I guess the Texans didn't pursue him as much as Carolina.... http://espn.go.com/nfl/columns/clayton_john/1522388.html The Panthers reached an agreement in principle Wednesday night with former Redskins halfback Stephen Davis. Following a day of negotiations in the Panthers office with his agent, David Canter, Davis accepted a five-year, $15.5 million deal that will pay him more than $4 million in the first year of the contract. To reward him for performance, Davis can receive as much as $3.6 million a year in incentives that could ultimately push the deal to a $36 million over five years. For Davis, a native of Spartanburg, S.C., signing with the Panthers gives him a chance to play near home. Talks with the Panthers picked up over the past two days when the team took a more aggressive posture than the Houston Texans in trying to sign Davis. Carolina and Houston were Davis' only visits. What complicated negotiations was that the Texans only talked in vague terms and didn't make a firm offer. The Panthers were strong in their commitment from the start. "Stephen wanted to be in Carolina because this was his hometown team,'' Canter said. "It's a great situation for him there. He wants to prove that he is one of the best backs in the NFL'' The 29-year-old halfback has consistently been among the best runners in the NFL. From 1999 to 2001, Davis gained 4,155 yards. Injuries and a new offense limited his chances in 2002, when Davis rushed for 820 yards on 207 carries, maintaining a 4-yard average. He had seven rushing touchdowns this past season. After being released by the Redskins, Davis learned just how tough it is to make big money in free agency. Only seven teams shwoed interest in a running back at all, and most of those teams didn't fit for Davis. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, for example, only have the cap room to offer a running back deal close to the NFL minimum. The Lions may be looking to eventually replace James Stewart, but replacing a 31-year-old Stewart with a 29-year-old Davis wouldn't be a priority. And while the Cowboys may be looking for the replacement for Emmitt Smith, it would hard for that replacement be Davis, who played for the rival Redskins. The Bears want to upgrade their backfield, but they will wait until the draft to do that. That left Carolina and Houston. Philosophically, the Panthers like to load their deals with incentives, and the concept appealed to Davis. He'll receive a $2.5 million signing bonus along with an additional $500,000 roster bonus. Including his base salary and workout bonuses, Davis will make $4.1 million in 2003.
Woo-hoo! Stacey Mack time, baby! $3 million per year (plus a $2.5 million signing bonus) for a premier running back, and the Texans couldn't match that offer? Huh? Are you freaking kidding me? How much is Wiegert making? We have like $18 million in cap space. How about opening the wallet a little bit, Casserly? C'mon, man. You can't build exclusively through the draft...
Free Agency is a way IMO to add a missing piece to an already contending team. Carolina and Jville built quickly and were forced to rebuild shortly thereafter, something Carolina is having a hard time recovering from. If I were the Texans brass I would try and use this signing to our advantage and see if the Panthers would be willing to part with Deshaun Foster for one of our third round picks. He was highly touted last year and injuries never allowed him to get going and prove what he could do. I guarantee this signing will not make Carolina that much better nor would it have made the Texans much better. Patience is the key with this team, Rome wasn't built overnight. It startles me to see some haters already voicing their opinions when less than a year ago Mcnair and Casserly were the perfect combo, I still think they are.
Foster has a history of injuries (UCLA). I would stay clear of him. I hope the Texans have a backup plan, because Davis would have drastically improved our offense.
They're not sure that Foster will ever play again, so I'm pretty sure that they won't be giving up any picks for him. This does suck, but it's not like we were going to go to the playoffs next year anyway. I'll be happy with Mack.
Great analysis, SSG. Davis would've been nice, but he wouldn't have improved our team <i>that</i> much (not without an improved O-line anyway), and it would've dented into our cap space. If we can improve the O-line, the running game will improve no matter who we have back there. Here's to hoping that if we sign Mack he will have a Priest Holmes-like breakout season.
I totally agree. Whereas signing Davis would've been great, we all have to think in terms of about three or four years. That is the time frame Casserly and his staff are using. By that account, we have two to three more years of building. Scenario: What if Davis rushed for 1,200 yards in each of the next 2 years but due to Carr's growing pains, the young line, the defense, etc. we only win 5 - 6 games in each of those years. Then, as it looks like the rest of our team is in place after these two building years, a much older Davis tears his ACL in training camp and goes Jamal Anderson on us, never being the same again. Yeah, with Davis, we'd be a lot better, but I'd only be more upset if we were closer to being a contender now and THEN we let him get away.,
It takes three things to lure quality FAs to a team -- the possibility of winning, money, and, oh yeah money. The Texans need to be perceived as improving, getting ready to contend AND have cap bucks available or they will forever be needy.
dont forget playing time. and money. I dont think getting SD would have made that much of a difference longterm, but it sure would have made the games a whole lot more interesting to watch this year.
No question about it: Davis would've helped Carr grow as a QB. Defenses will not respect nor fear our running game with either Mack (yet to be signed, I may add) or Wells as the feature back. With a weak RB, you'll see a lot of 3rd and long situations this year (in which the defense will just drop back into coverage and wait for the predictable passing situation). I don't want Carr to think he has to "do it all by himself," especially as a young QB. That's a lot of pressure to bear. I also don't want Carr to become discouraged and lose confidence if he throws more interceptions this year (which will happen if defenses don't respect our running game). Now, if we pick up an Onterrio Smith/Justin Fargas/Larry Johnson in the draft, then, all right, perhaps we'll be okay going into the season. However, as it stands now, our running game flat-out sucks, and defenses will KNOW that we're going to passpasspasspasspass. Plus, as Crisco mentioned, Davis would've made the games more enjoyable. As far as free agency goes, I just want to show other free agents out there that the Texans do mean business and are willing to be players in this market (to some extent, mind you). To date, we've lost out on Davis, Rosevelt Colvin, Keith Newman, Jeff Posey, Mike Peterson, Takeo Spikes, and we'll probably lose out on the Orlando Pace and Kyle Turley sweepstakes. Who knows? We might even lose out on Mack and Haggans (restricted FA from Pittsburgh), and they're not exactly hot commodities, either. What gets my goat is that there were FAs out there who we were clearly interested in, and we just couldn't seal the deal (besides Wiegert). I understand the point about "going to a contender," but, c'mon, is Carolina honestly a contender? Keep in mind, too, that when I wrote the above post, I didn't know about the incentives in Davis' contract. All I saw was "$3 million a year, plus a $2.5 mill signing bonus," and I became enraged. That deal in itself is a bargain for him. Add in the incentives, and well, it's not such a great deal. However, I still feel that if Houston really wanted Davis, they could've signed him before Carolina got their hooks into him (and threw more money at him). Remember, Houston was Davis' first destination on his (short) visit list, and his agent came down to negotiate. So, pray tell, what happened?
you're a good guy, but flat wrong, here. they currently have $12M, not $18M, and they still have to sign 14 draft picks next month, at least five restricted free agents i'm sure they'd like to extend beyond the one-year tender (black, dawson, dennis, miller, stanley) and at least five of their own free agents they'd like to bring back (bell, brown, deloach, schau, simmons). vescey, what two things do jamal lewis, ray lewis, jamie sharper, peter boulware, chris mcallister and duane starks all have in common? (drum roll, please) they were all raven draft picks and they were all core members of their 2000 SB championship. you most certainly can build through the draft, and with 28 picks in your first two years, why wouldn't you? free agents become viable when your core's intact and you need to add pieces. the texans need more than pieces. vescey, defenses will not respect a running game with either sanders or campbell in their prime if the OL doesn't improve. and to that end, casserly upgraded it; not significantly, but it's better right now, on paper, than at any time last year. and that goes for adding a rookie back, too. this isn't a fantasy team where you can insert a player and automatically project a level of performance. i equate stephen davis to jermaine lewis. when we drafted lewis, everyone thought we'd have a formidable return game. i never bought it. it takes 11 guys to make something work in the NFL... if the OL struggles again this year, davis would've had the same impact lewis had (well, that's not an entirely fair comparison, 'cause davis would touch the ball far more often, but you get my point...) as for making games more enjoyable, blah. if things work out, we'll have plenty of entertaining games from 2004 and beyond. no, but carolina is where davis lives in the offseason. let's look at who we've lost out on and see if i can't offer some perspective: davis -- CAR offered better (let's say easier) incentives and a chance to play near home. colvin -- never had any interest in playing with HOU; that he came is a credit to what's happening here. newman -- signed to play for the coach who oversaw his best seasons on a team that's an up-and-comer posey -- he was an after-thought signing last year who thrived in a favorable system -- big loss? we never met with spikes or peterson. (remember, peterson was a member of fangio's D in IND, the one that plummetted to last in the league because they couldn't/wouldn't learn the system). they played hardball. if this team's being built for 2005 (and from day one, casserly has said that it is), how does davis get us closer to the playoffs in two years? is he a 1200-yard back in 2005? he's 29 and coming off nagging injuries. had the price been right (read: cap-friendly), i would have jumped all over him. but the texans set a ceiling and stuck to it. they still have to build their core and find young, cheap players to fill in their depth -- these guys have a plan; have patience.
Ric, don't take my tone the wrong way below. I've got nothing but love for you, man. I just like to argue. ... So you're saying that if we just sign our own free agents, we're going to be better in the long-run? I don't buy it. You keep saying over and over that we need EVERYTHING (except a QB). If you can upgrade at a position or two, why not do it? That is, without completely breaking the bank for average players (*cough**Dre'Bly**cough*). Who says we're looking at mult-year deals for these tendered guys, anyway? Do they really think they fit into our long-term plans? I'd rather sign an impact free agent than extend the contract of some scrub wide receiver who couldn't hold his own in Cleveland. (Besides, who says we're keeping all 14 draft picks, anyway??) Hey, I'm a big proponent for building through the draft. Notice the use of the word "exclusively." And I won't deny that Baltimore has drafted exceptionally well in the past years. BUT... what do the following players have in common? Trent Dilfer Shannon Sharpe Sam Adams That's right. They were all signed by Baltimore as free agents immediately PRIOR to the 2000 season. Now, what do these set of players have in common? Rod Woodson Tony Banks Tony Siragusa Qadry Ismail Rob Burnett Michael McCrary Yep, they were all signed as free agents in the few years before the 2000 season championship. Pretty good set of free agent acquirees, I'd say. So good, in fact, that they arguably had more of a hand in winning the Super Bowl than the Ravens draftees did. How many times did I hear the words "Miami offensive line" and "suck" appear together in a sentence? Too many times to count. Yet, Ricky Williams, who had been a good back, but not a great back up to this point, rushed for more than 1800 yards this year behind that supposedly crappy line (the one that EVERY NFL analyst said sucked major donkey balls). Heck, Williams averaged 4.8 yds/carry, too. And, while on the subject of the O-line, you said that Barry Sanders couldn't even make defenses respect him behind our crappy line. Then...you go on to say that on paper, the line has been improved a bit. So, can Barry now run comfortably behind our line? Why not Stephen Davis? And to my credit, I did say that I'd feel a WHOLE LOT better if we got a rookie stud RB in the draft... I disagree. I think Davis is enough of a playmaker (he is a Pro Bowl running back) to make his own yardage, if need be. He's averaged 4.0 yards/carry in each of the last 3 seasons. So, he seems pretty consistent, if you ask me. If he had signed here, I think he would have done very well this year. (But, now it's just a case of "shoulda, woulda, coulda...") You can't play hardball with everyone, or you'll be left with scrubs. Are we gonna play hardball with Matt Stevens, too, when we fail to sign everyone else and have no where left to turn? Davis made Houston his first trip, and it seemed like he really wanted to play here. At the very least, Davis could have been a leader and mentor to the young'uns (since we seem to be building through the draft only). For the time being, he would have been an effective stop-gap solution who could have helped Carr grow as a QB (see my above post). Besides, couldn't we use a little veteran leadership around the locker room, anyway? And as for injury-prone players, when has that ever stopped the Texans from scooping them up? Okay, I'll agree with you here. I can be patient, and hey, if I can trust in Rudy T, I can certainly trust in Charlie C. However, is one big-time free agent acquisition really too much to ask for?
