor, he’s coming out of reconstructive knee surgery and the recovering rate is still 50-50. But we do have to recognize that Dallas has one of the best staffs in Football at that, just as Parcells has already mentioned.

Aside from Beriault’s injury, I mean the situation at FS was the same last April as it is now pretty much. That’s why I am wondering why Parcells picked Beriault. Was he the best player left on the board? Did they not think he would make it through to being a Rookie FA? Or did BP see him as a future FS? If so, that might lead one to conclude that BP either needed a band-aid for one year until he could find another, or that he will settle on a late 2nd day pick to play the position. It makes you wonder though.

Either way, I don’t see him filling that spot with a name any of us are likely to recognize.

One name that I like and I’ve been keeping under wraps is Juran Bolden, he’s a behemoth tackler of a cornerback, he’s 6-3 and 210 pounds. He’s mostly a special teamer and he’s old (will be a 32 year old veteran), but he will be cheap, minimum salary cheap.

Correction: One thing at FS has changed since last April. We now know what Keith Davis can and cannot do. That is good to know, if we had known it last April maybe BP would have done some things differently.

The Burnett pick does look prescient in hindsight though, given Dat’s unforeseen injury/retirement.

I remember reading somewhere that quoted Parcells saying that in the late rounds he usually picks the highest guy in his board, that’s how he has picked Ryan Young (7th), Jason Fabini (4th), Jason Ferguson (7th), Dave Wohlabaugh (4th) and the list goes on.

Ok, that would explain it that pick better. Do you think that Bolden might be another guy like Dexter Jackson though? That is, he is happiest playing near home, etc.?

Eric R,

Henry would make a better FS than Woodson. He is bigger, stronger, and a wayyy better tackler. No way he moves to FS because of his contract, so I cant see a CB coming in to play FS. Too expensive.

Sterling,

In addition to the possibility that Parcells just took the best player available, you have to keep in mind Parcells’ attention to special teams. Beriault would have been a special-teams demon.

Eric R,

… Rod Woodson made the same move and did it to play for a Super Bowl team. …

Rod Woodson resisted the move to safety with 3 different teams (Steelers, 49ers, and Ravens) until Brian Billick told him to either change or be cut.

… I believe that these players have similar skills …

Rod Woodson was 10 times the player Charles Woodson is. Do not expect to get similar results with Charles, that the Ravens got with Rod.

… and are in similar situations as when Rod decided to change positions.

Once again, Rod Woodson played cornerback for the Steelers. He left them to play cornerback for the 49ers. He left them to play cornerback for the Ravens. He resisted being switched to safety at all points. It was only after he had been with the Ravens for a year, and Billick told him what the score was, that Rod Woodson accepted the position change.

Charles Woodson has never played for any team but the Raiders. He can well imagine new teams that will welcome him as a cornerback (as they did for Rod). He is both younger and has fewer years in the league than when Rod made his position switch.

The ONLY similarity is that they both played cornerback and are/were in position to change teams.

lou c & Chandus,

Our problem at FS last year wasn’t tackling, it was covering. So why replace Davis (who didn’t work out) with another player with similar skills? .. I think Parcells will go with a faster player with better ball skills. I think he may add a CB to play FS, Charles Woodson or not.

Mr. Bill,

Rod and Charles Woodson have similar skills. Both are fast CBs, with the same types of physical demensions (around 6-0 & 200 lbs).

When Rod switched positions, he was at a point in his career that his skills better fit to play S. So is Charles at this point in his career. He can probably be a decent CB, but can be a great S.

When Rod became a S, he did it as a vet that hadn’t won a ring. One of Charles’s goals may be to participate on a Super Bowl team. Most players want that.

So like I said they are in similar situations.

….. Its so funny because last year our answer for FS was Pete Hunter, and everyone was thrilled. Then Keith Davis got an opportunity, and later Willie Pile. There were rumors that Parcells was moving Reeves to S, and again, no one had a big problem with that. .. That is two CBs with far less skill than Woodson, and two other players with far less skills, and it was OK. Now you want another player with less skills than Woodson in Chavous …. a former CB. So let me get this right, 3 other players with less speed and less ability to break up passes can make the move from CB to FS, but Woodson can not? That makes a lot of sense!!

Eric R
Look at the drop off in Woodsons pass deflections since 1999. He’s a washed up bum and he will never be in a Cowboys uni.

Eric R:

The similarities between Charles Woodson and Rod Woodson are pretty much limited to having the same last name and the position they played, at least as far as their NFL careers are concerned. One was a standout Heismann winner in college and has had a good pro career that has not quite lived up to all of the lofty expectations he came in the league with, but the other had a Hall of Fame type NFL career before he ever thought of switching positions. I really don’t see the two players as being nearly as similar as you do. Just because it worked out for Rod to play S doesn’t mean it will for Charles, and it certainly isn’t worth the millions of dollars it would cost to find out. Switching lower salary CB’s who are already on the team and underachieving to FS is a lot less expensive than bringing in a high priced FA to do the same experiment with. Also, if I was picking my all time all pro team I would put Rod on it ahead of Charles at CB or S anyday.

if we are gonna have a cb playing fs then why dont we have reeves play nickle Cb and move aaron glenn to FS? that would be filling it economically, and from within. find a decent 4th CB in the draft or FA then you have your FS for w/e glenn makes.

I agree I dont wanna spend too much on a FA safety or “converted” safety. we all know charles woodson would be nice, but admit it eric you’re dreamin its not gonna happen, so please give it a rest. I say we spend a pick on one. I’d like to see Jason Allen drop to the 3rd or us picking up an additional 2nd to grab Daniel Bullocks. Does anyone know if he is related to Josh Bullocks drafted last year?

They’re brothers, last year I wanted Dallas to pick Josh, but I was ok with Parcells passing to give Keith Davis the chance.

BTW, they also played in the same team as starters, Josh was the SS and Daniel the FS. You could argue that that was the best backfield in terms of communication, or the worst… Brothers…

Erik R,

You are ignoring the one similarity shared by both Rod and Charles Woodson. That is the desire to avoid changing positions until absolutely forced into doing so. While Rod obviously hoped to win a Super Bowl ring, the reason he ultimately made the switch was to remain playing in the NFL.

You may believe that Charles Woodson is better fit to play safety at this stage of his career. You may even be right! However, I don’t think that Charles is listening to your wise counsel. Rod Woodson was better fit to play safety for at least 3 years before he actually made the switch.

BTW, Rod was a much more accomplished hitter and tackler. He was great against the run. Charles can be good, but most of the times is average.

Mr. Bill,
Excellent point about about a player wanting to change his role or position
Ithink that is the key.A player has to
want to make that change and he has to be able to do it.Some corners have trouble just playing the opposite side
of the field let alone moving a guy from playing man to man to playing in
space.
Also the type of D a team plays makes
a big difference.When Dallas played a
pressure D with alot of blitzes Roy W
looked great now that Dallas is playing more coverage he doesn’t look
that good.Same with Troy Pal. and Pitt
he got burned in the SB when he couldn’t get to the corner on coverage.

Charles Woodson is an injury prone overrated bum who will NEVER wear a star on his helmet !!!

Yeah but kedamac have you seen the way
the dresses off the field ???