Stock Up: Week 17

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Every Monday during the season we will take a look back at three players who are entering important stages of their contract that may have helped their stock in upcoming negotiations with their play on Sunday. In addition we will also look at one player signed in the offseason to a new contract that exceeded all expectations and provided exceptional value to his team.

Greg Hardy– Just another day at the office for Mr Hardy who continues his incredible hot streak, this time taking advantage of a porous Falcons offensive line to the tune of 4 sacks on Sunday. Hardy was dominant and he had to be if the Panthers wanted to clinch a first round bye. The offense simply did not have it on Sunday but Hardy helped provide the team with the spark it needed to clinch the NFC South. Hardy will be a free agent in 2014.

LaGarrette Blount– Blount carried the Patriots to victory on Sunday with an impressive 189 yards and two td’s on just 24 carries. It was one of the most impressive games you will ever see for a running back and the head coach showed his appreciated as he took him off the field to a standing ovation from the Patriots crowd. Blount was also a new addition for the Patriots this year as they traded for him after he fell out of favor with the Tampa Bay coaching staff in 2012. He reworked his contract to take a paycut in order to get an opportunity in New England as he approached free agency. Now he has a major game to fall back on when looking for a new contract.

Justin Tuck– In a meaningless season for the Giants, Tuck made the most of the situation and put up his best statistical year since 2010 finishing the season with 63 tackles and 11 sacks. He pretty much owned the Redskins this year racking up two sacks on Sunday and four sacks the last time the two teams met. While I personally would be worried about handing over too much money to Tuck, I have to think more than a few teams, if not the Giants, will be asking him to rush the passer on an incentive based deal next season.

 

New Contract Player Of The Week

Anquan Boldin – Boldin began the season in this spot and finished it here as well after his 9 catch 149 yard performance for San Francisco. The 49ers running game fell flat leaving the passing game to pick up the offense and Boldin responded greatly. The Ravens made a mistake in trading Boldin who finished the year with nearly 1200 yards and was a big member of the 49ers team. He’ll be 34 next season but is proving that someone needs to give him a mid range contract next year.

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Stock Up: Week 1

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Every Monday during the season we will take a look back at three players who are entering important stages of their contract that may have helped their stock in upcoming negotiations with their play on Sunday. In addition we will also look at one player signed in the offseason to a new contract that exceeded all expectations and provided exceptional value to his team.

Stock Up

Anquan Boldin– Boldin had a historic Sunday catching 13 passes for 208 yards. He was targeted 17 times out of 38 passes meaning he was pretty much it for the 49ers offense on Sunday afternoon. Boldin earns $6 million dollars in 2013 and his price tag was considered too high for the defending champion Baltimore Ravens. Considering the 49ers only gave up a 6th round pick for Boldin, there were probably a number of other teams that felt the same way.  This is the final year of his contract and at 33 years old needs to prove he is capable enough to snag a Reggie Wayne style three year contract for about $5.5 million a year. Boldin hasn’t produced 1,000 receiving yards since 2009, but should be well on his way to getting there in 2013.   A big day for Boldin’s pending free agency.

Charles Tillman– Tillman had a big day on Sunday picking off Andy Dalton of the Bengals twice and proving to be a major reason why the Bears defeated the Bengals in week 1. Tillman’s first interception on the day helped set up the Bears first score and his second one likely prevented at least 3 points from going on the board for the Bengals. . Though Tillman did have a costly penalty I believe the impact plays easily outweigh the negatives.  Tillman is in the final year of a six year contract and will have a chance to earn a payday from someone in 2014 based on his ability to be a defensive playmaker. Two interceptions right away puts him on pace to get a third straight Pro Bowl nod and parlay that into a nice little contract for the 32 year old corner.

Sam Bradford– Though Bradford is not in a contract year he is in a unique situation because his salary cap hit in 2014 is gigantic, over $17 million, and so is the cost to cut him from the team. It sets the stage for an extension for cap relief regardless of the player deserving the money or not. Matt Stafford recently received a similar contract and the year before Mark Sanchez did the same. While both got good deals that would allow them to hit free agency at a young age after a short term extension, both came off mediocre seasons that limited their bargaining power and chances to get bigger contracts. The Rams have shown a propensity to pay their performing draft picks well and the game Bradford had will help him join that group. While the 299 yards is impressive, more impressive is the fact that he shook off an interception and was productive down the stretch helping lead his team to 14 unanswered points in the 4th quarter.

New Contract Player Of The Week

Reggie Bush– I have always been critical of Bush as being an overhyped and overvalued player, but there is no way to discount the impact he had on the game this week for the Detroit Lions. 21 carries for 90 yards and the big 77 yard reception where he just split apart and then outran the entire Vikings defense. At a $2 million cap number and $5 million cash number, it would be hard to find a better free agent bargain in the first week than Bush.


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Recapping Todays AFC Salary Cap News

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Today was quite the day of activity as teams look to gain as much cap space as possible before the beginning of free agency tomorrow. I am going to break things down by conference in two posts to keep things from getting too long. As for the salary cap charts please note that I will be doing my best to keep them updated and current over the next week but I’ll be playing catchup on some days so bear with me on it. Also the league has made more adjustments to the cap that I am unaware of for most teams so if you have any information please email me.

Miami Dolphins– While they did not do anything noteworthy the contract information for Brian Hartline and Matt Moore was reported by Ben Volin of the Palm Beach Post. It’s a great deal for Miami with Hartline. They got him at below top level number 2 money and have an easy out in year 3 of the contract. Moore’s contract is essentially a 1 year $4 million dollar deal as the high cap hit in 2014 makes him a likely release. This may have been a situation where they surveyed the landscape and thought his was he best fit and to approach it again next year. Miami went with extremely low year 1 cap charges for the two players all things considered, taking up just $4.615 million in cap space. Considering Miami’s cap situation it might mean that they will spend heavily in free agency.

New York Jets– The Jets tendered RT Austin Howard at the 2nd round level, which may be a bit shortsighted considering their salary cap space, or lack thereof. They may have been worried about a team signing him to a high cap charge year 1 contract that the Jets would be unable to match. No chance that he would draw any interest with a 2nd round price tag. The Jets also signed QB David Garrard to come in and join the QB carousel. The Jets are getting dangerously low in cap room where they may not have the room necessary to trade CB Darrelle Revis. The Jets need $3 million in cap space to trade Revis. They have a number of contracts that they can rework which would seem to be a priority if they want to sign anyone in the next few days. The Jets are asking WR Santonio Holmes to take a paycut.

Baltimore Ravens– The Ravens have tried for some time to get WR Anquan Boldin to accept a paycut which he refused to do, leading to his trade from the team. Boldin had been somewhat of disappointment since leaving the Arizona Cardinals but then made up for it with a great playoff run that culminated in the Super Bowl.  The trade will be made official once Boldin passes a physical with the 49’ers. The Ravens will clear $6 million in cap room once the trade is official. The Ravens also tendered Ed Dickson today.

Tennessee Titans– Jay Glazer announced that G Steve Hutchinson will announce his retirement tomorrow. Hutchinson will save the Titans $3.75 million in cap room.

Denver BroncosAndrew already covered of what went on in Denver as they are creating enough cap room to go out and do something big if they want to. I would imagine a lot of Revis speculation in the coming days. He is a perfect fit and they have a cap system that can absorb him if they desire. The Broncos continue to try to get DE Elvis Dumervil to take a paycut. Both sides have their own leverage here. The Broncos have no reason to keep the inconsistent player and could look for a cheaper veteran such as Dwight Freeney to replace him. Dumervil, as a young pass rusher, can likely get his full $12 million salary from another team if he hits free agency. My guess is Denver will not do anything with him until they are assured of a replacement.

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Large cap savings could force Boldin out of Baltimore

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After hauling in 22 catches for 380 yards with seven touchdowns this past postseason en route to helping the Baltimore Ravens win Super Bowl 47, one would think Anquan Boldin was a new franchise hero assured of a roster spot for 2013. Well, if you were one of the many who thought that, you may be very wrong.

After being dealt from the Arizona Cardinals to the Ravens in March 2010, Boldin signed a four-year deal that’s set to expire after this upcoming season. In 2013, Boldin is set to earn a non-guaranteed $6 million base salary, with $1,531,250 left from his signing bonus proration. This equals a total 2013 cap hit of $7,531,250. Since that’s the only dead money left to count against the cap, the Ravens would achieve a net cap savings of $6 million by releasing Boldin rather than letting him play out the final year of his deal.

Baltimore is currently right in the middle of the pack in terms of available cap space, they’re an estimated $12,664,866 under the cap (16th most cap space in the NFL). Thus, releasing Boldin would certainly give them a nice chunk of space. Since joining the team in 2010, Boldin has been a solid, but not spectacular, receiver. However, after his memorable postseason, many Ravens fans would be sad to see him go. We’ll see if the parties can reach a solution to keep him in a Ravens uniform.

@AndrewOTC

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