David Moore (Dallas Morning News beat writer for the Cowboys and one of the best in the business) had a take on the Dez/D. Thomas franchise tags this afternoon that makes a ton of sense to me. You have Megatron at the top of the salary food chain - then you have Mike Wallace. Dez, D. Thomas and Julio Jones are all three better than that useless bag of nothing Wallace.

And - they all need contracts.

And - none of them are going anywhere.

So... this is "setting the market" time. It's reasonable to expect all three of them to get around the same amount at about the same length of deal. Only questions are who's first and what that benchmark is. Any other commentary about character and questionable off-the-field "things" is pretty much superfluous BS.

Sounds like Thomas and Bryant had the same momma.  

No dad... Mom did time... Lived with his grandma but his dad's were his football coaches.... I'll see if I can find one of the articles that came out when he was drafted.  It sounds like he and Thomas had pretty much the same obstacles to overcome.  

Randall Cobb and Bryan Bulaga become free agents. I see the Packers signing Bulaga, really a big piece on their o-line. I don't know about Cobb but I'd be surprised if they didn't get him back either. they really aren't big players when it comes to free agency so I'm not expecting anything this off-season, usually pretty quiet for GB until the draft

but Cobb wants $12/year, I don't think he's getting that in GB. $10/year or more imo, probably will go to Jax or Oakland cuz I bet they're willing to pay $12/year

Cobb is going to be an interesting player in how much Dez and Demaryius get paid me thinks. You can make a legitimate argument that Cobb is in the same "skill tier" as those two (guarantee they will when negotiations start).

David Moore elaborated on his radio comments yesterday in his column this morning in the Dallas Morning News. Some good stuff to digest here... and it's all about the marketplace.


"...Neither (Bryant or Thomas) will top the seven-year, $113.4 million contract Calvin Johnson signed with Detroit a few years ago, a deal that provides $48.7 million in guaranteed money. Here’s the problem.

Discard the contract length and total for a moment. Focus on guaranteed money.

Miami’s Mike Wallace is second among receivers with $30 million in guarantees. Tampa Bay’s Vincent Jackson falls in line after him at $26 million.

That’s quite a gap. Bryant and Thomas will argue — and rightfully so — that they should be closer to Johnson on this scale than Wallace or Jackson.

Bryant and Thomas are tied at the financial hip going forward. The receiver who steps out and signs a deal first will establish the parameters for the other and for Atlanta’s Julio Jones, who could find himself in the same position this time next year."

Dallas Morning News


Personally - I think Cobb plays an important part in what Bryant and Thomas get. If someone (say - Oakland with their available cap space) were to throw a huge contract with around $35-38M in guaranteed money at Cobb, then it stands to reason both Dez and Demaryius are going to want more. If on the other hand he takes a hometown discount and around $28-30M, then he still affects Dez and Demaryius except the guaanteed money is more than Wallace but still less than $35M.

Just speculation... but you see where this goes. Your hero Cobb is going to be an important piece of this offseason puzzle in my uneducated eye.

Andre Johnson is now available.

Texans told him he would get about 40 passes and he told them to go fuck themselves.

They are looking to trade him or will release him if no partner is found

Eagles trade Lesean McCoy to Buffalo for Kiko Alonso.

brony Macho Row

Discuss

Might as well make it official now. Eagles trade up to get mariotta.

My guess is this years 1!and 2, next years 1 and 3 and possibly Foles.

Bulaga isn't a money-whipped character, nothing from what I've ever heard/read about him gives me that impression. Cobb on the other hand definitely could be. he's coming off a great season, has tremendous upside as both a returner AND receiver, and wants to get paid more than Jordy Nelson. I don't see that happening, but it definitely could. if he's stuck on his price, he's not going to return. he's already stated he enjoys GB and would like to make himself a home there, but at his price it won't happen. I won't be surprised to see him return for 10.5 a year or a similar contract to Nelson

I don't see the point of the trade, other than they don't want to pay McCoy since he's expected to try to negotiate for a higher contract and they're expected to release Trent Cole and want a replacement for him. plus it frees up a little over $10m in cap space for them to spend in free agency

Steelers want Polamalu to retire so they don't have to release his ass

www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000476330/article/troy-polamalu-not-in-steelers-plans-for-2015

ESPN's Matt Williamson thinks Orakpo, Odrick and Raji are good fits in Chicago, thinks Brandon Spikes will come to GB, Iupati, Colon or Hardy are going to Tampa. he has Ingram going to Dallas - doesn't make much sense, as well as Stephen Paea as well as Dawan Landry on Washington's radar.

Packers insider Rob Demovsky thinks they're going to re-sign Cobb, but bring back Davon House over Tramon Williams.

honestly, I'm good with the re-sign of Cobb but I'd feel more comfortable with Williams being brought back than House, but I'm imagining the price difference for both is a factor. don't know what they're asking for - since everything on ESPN requires insider - but I'm assuming it's enough

with regards to Polamalu, I'd ask his ass to retire too, has he done anything recently?