Ravenslifer

No, the bonus is evenly divided over 5 years or so, but you can structure the base salary any way you want. For example, Joe's base salary this year was 1 million, while his signing bonus comes to 5.8 million every year - so if you tack 5.8 to 1, you get his 6.8 million cap hit for the 2013 season. Every year after this Joe has that same signing bonus tacked on to his base salary, plus miscellaneous bonuses that get added to the cap hit if he reaches certain milestones. So in Monroe's case, if he gets a contract for 8 million/yr for 5 years, it could be something like a 15 million signing bonus, meaning you tack on 3 million to every base salary every year, plus whatever option bonuses there are (those are for things like playing x amount of snaps or making the pro bowl). So Monroe could have a base salary of 1 million next year, and if his signing bonus was 15 million, his cap hit for 2014 would be 4 million. You can see the advantages with this would be giving us more cap space short term, but long term you use up a lot more cap on 1 player.

But if the Raiders sign a LT, it puts them in position to draft a quarterback or maybe Sammy Watkins. They have the cap space, so to me it actually makes sense that they go out there and sign a LT to fill the void, then choose a QB or receiver - the FA LTs, when compared to the draft prospects, are much more favorable than any FA QB or receiver.

Yeah the one team I'd be worried about is Oakland with their deep pockets, but if they're not willing to pay Veldheer then they're certainly not going to pay Monroe.

I wonder what kind of market Mike Mitchell would be looking at - he had a very good year in Carolina but I heard they might have trouble resigning any of their free agents because of cap issues.

So basically what we've learned is the Dolphins are looking at every single free agent left tackle out there.

Maybe he just wants to see what the market will bear. Yes there are teams with deep pockets that could pay, but I really only see Miami as the viable option here. The other teams in play, at least as far as I can see, would be in good position to draft one of the 3 LTs in this year's class.

I don't like that argument too much if we're talking about a million dollars here - you can manipulate the cap hits to make the deal manageable. It's not like he's asking for 12 and we want to pay him 7, we offered 8-9 and apparently he wants 10. Some positions you have to overpay for, and LT is one of them, IMO. I think if they paid him 10, they could structure the cap hits to work out in our favor. So I have to believe there's something else involved, either guaranteed money or the length of the deal, because losing an above average player at a position that's hard to find over 1 million dollars would be a waste IMO.

We got that little because everyone knew we were going to cut him. That wasn't the biggest issue to me - Yeah I think Elam, Brown, and Williams were great choices, but in taking them we passed on Justin Hunter, Robert Woods, Markus Wheaton, and Keenan Allen. So we traded Boldin, a starting receiver, and did not sign or draft a potential starter in his place, instead thinking that a combo of Doss/Jones/Pitta/Dickson would make up for the lost production. In retrospect, it might have been better to draft a potential replacement last year. And I guess that's what irritated me - we went out and signed Huff and drafted Elam to replace Reed and Pollard, Smith and Brown to replace Ray and Ellerbe, Canty/Spears/Dumervil to replace Kruger, had no need to replace Cary with Webb and Jimmy here. But we stood pat on Anquan, instead the assumption was made that 2 guys who nobody thought would be starters at any point during the 2012 season, would become starter-caliber players in 2013, and the other two guys would help them produce. That never happened, and say we had taken Keenan Allen we wouldn't be concerned with receiver now - though ILB might be a bigger concern this year. Ultimately all it means to me is that the front office needs to recognize yes, they don't have the talent to replace Q on this roster right now, and to go find someone via draft or FA. If it gets done this offseason, then having Qs money off the books to land Doom, Canty, and Spears was probably worth it. If they don't fix it this year and we're talking about receiver hunting next year, then I think it's an issue.

For the right price, he'd be a good signing - he lined up all over the field in New Orleans, and that kind of versatility is something that we could use here.

I don't even really see that - Monroe is only 3 years younger, and Albert has started less than a seasons' worth of games more than Monroe, so in terms of wear and tear they're closer than their ages would indicate.

I'd agree except that Pitta got a very fair deal. He got less than I'd anticipated we may end up paying him, and I think it's fair value which is why I think the FO went ahead and signed him. Monroe on the other hand seems to be perfectly fine in testing FA if he doesn't get the money he wants, which is fair to him - it's likely his last chance at a big payday and it's obvious that there will be teams out there who can and will pay him more than we will.

He's not now, but his first few years he was, IMO, and that's my point - I don't think anyone ever looked at Monroe and said "he's a top 5 left tackle in the NFL" like Joe Thomas, or Ryan Clady, whereas Jake Long was once in that conversation.

And has been in the league for 5 years. A lot of linemen retire after about a decade, in their early 30s - even the best don't make it more than 12 or 13 years, like JO or Munoz. Not quite the short shelf life of a running back, but compared to other NFL positions they don't play very long.

I don't think he'll underachieve, but I don't think he is, nor ever will be, a pro-bowl/top-5 talent like Jake Long or some other tackles are/have been. His best years in the league are already behind him, so whoever gets him will be getting what's left of his prime and the downslope of his career. Which is part of the reason I think this is dragging out - the front office will just not pay him a top salary and run the risk of his play declining significantly at the tail end of it ala Jamal Brown or Marcus McNeill.

Yeah the Raiders didn't use their tag on anyone, which is a bit surprising given all the cap space they have. Of course, it could mean a deal is imminent and they didn't feel the need to use the tag.

If you mean Art, I think he's listed as a DE and the tag for DEs is 13 million - the only one that's higher is QB. That's a good chunk of our cap space gone, and I don't think the team wanted to handcuff themselves like that so early, even if all it was going to be was a bridge to a long-term deal this offseason.

I'm thinking they have to be close to a deal and decided to forgo the tag because of it. These things also tend to happen quickly - it seemed like all of last week we were talking about Pitta leaving, and in the span of a day or two we've got him locked up for 5 years.

They said the exact same thing just days before Pitta inked his deal. For all we know this is just because they hadn't even bothered opening negotiations until Pitta signed, so of course they're going to be far apart. I definitely could see Monroe getting the franchise tag, but where negotiations are with Monroe now doesn't concern me because I think they focused on getting Pitta done before everyone else.

I forgot about the other FA tackles (except Veldheer because I see about a .01 percent chance the Raiders let him get away), but that's pretty much my line of thinking - if not Monroe or another FA tackle, we're going to have to trade up because I don't expect any of the LT prospects in the draft class to still be there at 17, and that is my big concern.

Agreed, but the problem we may run into is that all three of the top LTs in this draft get selected in the top 10. I'm glad they resigned Pitta, but Monroe to me is most likely the only commodity at left tackle we're going to even have a shot at. We might have to overpay him slightly to keep him, and in fact I think we most probably will, and I could live with that if the alternative is we shove Oher back out there at LT next season.

And it apparently is going higher in 2015. That's really going to help us when we've got a bunch of guys like Jimmy and Torrey coming up on FA.

If you really look at it, none of the guys we lost last year was worth close to what they got - Kruger a situational pass rusher paid like a top starter, Cary being paid like a top starter, Ed being pald like he was 30 instead of 36, Ellerbe being paid like he was a healthy 3 year starter at an important position. Whether some fans like it or not, I really think the front office did the smart thing in letting all of those guys go. In Monroe's case, I don't think he will command Trent Williams like money, but I think the Ravens will pony up and overpay him slightly to keep him

True, but the alternative is missing out on all of the left tackles at the top end of the draft. I could easily see a situation where Matthews, Robinson, and Lewan are all gone, and then what do you do?

He's not bad - he gets dinged up quite a bit - I think the Bengals' issue is they have a glut of talent and need to make up cap space to keep the guys they want - remember they drafted Eifert, who outplayed Gresham this year, and they also have Green, Sanu, and Jones who all stepped up this year. They aren't in cap trouble, but the question would be do they want to pay Gresham when they could get a rookie and still have a deep receiving corps - remember the Bengals FO is notoriously stingy.

I don't think Daryl Smith will command too much given he's 31 and playing a position that's not highly sought after in free agency. He's actually the one free agent I would say is a lock to return without any hesitation.