Tag: brian williams

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Free Agency Delayed

On the positive side, the delay of till, at the earlies, Monday, gives me some extra time to put together my 2006 NFL Free Agency Resources post. On the downside, damn, we gotta wait!

Had talks broken down for good, as they appeared they had, the would have been in the sweet position of being $24 million below the cap while most other teams would have to cut high-priced veterans, flooding the market with talent, lowering the asking prices for all free agents, in an environment when only a couple of teams–the Vikes and most prominent among them–would be in a position to pay anyone anything.

The Vikes could practically have had their choice of free agents at bargain prices. That would have put them in the enviable positon of not only being positioned to get the top picks of the free agent litter, but it would have also greatly reduced the bargaining leverage of such players as and .

But had that happened, the Vikings had better win the Super Bowl because with a lack of an agreement and, as a result, a salary-capless 2007 season, the Vikings would all of a sudden have transformed into the of football, a small market team trying to compete against major media market free spenders such as the .

The downside would have been far to dire; let’s count ourselves luck for the repreive.

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Brian Williams

The fact that the Vikings on makes me think that the team doesn’t have much hope that they’ll retain the cornerback.

By making him a transition player, the have essentially offered him a one year $4.774 million contract, the average of the top 10 highest-paid cornerbacks last season. The team has the right to match any offer sheet Williams may get from another team, or allow him to leave.

Had the Vikings made him their franchise player, they would have had to pay him $5.9 million; then any team that signed him away from the Vikings would owe us two first-round picks as compensation.

Obviously, the team doesn’t want to pay him nearly $6 million and you gotta think he’s going to make more than the transition number as a free agent. With Buffalo franchising , Williams will be one of the top cornerbacks available. Williams has also said he doesn’t want to stay here.

I would’ve liked to see the team use the franchise tag on Williams and give him the starting job. Smoot hasn’t really done anything except get injured, but I absolutely love a defensive backfield consisting of , Brian Williams, and .

I guess we’ll need to add a cornerback to our free agency shopping list.

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