outside of cutting one or both of the crappy white lb tandem of chatam/kassell i would see barton as a potential cut...and then hobson has one year left on his contract and could be traded...those are the options or take it up a notch with the vilma rumor
brian billick great coach? hes an offensive guy and his offense consistantly is one of the leagues worst.
you dont think that in the back of his mind, hes thinking the Jets can make a run at this in the next couple years...with all teh young talent and coaching on this team...i would
My thoughts: This draft is DEEP in 3-4 OLBs. Thomas will cost alot of money for a guy who will soon be out of his prime. I like him alot as a player, and he's a guy who should "age well", but the Jets are a young team with management that draft and coaches young gusy ridiculously well. Why pay Thomas a crapload of money when we could draft a Moses/Spencer/Woodley and be younger, cheaper, and still have ridiculous potential?
I agree completely...this draft is just way too deep in DE/OLB's to tie up that much money in OLB, especially when BT is already getting 5 mil/year. I thought the Pats model had more quantity of above average LB's rather than 4 top-quality starters. Either way 13 million just on 2 OLB's is too much.
Amazing addition if possible. We are a "now" team so signing Thomas makes a lot of sense. With a solid draft on defense and addition of Thomas would make our defense a top ten defense.
Signing Thomas actually makes a lot of sense to me. He knows the 3-4, he can cause havock when he blitzes and the guy can tackle. Barton is what, 3.5 mil this year? So, for another 3.5 mil on the cap, they could cut Barton and add Thomas, moving Hobson inside. That move would still leave us with something like 25 mil of cap space to work with. Sure, we would still look for another DE/LB tweener to develop. Thomas and Thomas at OLB could accumulate as many as 25 sacks between them. That's a scary pass rush right there. Then they could worry about getting that 3-4 DE in the draft. With the return of Pouha, we'de be getting close to set on defense soon. (Yes, I think Pouha will surprise people this year) I'd like this signing. Plenty of $ left to lock up Rhodes and Cotch, and maybe an O lineman through FA. It's not like Thomas is all that old.... he's 29 as we speak.
29/30 he's in the prime of his career and still has at least 3 good seasons in him. His athleticism is shocking, and his strength is like no other. That's a guy you pay for, because you know you're going to get major production barring injury...Sign me up in a minute for this blockbuster free agent...
The Ravens did not put the franchise tag on Adalius Thomas! This is our chance. I know that this regime will not let this guy go to another team. We are in the graces of the fottball gods if he lands with us. With the cap room and the need for help in our linebacking corp., it would make no sense if they don't get this guy.
I'm torn about the prospects of landing him. I think it could do wonders for our defense next year and maybe even the year after and then saddle us with an aging cap-crippling vet who is both unproductive and hard to cut. I have very little appetite for winning 10 games the next two years and then going into a decline because we stacked with aging free agents to do it. Teams that are going to be good for a decade get that way through the draft.
I hate to compare us to the Pats in every imagineable facet as I believe there will be some differences in our blue print and there's. W/ that said, Adalius Thomas would be the equivalent of when the Pats signed Roosevelt Colvin. Granted, Colvin was alil bit younger when New England signed him, and I see Thomas as more versatile and talented...but like Colvin, he'd add a new dimension of pass rushing skill and athleticism. I think this move would give us alot more leg-room heading into the draft to really select based on value rather than need. Hope this gets done as long as the money is reasonable and right.
Can he play on the defensive line? If not then I would stay away. We need lineman badly not more linebackers.
