Kaspers Korner

The Washington Redskins virtually every year are up against the salary cap, and every year they find ways to create room to go on a shopping spree.   Well this year they found a way to get under the cap, but are not going after free agents.

The only news to come out of the Washington Redskins is the resigning ofquarterback Todd Collins.  That should be music to their ears.

The only thing that Redskins fans should hope to hear is the signing of their own free agents, and draft picks down the road.

With only the chirping of crickets at Redskins head quarters one can only assume that owner Dan Snyder has learned his lesson.  That lesson being you bulid winning teams through the draft, and not in free agency.

If this lesson has truly been learned then Redskins fans can be hopeful that a Super Bowl is once again only a short drive down the road.

In the end it looks like the NFC East will be the toughest division next year. 

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had $44 million in money to spendon free agents.  Only a few hours in they threw too much money at center Jeff Faine.

Faine signed a contract for five years worth $37.5 million with $15 million of it guaranteed.  That folks is officially the dumbest contract so far.

It is one thing to over pay for a quality caliber play that has made a huge impact just recently for his former team.  However, to sign a center that is considered good not great is just plain stupid.

Unfortunately, this probably nothing more than the Buccaneers spending the money that they have to to hit the salary floor of $100 million.

According to Pro Football Talk.com Faine was the center that Lecharles Bentley replaced on the Browns.   Now, he has surpassed that becoming the highest paid center of all time.

Also, the Buccaneers have lined up several other free agents for visits.  Which makes the Buccaneers the new dummy of free agency.  They replace the current king the  Washington Redskins.

So, in a few years look for the Bucs to be dumping people like the Redskins.

The Dallas Cowboys are always prone to spend big money.  However, no one was as important as left tackle Flozzel Adams, according to Clarence E. Hill Jr. of the Dallas Star-Telegram.

The money was not disclosed, but that is not the important thing.  The important thing is that Tony Romo’s blind side is set for years to come.  You see if you cannot protect your quarterback, eventually he will be hurt seriously.  That of course would mean the end of your season right there.

The Cowboys still have a ways to go in getting some key players done.  Both running backs Julius Jones and Marion Barber contracts expire. 

Jones is unrestricted, which means that he will most likely not be back.  Barber is a restricted free agent that will be tendered at the first round draft pick level, which is not actually the highest. 

Saftey Ken Hamlin was set to be a free agent, but was given the franchise tag.  However, the Cowboys still have to get him signed to a long term deal to make the tag worth while. Also, backup cornerbacks Nate Jones and Jacques Reeves are also set to be unrestricted leaving a huge void at the nickle cornerback slot.

Finally, the other big restricted free agent is defensive end Chris Canty, who was also give the first round tender. 

Eventhough, Barber and Canty have been given a first round tender other teams can still negotiate a huge contract with the players.  Also, the development of the poison pill valuiable restricted free agents have become even harder to sign.

If the Cowboys are going to stay competitive on defense then they need to get these players resigned, because no free agent is going to be as good as the player that just left you.  After all they know your system better than the guy coming in, especially the small intracasies of the system.

The Houston Texans main target to sign was one of their own.  With keeping wide receiver Andre Davis the Texans also set a bad precedent for the rest of the league.

Andre Davis was not a starter, but he was a key receiver in their four wide receiver sets, and a star returner on special teams.  For his play he received a four year $16 million contract, with eight million guaranteed. 

So, what does that mean for the wide receiver market?  It means that the market just shot up 100 percent.  Which, also means that top wide receivers in the league are going to get a huge pay day as well.

However, the move was good for the Texans.  A player that is an asset at wide receiver, and special teams is someone that you have to keep.  Eventhough, you might have to pay more for him.

In the end this was their big splash as according to Megan Manfull of the Houston Chronicle, “The Texans have more cap space than it had a year ago, but isn’t going to risk getting themselves in future trouble by signing a big-name, risky player. The Texans are still trying to make up for all the money issues left to them by Charley Casserly.”

That would be the smart move in the end, becuase you want to clear dead money.  That is so that you can sign guys like Davis to long term deals, and other youngsters, so that eventually you will have a solid team that can make the playoffs.

Afterall they only have to deal with the Indianapolis Colts and the Jacksonville Jaguars in their division as well if they are going to make it into the post season.

The New Orleans Saints made the playoffs two seasons ago, but took a step back this year.  If they are going to make a run at the playoffs then they have a ways to go on getting key starters signed.

Both sides of the Ball have unrestricted free agents that will affect their units tremendously if they depart.  Those being on offense wide receivers David Patten, and Devery Henderson, center Jeff Faine.  On defense the key starters would be defensive tackl Brian Young, and middle linebacker Mark Simoneau.

According to the Times-Picayune the Saints resigned offensive linemen Jamaar Nesbit, and Jonathan Goodwin.  Nesbit is a starting guard for the Siants, and Goodwin is a keybackup as he backsup both the guard and center position.

They do not expect to be able to resign center Jeff Faine who is looking for a big payday.  Also, with who the Saints had visit in middle linebackers Zach Thomas and Dan Morgan it looks like they do not expect to be able to resign middle linebacker Mark Simoneau.

One thing is for sure they have a lot of work ahead of them if they are going to compete with the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers if they expect to get to the Super Bowl.

The other saving grace is that they are in a bad division with the Atlanta Falcons, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Carolina Panthers.

The Tennessee Titans just made the playoffs this past season as a wild card team.  If they are going to make a run at the playoffs again this season they have to do it without two key defensive ends.

It looks like the Tennessee Titans will lose to key defensive ends.  Those being rstarting right defensive end Antwan Odom, and backup to Kyle Vanden Bosch, Travis Laboy.  Both are set to be unrestricted free agents this year.

According to the Tennessean C.J. Laboy, who represents his brother Travis, “I wouldn’t be surprised if the Titans don’t have either of them back next year.'’

Both agents for the players said that their clients, and the teams offers were far apart.  At this point in time that pretty much seals the deal that they will be free agents.

This means that if the Titans do not address the position in free agency, then you can expect them take a defensive end in this upcoming draft.  Luckily the draft this years looks to hve a lot of good defensive end prospects.

The other big problem for the Titans is defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth.  Haynesworth was franchised by the team, but if a long term deal is not worked out soon then you can expect him to also walk away from the club when free agency opens next year.

With the Giants winning the Super Bowl on the heels of their defensive line play it is in the best interest of the club to get both Odom, and Haynesworth signed to long term deals ASAP.

If they do not, well then do not expect them to make the playoffs, unless they draft extremely well.

The Miami Dolphins had the worst record in the National Football League last year.  With it now comes being in the worst situation of having to give a draft pick $30 million in signing bonus money, and not being able to get out of it.

It has become unanimous that there is not one clear cut number one draft prospect in the upcoming draft.  That means that teams will not be willing to trade up into the number one spot.

Miami has the undoubious job of having to rebuild completely from scratch.  Their front office has done so horrible of a job that no player remains from one of their drafts from eariler this decade. That means that they are pretty much an expansion team right now.

If this was several years ago the Dolphins could trade out of the spot, and get multiple draft picks.  Now, agents have pushed the asking price of the first pick so high that teams are reluctant to even want to be in that position.

As John Clayton stated in an interview on the Colin Cowherd show on ESPN radio, “Teams would be willing to trade up if there was a clear cut number one, but there is not that this year. So teams will not want to trade up to the number one spot, because of the bonus money that they have to give out to that player.

The difference between the number one draft pick and the number eight draft pick is almost $20 million, eventhough there is not much of a drop off.  That pretty much means the Dolphins are screwed.

They will have to tie up a large amount of their cap in a player that has never played a down.  The money should go to resigning of players, and free agents. 

Even Bill Polian agrees with this thinking in a statement he made at the Combine according to NFL.com, “The draft was designed to either allow the weakest teams, based on record, to choose the best players, or if they chose not to take a particular player, to gather a bunch of picks to further accelerate their growth and competitiveness.”

So Dolphins fans buckle up it is going to be a long time before the Dolphins are back into the playoffs. 

The Buffalo Bills have three glaring needs, and those are a run stuffing defensive tackle, a tall wide receiver, and a solid tightend.  They could have filled two of those positions already if they were on top of things.

This is the time of year where teams can improve themselves by signing free agents.  The Bills could have already filled two of those positions with wide receiver Donte Stallworth, and tightend Alge Crumpler.  Both of whom were let go by their teams this past month.

Both would be immediate upgrades at their position. Also, both of them are still in their prime, and just were the victims of circumstances.  Crumpler was cut, because he was on a bad team that wants to rebuild, and Stallworth because of a large bonus that was due to him.

It is not like they would cost mind numbing numbers either.  Pro Football Talk.com said this about Stallworth, “A league source tells us that there’s little or no interest on the open market for receiver Donte’ Stallworth, whose tenure with the Patriots is ending after only one season.”

Crumpler on the other hand might cost the Bills a little bit, but they do not have any key starters to resign this year.  Considering that tightend Robert Royal had only 25 catches, and a quarterback that is going into his second year, the Bills desperately need the likes of Royal.

However, according to WGR 550 the Bills like Teyo Johnson, whom they just signed.  The last time Johnson caught a pass was in 2005 for the Arizona Cardinals.  Hopefully they were being sarcastic, and not being serious.  For if they were then may god have mercy on us, because Bills fans are in store for another very long season.

The Oakland Raiders have become the joke of the league.  They can cement that in stone if a rumour from Pro Football Talk.com is true.

According to Pro Football Talk.com the Raiders are shopping strong safety Michael Huff.  This would not be the first time, because back in the early part of last season the Raiders stated that everyone on their defense is tradeable, which was reported by Jay Glazer of Fox.

Talk about stupidity, but this one takes the cake.  Huff is only going into his third year as a pro.  The fact is that it takes NFL players three four, or even five years to reach their full potential.

It does not make any sense of why they would trade Huff after only two years.  No real reason was given on Pro Football Talk.com besides the big contract that Huff signed.

However, that is typical nowadays in the NFL.  High first round draft picks are getting bonus signing money about equal to what Peyton Manning, and Dwight Freeney received from the Indianapolis Colts.

The matter of the fact is that the Raiders should live with the contract untill the end of it. Thats if they really want their value out of it, becuase teams are only going to give second day picks at best for Huff.

In the end Al Davis will probably make a team extremely happy, and at the same time make Raider fans hide their heads in shame.

The Arizona Cardinals are stuck between a rock and a hard place with wide receiverLarry Fitzgerald’s contract.  In the end they made the right call in regards to it.

According to NFL.com Vice President of Football Operations Rod Graves said this, “He’s a core player, and like so many other players we’re excited about with respect to our football team, we are going to do what we have to do to keep that core player.”

Graves went on to state that the team will live with the contract, becuase, “He’s earned the right to be where he is.”  That is the right call in this matter.

Wide receivers over 6′0, and with talent, will always be on the look for.  Teams would have paid a kings ransom to get their hands on Fitzgerald considering how receivers Terrel Owens and Randy Moss played this year.

Besides Fitzgerald, Randy Moss and Chad Johnson are the only other two receivers in the top five in receiving yards this year to have multiple 1,000 yard seasons within their first four years.  Not even Marvin Harrison, or Steve Smith have accomplished this.

What Fitzgerald has accomplished is very rare to do in the NFL.  To get rid of him would be the biggest mistake that the Cardinals could have done, and if they do get rid of him then forget the playoffs for the next several years