Rumor Ratings -- Hot or Cold?

Two thoughts:
1. Don’t you think we have to talk about free-agency according to two very different paths; either they get CBA done and then all of the equations about what teams do changes back to a more traditional NFL scenario including some of the teams appearing to be in dire trouble now suddenly not being in such trouble, or they don’t and we have a whole new world. Which leads to …
2. Look to what happened in hockey the year before the strike for a possible guide on how contracts will go. We saw a lot of players (and teams) refusing to negotiate longer term deals or extensions because of uncertainty and a lot more one-year deals.

Bentley would be my priority. Get him and the FA would be a success no matter what.
I can see players going for a one year deal- but forgetting that there is still a full year that another CBA could be negotiated- and then they would be no better off. Just a year older and hopefully not injured. Its a gamble for sure.

I said this in a previous thread and I received no answers, how much Centers have made the Guards around him look good even when they’re average?

Look at the most recent example, Jeff Saturday, the Guards around him last season were a couple of no-names in which one was drafted in the 5th Round and the other went undrafted. Parcells talked about the Indianapolis OLine play in one of his conferences and said that they had one of the simpliest playbooks, it just happenned that nobody could stop them, well, in the Divisional Playoffs Pittsburgh did and now Indianapolis is headed to Draft a Guard with their 1st or 2nd Rounder.

Last season Dallas worst problem in the middle was average play from the Guards, Allen was a little above average and Rivera a little bellow. Johnson did fine.

Is Johnson a scapegoat?

I’d be one of the first guys to admit that signing Bentley would be a huge upgrade and as a matter of fact as soon as it appeared that Bentley was going to be allowed to walk I started to wonder if we could get him, then the rumours started rolling of how much does he wants to get paid and I turned elsewhere.

Al Johnson is a Center that’s limited to just play at Center as he doesn’t has what it takes to play elsewhere along the line, so as a backup he won’t be worth a dang. Another fact is that with all the uncertainty around the league with the CBA extension Dallas won’t receive a trade offer for him. Do you guys want to cut him?

I’ll say this again, in 2004 he wasn’t physically ready for the season as he began working out at full speed by TC time. In 2005 he had one of the worst play by Guards I’ve seen in the last few years around him and he was injured.

I need further proves of him being worthless before I decide that he’s worthless, if indeed he’s worthless, then next season I’d Draft Kyle Young and I’ll be more than fine.

Chandus:

Perhaps. The one thing I noticed about the running game from looking at the Footballoutsiders.com stats is that they did run sucessfully up the middle, finishing 11th in adjuster line yards. However, they did’t run that way very often (only 43% of the time). That’s a decent indicator that they either didn’t have confidence in Johnson or they need to adjust their playcalling.

They still love to run behind left tackle, but with Flozell out they aren’t very good at that.

I still say the best bet for Dallas is to find a good LT, then move Flozell to right tackle where he would probably dominate since he wouldn’t have to deal with speed rushers who give him the biggest problems. It would also make the O-Line more diverse as now they could run effectively to the right or the left, instead of being only to run effectively to the left side like they do now.

I heard the Giants GM talking at the combine and he basically said that they aren’t going to sign any big name FA’s because of last years big signings. I believe him, they can’t afford those big money CB’s, so I could see them drafting Antonio Cromatire with their 1st round pick and signing a LB.

With Gabe Watson falling, do we pick him up in the 2nd round? We probably have to, he’s cheaper and if BP can get the most of out this kid he is better than every NT on the market.

As time goes on I’m getting off the Abraham bandwagon, his price is ridiculous for a player who is injury prone and has a big price tag. I still like Carpenter, Wimbley, and Lawson in the draft at 18, if we can sign McGinnest, we can trade down and grab Carpenter and he can move inside whereas Wimbley and Lawson are more pass rushers.

Lou C.

If you can trade down 8 to 10 spots, you can then pick one of the Carpenter/Watson duo. You hope that Cleveland signs a NT and Carolina passes on Watson. Then, he could slide into the early 2nd.

If you picked up a 3rd on the trade down, you have the ammunition to move up in the second, by offering the third in exchange for the higher 2nd and a 4th rounder, which you don’t have.

Then, slot, wise, you have picks in the very late 1st, early 2nd, middle third and 4th.

That’s a lot of jockeying, but if those are the guys you want, this is how Jimmy Johnson would go about getting them — assuming you find a trade partner, of course.

I agree, if Cleveland doesn’t sign a nose tackle, they are looking at the same thing as we are, Watson wont drop past them in the second round.They like Ngata, but I see Buffalo taking him with their first pick.

Word just out indicates the Gene Upshaw has walked out on meetings and a new deal appears to be dead,
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11586331/

Okay, I was willing to give Upshaw some benefit of the doubt, but I’m now firmly with Matt Birk, who called Upshaw a “piece of sh#$.”

The man is either going to cause a meltdown of lose his union very soon, because I doubt that Birk is the only one who feels this way about him.

Hmmm, I should read before I speak.

The sides are back to gamesmanship and what’s clear is that nothing is clear.

the NFLPA says the NFL won’t compromise on 56.2.

The owners say they’ve gone to 58.2.
But league sources are also telling ESPN that the bigger problem remains revenue sharing between the owners.

As I see it, this is really a three party negotiation, which is probably why the news is so confusing because the press continues to portray it as a two party negotiation.

You’ve got the big money faction, the small market faction and the NFLPA. If there were two parties that could get together on something the other one might be brought along, but from all I see, it appears none of the three can find common ground.

Chandus:

I am surprised by your newly found fondness for AJ. Now, you not only want to keep him, you want him to start because you don’t think he’d be a good backup and will be hard to trade. It was only 3 months ago when the season was in its final weeks that you were not only advocating getting a new Center, but you put it as the first O-Line fix that should be done. You said either Kyle Young or Mike Degory of Florida should be drafted, and that Andre Gurode should be re-signed because he provides depth. You actually said AJ should be traded to a team like the Broncos to be a backup for them, because he fits better in a zone blocking scheme than in a power running offense.

http://blog.theboys.com/?p=386

I just want to tell you that I agree wholeheartedly and completely with all your viewpoints back then. Has the fact that the season has been over for a few months softened your view of AJ’s play and abilities? You seem to view him as part of the solution now, whereas before you indentified him as a major part of the problem.

Glad to see so many on this (excellent) blog coming around and realizing Center is more imp. (or at least AS important) than guard
johnson would make an excellent backup, if we lose Gurode-but I’d rather have Gurode backing up two spots
And, I’m not sure it’s really Chandus posting-or is he filing his reports on Johnson’s play from India?

Sterling:
Yeah, you’re right, and as I told up there in this thread I realize now and realized then that you can have better than Johnson.

I still do.

But, can Johnson look better if the players around him play better too? Yes, I believe that he can.

In those 3 months you mentioned many things changed, first the only Center available in FA has a price tag that would make imposible the signings of the many place that need an upgrade.
Second, Kyle Young isn’t available.
Third, I’m not sold on Mangold.
Fourth, I’ve seen film from Degory and Ryan Cook and saw them playing in the Sr Bowl and I found that they wouldn’t be quite an upgrade over Johnson or Gurode.
Fifth, without a CBA trading Draft picks for players that could function better in another system will be hard to do as teams will prefer to keep their picks and draft for the future.
And sixth, and the most important, in the 3 games I’ve got recorded this season (the first games against Philly and NY and the KC game) I saw that he held his own most of the times and the players around him (mostly Rivera) where the guys making blunders.

So, now I’m saying: He can function better if the players around him do. And it’s proven, average Centers have a huge history of success if they have Guards around him that can make things happen. Last season, Johnson didn’t had a couple of Guards that could, he had one that from time to time could and another that just had one dominant game.

BTW, people can change their minds, I’ve done so before, just like you (we both remember the trash talking we used to do about Bradie James). But, for the record, I haven’t changed my mind about having better than Johnson, Bentley would be a huge upgrade, but I wouldn’t do it if it works against signing guys like Damion McIntosh or Julian Peterson and some more answers to our needs.

larry:
Yes, I’m the guy posting those messages and I’m posting them from aproximately Latitude 20ºN and Longitude 96ºW.

For those not so bond with geographic terms, that’s Eastern Central Mexico.

And found amusing your comment, and I’ll gladly accept from you your point of view on the Free Agency subject, do you plan on just signing Bentley, Longwell and a RT?

That would be wise considering that this team has much more needs than just Center, K and RT.

I’m just stating my opinion, you just looked like a Philly fan.

Chandus:

I understand, and we all change our minds about things over time. It does seem like during the season a lot of us were far more disgusted by the O-Line play and had a stronger opinion about the poor Center play. The other thing is, whether we like them or not OG is kind of like WR and QB unless LA suddenly retires. There is already too much cap space and resources tied up there to contemplate yet another FA, and anyone who is drafted will likely meet the same fate as Peterman and Gurode did last season. Also, if you want to talk about the poor OG play as affecting AJ’s level of play, then a strong case can be made that the poor OT play…especially on Rivera’s side with a rookie there the whole year, was as big a factor on the poor Guard play as OG was on Center. The right side of the line seemed to regress, not improve. Part of that is because of Rivera, but part of it is also because of Pettiti, AJ, and the TE’s too. I realize watching the games over helps, but I seem to recall you were praising the right side of the line as being far better than the left side on running plays.

I don’t ever recall trashing Bradie James. That must have been somebody else you are thinking of. Actually, I don’t even remember talking about him much at all until after he started playing well. I have been pretty rough on Singleton though (as you were too), but that is because he spent most of the season on IR last year. I also complained after the Giants, Chiefs, and Redskins games about the defense giving up so many yards on the ground. I think that was pretty much universal, as a lot of people were calling Ware a bust (a player I never complained about), and even you were saying Shanle should be benched in favor of Fowler. The whole O-Line and LB problems last year were really tough to deal with the last 5-6 games of the season, I’m sure each player got picked on by various people at least a few times.

I’m glad to hear you haven’t changed your mind about AJ, BTW. It does sound like you don’t want to make a change next season because of all the reasons you listed. Hopefully he’ll improve greatly and remain injury-free and we’ll all be happy that no changes were made at that position.

If we cannot get Bentley leave Center alone- AL is mediocre but ok for now. ANd there is nothing else out there that would be a huge upgrade.

I have listened for the most part to everyones opinion about the offensive line play last year. To have had the worst line in the NFL last year we sure moved the ball at times. I look at the season as a sporadic growing process for a line that might be a lot better this year without any changes. Pettiti was after all a rookie playing in a position that he was relatively unprepared for. He was I believe targeted because of his inexperience and like anyone in a new world seemed lost at times. The plus I give him is he never quit and that should say a lot about his desire. I don’t believe that Larry Allen desires as much criticism as he is getting from those who have been proud to have had him on the team for oh so long. If Peterman is the man we will see it this year as he should challenge for the position. I expect that the competition to produce a unexpected dominant season from Allen. If Rivera’s health problems are solved by his recent surgeries then he to could see some improved play. Flozel Adams was not having a great year before he got hurt making me believe that he might have been hurt much earlier than we thought. He was just trying to suck it up and go. Now to AJ, to single out him as the something that really needs to change for us to get better is probably as unfair as saying that Pettiti will never be a quality starter. It is to early to tell. Having said all that I have, we still need to address the offensive line because even though I expect a better product this year we do need some more experience. A young tackle to train with Pettiti and another young guard to train behind Rivera. I like the idea of a free agent starter for RT because it would give Pettiti some more time to get acclimated. Regardless of how he did last year, I believe that it might have been the best thing for him to have his lip busted early. He will either get real good or end up being cut down the line. He played his first extended season in his life and was soundedly whipped by a blood smelling group of pass rushers, but that might have pushed him in his off season preparation.

Johnson has had plenty of time to show that he can be better then he is. There is not going to be any more then we saw this last season. Time to upgrade IF we get Bentley- other then that move on to another position to upgrade. I frankly do not think that Mangold would be much better- and there is no other draft pick that looks good at center. Bentley is the only REAL upgrade- not to mention he is only a year older then Johnson.

The problem with drafting Mangold is they you would be passing up on players like Spencer, Watson, Lawson and Winston. If they would pass on those players to nab Mangold, that means they believe AJ is a huge liability. If he is THAT big a liability, go after Bentley, a proven star.