Thomas Davis is begging us to re sign him even at a cheaper price and reduced playing time

[Mr. Scot]

Just now, Krovvy said:

Okay sure, whatever semantics you need to go by. So who's the Matt Kalil of linebackers you want to replace Davis this year?

That doesn't really even make any sense.

I get why you're trying to use Kalil here, but that's a fail. Nothing about his being a bad signing makes keeping Davis around at age 35 a good idea.

Frankly, the best thing would be for both of them to be gone next year.

[Krovvy]

Just now, Mr. Scot said:

That doesn't really even make any sense.

I get why you're trying to use Kalil here, but that's a fail. Nothing about his being a bad signing makes keeping Davis around at age 35 a good idea.

Frankly, the best thing would be for both of them to be gone next year.

Okay, but who do you see replacing him?

[tiger7_88]

4 minutes ago, WarPanthers89 said:

So again I’ll ask...are you willing to part with a first second or third round draft pick on a linebacker with as many holes as we have on the lines? A 5th round linebacker is not going to play better than TD on a one year deal. 

Look at the list up upcoming linebacker free agents...do you see any on the list that would play better and be a better leader than TD for three million? 

There will be holes on this team no matter what we do.  There aren't enough draft picks to fill all the holes nor is there cap under our Hurney'ed salary cap to sign FA's to fill the holes.

In other words, Hurney and Rivera are gonna have to make some choices as to how to fill those holes with "cheaper" options.  Yeah, we're gonna have to depend on the guy who drafted Amini Silatolu and the coach that insisted on continuing to play him for years and years to find us some talent to fill holes on the cheap.

That doesn't mean we have to waste money so our Favorite Cowboy can Ride Off Into the Western Sunset on his own pleasing retirement terms.

Everybody who hates the man can readily point out the shortcomings of David Gettleman.  I would offer the following opinion though... we're gonna miss him this off-season for the *exact* reason that one of the things he was VERY GOOD AT was shopping at the bargain basement and finding cheap talent to fill holes.

[Krovvy]

2 minutes ago, tiger7_88 said:

There will be holes on this team no matter what we do.  There aren't enough draft picks to fill all the holes nor is there cap under our Hurney'ed salary cap to sign FA's to fill the holes.

In other words, Hurney and Rivera are gonna have to make some choices as to how to fill those holes with "cheaper" options.  Yeah, we're gonna have to depend on the guy who drafted Amini Silatolu and the coach that insisted on continuing to play him for years and years to find us some talent to fill holes on the cheap.

That doesn't mean we have to waste money so our Favorite Cowboy can Ride Off Into the Western Sunset on his own pleasing retirement terms.

Everybody who hates the man can readily point out the shortcomings of David Gettleman.  I would offer the following opinion though... we're gonna miss him this off-season for the *exact* reason that one of the things he was VERY GOOD AT was shopping at the bargain basement and finding cheap talent to fill holes.

He was 50/50 in free agency at best. There were some good signings, and then there were signings like in 2014, where most of the secondary, and receivers, were free agents, and played abysmally. Then of course you have the albatross that is Matt Kalil.

[Mr. Scot]

Just now, Krovvy said:

Okay, but who do you see replacing him?

There's a lot of options.

The one that the team is probably most likely to choose is Shaq Thompson on a renegotiated contract. From what I've seen, Rivera likes Thompson so I won't be surprised if he pushes for something like that.

Outside of that, you could look to the free agent pool. I've looked at the expected pool, and there are a couple of decent linebackers on it, but that pool is far from finalized so we won't know who actually makes it to free agency or who gets cut for a little while.

Of course, there's also the draft. it's reasonable to expect that a good portion of this year's draft might be spent on defense given that that was this year's weakness. Taking a linebacker high to succeed Davis is certainly not out of the question.

That'd probably be my choice, if I had to pick.

So yeah, options..

The thing you have to realize here is that we're not trying to replace a star player. We're trying to replace a guy who used to be a star player. If you still believe he is a star player, you're looking at old memories, not current reality.

[Carolina Cajun]

I think we should at a very team friendly deal so we can cut bait with shaq (replace shaq's 9 mil with a 1 year 2-3 mil contract for TD).  Were still moving forward with Jermaine carter and andre smith, but for 2-3 mil, your not gonna get a better price on a backup who could start if injuries occur.  My only concern is that Rivera is immensely loyal and wont keep him on the bench unless absolutely necessary, but with his job firmly on the line next year, I think hell do the right thing and only use him as a needed. 

[Krovvy]

Just now, Mr. Scot said:

There's a lot of options.

The one that the team is probably most likely to choose is Shaq Thompson on a renegotiated contract. From what I've seen, Rivera likes Thompson so I won't be surprised if he pushes for something like that.

Outside of that, you could look to the free agent pool. I've looked at the expected pool, and there are a couple of decent linebackers on it, but that pool is far from finalized so we won't know who actually makes it to free agency or who gets cut for a little while.

Of course, there's also the draft. it's reasonable to expect that a good portion of this year's draft might be spent on defense given that that was this year's weakness. Taking a linebacker high to succeed Davis is certainly not out of the question.

That'd probably be my choice, if I had to pick.

So yeah, options..

The thing you have to realize here is that we're not trying to replace a star player. We're trying to replace a guy who used to be a star player. If you still believe he is a star player, you're looking at old memories, not current reality.

I mean I would like Shaq back, even if he hasn't played nearly as well as Davis in my opinion, but I don't think it's going to happen. Shaq I don't think will re-sign at a reasonable contract, below four million. There's too many linebacker needy teams with money that will be willing to bet on potential, because there's no one really else that's going to be available, unless you look towards the draft.

The draft, if you want to replace, or potentially upgrade Davis's production will cost probably a first or second round pick, maybe you can find someone in the third. Though third round linebackers are pretty iffy looking at the last few drafts. It's not going to be easy this year, I don't see many linebackers available.

Davis played well this year, regardless of everyone's keen eyes that aren't willing to see it. 

[MillionDollarCam]

6 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

There's a lot of options.

The one that the team is probably most likely to choose is Shaq Thompson on a renegotiated contract. From what I've seen, Rivera likes Thompson so I won't be surprised if he pushes for something like that.

Outside of that, you could look to the free agent pool. I've looked at the expected pool, and there are a couple of decent linebackers on it, but that pool is far from finalized so we won't know who actually makes it to free agency or who gets cut for a little while.

Of course, there's also the draft. it's reasonable to expect that a good portion of this year's draft might be spent on defense given that that was this year's weakness. Taking a linebacker high to succeed Davis is certainly not out of the question.

That'd probably be my choice, if I had to pick.

So yeah, options..

The thing you have to realize here is that we're not trying to replace a star player. We're trying to replace a guy who used to be a star player. If you still believe he is a star player, you're looking at old memories, not current reality.

You can’t rework rookie deals.

So Hurney is going to have to Hurney and extend Shaq spreading out the hit over the next five or so years. We all know how that goes and it doesn’t end well for us.

Also, do you think Shaq would sign for less than his rookie deal right now? If Hurney has really changed then he low balled him and Shaq is going to play under his $9M contract this year.

[tiger7_88]

Just now, Carolina Cajun said:

My only concern is that Rivera is immensely loyal and wont keep him on the bench unless absolutely necessary, but with his job firmly on the line next year, I think hell do the right thing and only use him as a needed. 

[Krovvy]

Just now, Carolina Cajun said:

I think we should at a very team friendly deal so we can cut bait with shaq (replace shaq's 9 mil with a 1 year 2-3 mil contract for TD).  Were still moving forward with Jermaine carter and andre smith, but for 2-3 mil, your not gonna get a better price on a backup who could start if injuries occur.  My only concern is that Rivera is immensely loyal and wont keep him on the bench unless absolutely necessary, but with his job firmly on the line next year, I think hell do the right thing and only use him as a needed. 

If Shaq would sign that, sure, but I don't see him doing it. He could get twice that easily in free agency from teams all over the league that lack linebackers. Klein is making somewhere near six million a year. Also, I don't think he likes the Carolina's honestly, he's a west coast kid, but that's just speculation.

[Mr. Scot]

1 minute ago, MillionDollarCam said:

You can’t rework rookie deals.

So Hurney is going to have to Hurney and extend Shaq spreading out the hit over the next five or so years. We all know how that goes and it doesn’t end well for us.

You can extend them, and it doesn't have to be for five years.

The biggest factor in whether Thompson gets offered anything is probably going to be how Rivera feels about him.

[Krovvy]

Just now, Mr. Scot said:

You can extend them, and it doesn't have to be for five years.

The biggest factor in whether Thompson gets offered anything is probably going to be how Rivera feels about him.

That's true, this is really up to Rivera.

[MillionDollarCam]

1 minute ago, Mr. Scot said:

You can extend them, and it doesn't have to be for five years.

The biggest factor in whether Thompson gets offered anything is probably going to be how Rivera feels about him.

I was saying five years being sarcastic because Hurney.

And as for your other point I guess we’ll never know because missed opportunities and all.

[tiger7_88]

6 minutes ago, MillionDollarCam said:

You can’t rework rookie deals.

Shaq is entering the 5th year of his contract which is a team option.

Since the team can obviously choose not to execute said option (and I don't think they will at $9M plus), I would believe you could absolutely notify him and his agent of your INTENT to not execute his 5th year option and try to negotiate a new deal at that point prior to officially "releasing" him.

Now that certainly doesn't mean that he and his agent would be receptive to such a negotiation.  I know if I were in their place that I wouldn't be.  I believe many Shaq-detractors would (and maybe will) be quite surprised how much money he will be able to get on the FA market if it comes to that.