So, how bad is it?

Morgan's contract wasn't terrible as far os dead money is concerned. So - we got that going for us.

Those with more time than me today - isn't foster's similarly structured?

*waiting for foster to go down.*

 

What did spoon get from the Rams? We would have had to at least match that to keep him, right?

 

That's what I was trying to guage.

 

That makes sense. OK, so they knew signing Morgan might preclude them from signing Spoon. Most teams figured that the CBA would indeed be extended, and that the cap would go up. Most left themselves a way out in case it wasn't.

So yes, negotiating time was lost, but I doubt it would have mattered.

Once the CBA was extended, they did try to sign Spoon, and made him a very nice offer. He was set on 6 mil a year or so, and they didnt think he was worth that. (I don't either).

So, even thought its more complicated than I originally said, we didn't keep Morgan instead of Spoon. We never had a chance to keep Spoon, because we weren't willing to pay his price, and someone else was.

 

It sounds like the worse case scenario would be that he doesn't want to retire and we decide to give him the 2 mill due next spring, then change our minds and cut him prior to June. That would be roughly a 6 mill hit for '07.

Cut him at the end of the season eats 4 mill of the 07 cap. I guess we could also cut him today and take the hit now. That might mean releasing somebodyelse to get under the cap.

After next June would be a 3+ million hit on 07 plus about the same again in 08.

 

If he doesn't want to retire and we decide to keep him and give him that roster bonus, then someone needs to give John Fox a concussion. He either needs to restructure to reduce the team's financial obligation or go damage his melon somewhere else.

 

Remember also, that before we signed Morgan, we were negotiating with Spoon. Those negotiations were getting nowhere, apparently.

 

It depends on when we signed him. If we had locked him up about the time we did Morgan we might have gotten him for significantly less than what the Rams paid. When you let a player hit the open market and the cap goes up a lot that year it is goign to drive the price of that player through the roof.

We should have offered him an extension when he had two years left on his rookie deal. When you have a good young player you need to lock him up early so you pay less for him and you have him longer.

I think the Rams overpaid for him but I wish he were still here too.

 

Don't think so. I believe we offered them both relatively similar contracts at the same time with the understanding that the first one to accept would stay. Personally I favor signing guys to extensions the year before RFA if you intend to keep them, because they're more inclined to take less in exchange for getting the money sooner.

 

most guys aren't showing their full hand in year 2, but yeah, it's smart to get them done early. I wanted Witherspoon signed long term when he was RFA.

He's not irreplaceable. A lot of guys we've let go, they haven't been. It's more how you replace them, and assuming Diggs stays healthy and/or Anderson shows promise this year, you had one transition year at LB and now we're younger on a defense that's aging.