MattM

http://www.nfl.com/draft/2008/tracker#dt-tab-set-1:dt-by-round/round-4:round-4 Here you go--knock yourself out. Josh Siton's about the only guy on that list worth a darn.....

You do realize that two years of Lee Evans' production is, statistically speaking, much more valuable than the career production of the average 4th round pick? Great--we can pick another Shawn Nelson perhaps?

Yup--remember who he's had throwing him the ball the last few years when you consider his numbers. I've heard several GM-types (including Mike Lombardi) say that Lee is the "real deal" and draws lots of coverage that opens up everyone else. Looks like we'll find out the hard way. My prediction--if he goes to a team with a good O, he'll catch 60-70 balls, 7-8 TDs and about 1000 yards. Stevie J, meanwhile, will see his numbers drop 20-30%......

Like who? There's no one left on the open market. I might have agreed with you if they'd made this move 2 weeks ago, but now it just looks like a salary dump to me. How are you supposed to keep fans engaged if you dump your better players? By the team this team is ready to win, they'll be in LA.....

Russ, is that you? Saving Ralphie some cash?

Can you say "salary dump" or how about "two steps forward, three steps back".....

Pats* also interested as per news reports. He'll be a Pat* or Raven by the end of the week....

Just went to Fin Heaven to see what the deal is and the site's down from too much traffic. Before that I did see the beginning of a long Carey thread, however. Let's keep our fingers crossed that they're dumb enough to cut him....

Wow--that would be sweet if we could nab him. A good football player who knows the division and no doubt will have a huge chip in his shoulder at least twice a year....

If this is true, he'll be a Pat* before the end of the week. They desperately need a pass rush, are converting to the 4-3 and have an extra #1 (Saints) to burn.....

Fins just released Crowder, probably to make room for Burnett, who they're meeting with tonight. If the Fins sign him as we sat (allegedly "needed" to sign our rookies today) all day on him, I won't be a happy camper....

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/07/29/raiders-land-jared-gaither/

We are rapidly running out of options at RT.....

I've also noticed the NFL try to pump up Albert Breer, who seems to be Schefter's replacement at NFLN and who I'm sure, like Shefter before him, benefits from getting early word on things from the League. Nothing like promoting one's own brand.....

Oddly, I find myself agreeing with Mr. WEO on this one. The Pats* locker room and BB's discipline/rep allows them to draft guys like Mallett and get guys like Moss and Haynesworth with less risk than most teams of those guys stepping out of line and becoming a distraction. Must be nice....

If they can sign Tulloch (preferable) or Barnett, then I'm not as concerned about this loss. If not, well, then.....

I posted a NYT link a couple of weeks ago that proved the opposite point over the last 16 years at least--basically teams in the top 3 of payroll for the year in question won the WS 8 out of 16 times, while teams in the bottom half in spending won it twice in that span (and one of those was tied at 15th, as I was being generous in my counting it). If you're a Royals fan for ex. you might win it once every 240 years or so. Have fun with that....

Actually it's the opposite. The new CBA has a higher floor (90%) than the prior deal....

Go read the 2007 NYT interview with her. She sounded like a very good person who poured a lot of her energy and herself into serving others. Condolences to the Kraft family...,

Very sorry to hear this news. My sincere condolences to you and your family. I'll say an extra prayer for your mom tonight....

"Yet, today's owners are great businessmen who struck it rich doing well in other businesses like Snyder or Jerry Jones but as sportsmen they are bad and worse." Actually, I'd wager that at least 1/3rd of today's owners were instead members of Warren Buffet's so-called "lucky sperm club" who simply inherited their teams. Just off the top of my head that list would include the Yorks, McCaskills, Maras, Rooneys, Irsay, Spanos (Jr.), Hunt and Mike Brown. I'm sure there are at least 3-4 more I'm missing, and that doesn't even include guys like Woody Johnson, who didn't inherit the team, but did basically inherit his fortune....

Who plays RT this year? On that point, if he's healthy I'd also take Gaither from the Ravens in addition to Yanda--sounds like they can't resign both....

Many thanks for doing the legwork on this. No time to read the whole opinion, but as suspected, it looks like there was a contractual provision that required the owners to maximize shared revenue. Personally, I agree with Doty on this issue and stand by my original contention that to a reasonably objective jurist it was fairly clear cut. That said, you raise an interesting point about the special master having found in favor of the owners, so it's tough to be definitive without reading all of the briefing papers and hearing the argument.....

Not so fast; it sounds like there's a pretty steep salary floor this year that will force the Bills to spend at least $35-40 million this year. May be good for the Bills short-term, but bad for long-term viability in WNY.....

As noted above, I do this for a living--I'm a corporate/investment attorney working in NYC who helps people with this kind of stuff and have been doing so for a number of years (too large a number than I'd care to admit). While I have not seen the agreement, I can pretty much guarantee you that (a) it was chock full of covenants preventing the owners from doing the kinds of things they did here on this issue and (b) even on the incredibly odd chance that it wasn't, most courts would imply some kind of good faith obligation on the owners to maximize shared revenue in this kind of deal. My money is clearly on (a) considering that the NFL uses folks like Covington & Burling and the NFLPA uses similarly top notch counsel (may have been Proskauer, but I'm not 100% sure on that). That's why it was a no-brainer for Doty, who, BTW, was a Reagan appointee mind you, so it's not like he was some ultra-lefty as you make it sound. Personally, I suspect that he decided repeatedly for the players because he found that the owners could not be trusted and quickly formed an opinion about their "truthiness" as our former President may have said, said initial opinion following them in his dealings with them. I must admit that I find it hysterical that you attack Smith, yet stick up for the owners who have been found by a court to have done scuzzy things. They were also the folks who negotiated the original CBA and then torched it less than 4 years later (real geniuses, eh?), all the while pleading poverty, but refusing to show folks who had a contractual economic interest in this matter (let's not even talk about the incredibly phony "employee" analogy that some folks keep bringing up, ok? You're smarter than that) their books to prove it. Some real winners there, no? As for your damages argument, the networks, too, are a lot smarter than you give them credit for. 5% is an incredibly low chance of losing games, as we have seen having been pushed to the brink here. No way is it good business sense to potentially give away nearly half a billion dollars to someone in the form of "insurance" when they're the ones controlling the likelihood of payout. I'd personally value it at over $100 million minimum myself. Breaking that down on a per player basis reduces the sound of the number, but $100m is not chump change in any situation outside of govt debt or spending.....