A history of developing safeties who play next to Ed Reed (who was a first rounder)? The great thing about Atogwe is that all he costs is money. Granted, it will have to be a lot of money; we'd have to overpay, like the Giants did for Rolle. But from a talent perspective, it makes a lot of sense, and the fact that the Jets are cutting corners elsewhere (primarily with Jones) leads me to believe they're saving up money to make a move elsewhere. I read somewhere that they think the Jets are saving money in case of an impending lockout (and so they can resign their own guys). But trading Rhodes and Jones and letting go of Shepherd gets rid of some money, and this team needs to sell PSL's. Atogwe isn't going to sell many more, but a Super Bowl caliber team would, and Atogwe would be a very nice player.
Yup if the Jets could win a superbowl they could even possibly knockout the Giants as NY's favorite football team. And with that comes lots of money.
From what I have been reading in regards to a poison pill there has not been a contract written with one in 4 years. I think it is a gentleman's agreement or something. I could be wrong but it is something I have seen written. Anyway, if Atogwe is healthy then yes, try and sign him. Of course that may all be a moot point if the Rams really want him.
If we get Atogwe I hope we can overpay this year so his numbers in 2011 and 2012 are VERY cap friendly...
That wouldn't exactly be a contract. Its saying, we want you, but we dont want you to play for Rams. I know what you are trying to say though. Poison pill can be something like this: If you play two or more games in St. Louis, your contract will tripple. We offer Atogwe a 4 year $20-22 mil contract and Rams will never match it (Since he'd play 8 games in St. Louis ballooning his contract to $60 mil).
Such a contract would forbid the Rams from matching due to its wording, hence the league would not allow it. Rams have the first right of refusal and such a contract takes that away since the contract says the player will NOT play for Rams. How can Rams match the contract and still have him play for them? The sample clause I mentioned does not forbid Rams from matching, but it would just balloon the contract nobody would offer.
News and speculation on this guy is fricken impossible to find. Its like you google Atogwe and the only news on him is that the rams gave him a garbage tender. Outside of that you just get forums of people begging for their team to grab em. Sad this guy doesnt have a bigger rep, even though hes had the most turnovers of any safety since he joined the nfl
He plays for the Rams. As much as he's appreciated by people who know their football, playing for that defense ain't gonna win him many accolades. Safety isn't considered a glamorous position in this league.
I'm not so sure safety is not glamourous in the NFL. On D it certainly is. Think about defensive players who casual fans know. They know the top ends like Allen, Peppers, and Freeney, they know the MLBs like Lewis and Urlacher, and they know safeties like Reid and Polamalu. I think after those guys come the likes of Revis and Asomugha, and if Revis didn't play for a team that did well this year, people still wouldn't really know him. Basically, look at the players who have the most chance to make plays that will be in the highlights and pregame shows or at least have their names mentioned by commentators more than once....on D those are guys who get sacks and INTs or are just plain dominant.
Couple things: 1) Isn't this a situation where we can't bring him in, thanks to the "Final 8" rule? He wasn't released, correct? 2) Adam Schefter's been talking about the whole "poison pill" thing for days now. While it's not completely illegal, it is severely clamped down ever since Hutchinson. (Like MiamiPuck, I'm not sure if it's via gentleman's agreement or rule, but poison pills are definitely not looked upon well.)
We can bring him in and sign him because he is a RFA. We just lose a draft pick if we sign him. That same with Marshall however that draft pick would be much higher. It was similar to when the Skins signed Coles from us. Badway lowballed Coles and the Skins jumped...of course they gave us a #1 in doing so.
No, we won't lose a pick. Rams gave him the lowest tender that has no compensation, just the right to match any other contract offered by any team. We lose pick in signing most RFAs, just not in Atogwe's case.