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Beefing up defensively Defensive linemen may flood free-agent market
Posted: Monday May 15, 2000 02:52 PM
Finding big defensive tackles to plug up the inside and stop the running game is usually one of the most difficult searches for NFL personnel directors. But things may be easier this year. More than a thousand pounds of talent may be available in June in the persons of Gilbert Brown, Tony Siragusa and Ted Washington. Brown already is a free agent and the other two could become cap casualties. A team like New England, switching to a 3-4 defense, could be very interested in a nose tackle who could force a double team and free up a linebacker. I've seen Bill Belichick's schemes get a lot of mileage out of players with a lot less talent than these three have. Any one of them could be a big help for his run defense.
Intradivision signings serve two purposesMost general managers feel there's nothing like snatching players away from a division opponent. It's a two for one: The signing team gets a personnel upgrade and one of their closest rivals loses a quality player. Tampa Bay pulled off two heists this year, signing Randall McDaniel and Jeff Christy away from Minnesota. To date, 21 players have switched teams within their own division, nine of them in the AFC Central. These players bring not only talent but a few little secrets about their former team, like audible systems or sideline signals.
NFL Europe gets closer lookThe draft is over, most mini-camps are over, and now personnel people and coaches turn their attention to NFL Europe. One head coach I spoke with this week said there is little talent overseas this year. But I reminded him that he said the same thing the last two years -- and somehow Kurt Warner slipped by his evaluators. There are several players who could rejuvenate their NFL chances: wide receiver Jermaine Copeland, defensive end Jonathon Brown. Also, a pair of quarterbacks -- Pat Barnes of Frankfurt, who has completed 68 percent of his passes with six touchdowns and just one interception, and Danny Wuerffel of Rhein, who's passed for 10 TDs and more than 1,000 yards. It's easy for coaches to say, "I remember the guy when he was in the NFL and he wasn't good enough then." But the Kurt Warner story, the Jon Kitna story and the Brad Johnson story should be convincing enough reasons to keep an open mind.
Contract structures for the futureLal Heneghan, the assistant director of football operations and general counsel for the Cleveland Browns has structured recent rookie contracts to void when certain achievements are made. True, the void shortens the length of the contract by a year or two, but it also uses the surplus cap space the Browns have now and can't save for future years. Nineteen-ninety-nine draft picks Tim Couch, Kevin Johnson and Rahim Abdullah all hit a voidable clause and the Browns get to pay off $3 million of future debt now, thereby creating space in future years. That's the kind of planning that should keep the Browns in a healthy cap environment for years to come. Heneghan deserves a lot of credit for the foresight in his cap management.
Teams receive cap-space allotmentThe NFL has allocated $105,832,900 of cap space for teams to sign players from the Draft Class of 2000. That averages out to about $3.4 million per team, but the allocated space varies from team to team depending on the number of draft picks they had. Cleveland has the largest rookie allocation at $5.78 million, followed by the Jets with $5.37 million and San Francisco with $5.13 million. But only the Browns have the overall cap space to sign their rookies without getting rid of veterans. According to one team's capoligist I spoke with, only eight other teams throughout the league had the cap space as of last week to handle their rookie pool. Veteran players hate the fact that teams have traditionally used 98 percent of the rookie pool and pushed out veterans to get it done. There's no rule that states a team has to use all of the rookie pool yet teams do. It is still a mystery to me why clubs feel compelled to use all the rookie space at the expense of some veterans. Pat Kirwan, who spent 12 years as a pro football coach, scout and personnel administrator, is an NFL analyst for CNN/Sports Illustrated. The opinions expressed here are those of the writer.
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