Chiefs Dealing Jared Allen?

by | Apr 17, 2008 | 2008 Trades, NFL Draft

Thanks to the regulars over at RandBall, who clued us into the latest goings on in the life of a former Minnesota Golden Gopher kicker AND pointed us to a Jay Glazer article on the possibility of the Chiefs trading Jared Allen.

Apparently Allen is flying to Minnesota this week, and planning to meet with Tampa Bay next week, leading up to the NFL Draft on April 26th.

Two sticking points to the deal would be the new team agreeing to a contract with Allen, and working out compensation with the Chiefs. Both the Bucs and the Vikes have plenty of cap room, and need for a pass rushing DE. It is thought that a 1st round pick along with a 2nd or a 3rd would likely be the asking price for Allen–the Vikes pick 17th in round one, and the Bucs pick 20th.

We’ll definitely be keeping our eyes on this one, as a deal would have significant implications on the draft needs and predictions for all teams.

Rai-Duhs dump more cash

by | Mar 19, 2008 | 2008 NFL Free Agency, 2008 Trades

The Oakland Raiders have reportedly agreed to trade a second round draft choice to the Atlanta Falcons for disgruntled cornerback DeAngelo Hall.

They also will pay him, allegedly, $70 million for seven years of service.

It just doesn’t end this off-season for the Raiders who continue throwing money around like Pacman Jones at a Las Vegas strip club.

That’s even better money than Asante Samuel got to leave New England for Philadelphia a couple weeks ago – and Samuel has not only outperformed Hall, but has played in Super Bowls.

This is almost like watching some horror movie – you can’t believe what you are seeing, but it’s too fascinating to turn away.

What is the old man in Oakland thinking?

Winners and losers

by | Mar 3, 2008 | 2008 NFL Free Agency, 2008 Trades

It’s too early to grade teams’ free agency performances. But with many big names now off the board there are a couple clear winners and losers thus far.

Winners:
I’ve been especially impressed with the moves Cleveland has made. They had huge problems stopping the run last season so they went aggressively after two defensive tackles, picking up Shaun Rogers and Corey Williams from the NFC North in separate trades. Both of these guys have question marks. Williams is more of a pass rusher than a run stuffer. And Rogers sometimes plays as if he can’t wait to hit the post-game buffet table.

But both players are upgrades, and if the Browns can motivate Rogers, the defense should be much improved.

Mix in the addition of big-play receiver Donte Stallworth, who will complement Kellen Winslow and Braylon Edwards, and the Browns could have made themselves the team to beat in the AFC North. If Derek Anderson can duplicate his 2007 exploits this should be a fun team to watch this season.
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Free Agency Opens with Trades

by | Feb 29, 2008 | 2008 NFL Free Agency, 2008 Trades

Once rare, several trades have gone down on the first day of the NFL league calendar.

Green Bay Packers DT Corey Williams, the team’s franchise player, was traded to Cleveland for a second round draft pick. The move takes the Browns at least temporarily out of the first day of the 2008 NFL Draft. Williams has 14 sacks over the last two seasons and had priced himself out of the Packers budget with his play. This is an interesting move for the Browns. Certainly they needed to do something about their 30th ranked defense. And Williams is a quality player, having started 20 games and notched 14 sacks over the last two seasons. I like him better in a 4-3 defense. While he’s 6-4, 313 pounds, I’m not 100 percent sold on him being the space-clogging, double-team eating nose tackle a team needs in the 3-4 defense. But an improving Browns team is doing a nice job of collecting young, talented players and they did snag one of the top defensive linemen available on the market.

Another move that could pay dividends is the New York Jets acquisition of DT Kris Jenkins from Carolina for a couple of mid-round picks. This move makes sense as the Jets switched to a 3-4 defense and Dewayne Robertson isn’t really big enough to play the fat-boy-in-the-middle role. The question is health. If Jenkins stays healthy the Jets will have worked out a steal that should improve their sieve-like run defense.

The biggest deals so far involve teams keeping their own players. Reports put the deal DL Tommy Kelly signed at $50 million over seven years with more than $18 million upfront. While Kelly has been solid he’s also been injury prone. He’s coming off of a torn ACL. And it’s questionable to me why he is worthy of being the highest paid DT in league history.