Free Agency Rules; Dorenbos 'Shocked' by Pro Bowl Nod
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Free Agency Rules; Dorenbos 'Shocked' by Pro Bowl Nod
Paul Domowitch and Les Bowen
Eagles fans once again are going through the grieving process of yet another Super Bowl-less season. Some are dealing with the Eagles’ early departure from the playoffs by increasing their alcohol intake. Some are dealing with it by calling talk radio and making their annual empty threat to stop rooting for the team. Some are drawing devil horns on pictures of Joe Banner and Andy Reid and Jeff Lurie.
Most of you are numbing the pain by looking ahead to free agency and the draft.
A word of warning about free agency: don’t get your hopes up. Even under normal circumstances, the free agent market hasn’t had a lot to offer the last several years. The hefty annual increase in the salary cap pretty much allowed team to hang on to any guys they really wanted to hang on to.
This year, if the owners and players don’t agree to a new labor deal by March 2, there will be no cap at all, which means teams will be able to spend as much as they want or as little as they want. No ceiling. No floor.
Even more significantly, the rules of free agency change if the cap goes away. Players no longer will be eligible to become unrestricted free agents after four years in the league. The number will jump to six.
So, while it’s nice to sit there and fantasize about the Eagles signing a guy like Vikings defensive end Ray Edwards, who had three sacks against the Cowboys last week, the fact is, Edwards, who’s only in his fourth year in the league, won’t be an unrestricted free agent if there is no cap. Same for Packers safety Nick Collins. Same for most of the other names that are making your heart race.
For what it’s worth, the Eagles did manage to gain a couple of offseason advantages over the Cowboys by getting the crap kicked out of them down in Texas two weeks ago. One is a slightly earlier draft position. By losing in the wildcard-round, the Eagles own the 24th pick in the first round. The Cowboys will draft 27th. Of course, the Eagles could always trade their pick to the Cowboys. Just kidding, just kidding.
Because they made it to the divisional round, the Cowboys also will be limited in their ability to sign unrestricted free agents, while the Eagles will have no such limitations.
Try to stay awake while I explain this. The NFL’s rules for an uncapped year include what is known as The Final Eight Plan. Basically, the last eight teams standing (everybody that made it to the divisional round), have restrictions on the number of UFAs they can sign.
The four teams that have made it to the conference championship games – the Saints, Vikings, Jets and Colts – aren’t permitted to sign any UFAs, other than their own. If one of their free agents signs with another team, then and only then can they go out and sign one. But the new player must have a first-year salary of no more than the first-year salary of the player they lost. In other words, they can’t let a backup center walk and then turn around and sign a five-time Pro Bowler.
The Cowboys and the other three teams that lost in the divisional round – Arizona, Baltimore and San Diego – are allowed to sign one UFA that has a first-year salary of more than $6.1 million. They also can sign an unlimited number of UFAs to deals with a first-year salary of no more than $4.09 million. In this context, ``salary’’ is basically what previously was the player’s cap number. In other words, a signing bonus would be pro-rated to determine his salary number. Bottom line: the Cowboys won’t be able to sign a top-tier free agent. That is, if there’s even one out there come March.
Also, the annual increase of those deals can’t exceed 30 percent. And those deals can’t be renegotiated until one year after the signing date.
Class dismissed. Get back to that case of Yuengling.
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The Eagles announced that long snapper Jon Dorenbos has been added to the NFC Pro Bowl roster as a need player. For Dorenbos, it marks his first Pro Bowl berth of his eight-year NFL career.
He becomes the seventh Eagles player to be officially named to the NFC squad this season, joining David Akers, Trent Cole, DeSean Jackson, Jason Peters, Asante Samuel, and Leonard Weaver. Quarterback Donovan McNabb will be officially named to the Pro Bowl after this weekend's games. McNabb is the first alternate and either Drew Brees or Brett Favre won't be able to play because his team is going to the Super Bowl.
Dorenbos becomes the second Eagles long snapper to garner Pro Bowl honors, joining Mike Bartrum who played for the NFC squad following the 2005 campaign. Tight end Chad Lewis also served as the NFC long-snapper in at least one Pro Bowl.
"Of course I'm shocked," Dorenbos told a conference call with reporters. "There's a lot of good snappers."
Dorenbos said he was amazed to think he'll have a portrait in the NovaCare hallway, where every Eagles Pro Bowler is enshrined, that he can take his children and grandchildren to see.
"This is something I'll have forever, to stick on my resume," he said.
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In other Pro Bowl news with a local connection, Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub, a West Chester product, has been named to the AFC team to replace Tom Brady, who withdrew with an injury.
Schaub will make his Pro Bowl debut. He completed 396 of 583 passes for 4,770 yards, all the most in the NFL. He ranked fourth with a .679 completion percentage and seventh with a 98.6 passer rating. He threw 29 touchdowns.
Some interesting information but much of it lost beneath the clumsy attempts at humor. And why the smug attitude so often from this writer? He often seems to talk down to his readers. And this from someone who still struggles with the basics of the subject-predicate relationship.— Shaggy
Shaggy- get a life dude.- never cared much for this guy,...he puts strong statements and accusations out there and very often backs them up with unsubstantiated quotes with unrelated stats,...very often, can't remain on topic,....what's with all the drinking analogies— SyddBarrett
- This is good info, but the question I was hoping this article would address is: given the rules, who then will be UFAs that we could sign?— FKD215
- you know, if Andy didn't have the job title he has, I might not care what this article says. but since he's the king of football operations, it does make you wonder about the strategic value of laying down if you don't think your team has the goods to win it all.— birdfannnj
- Did the Eagles toss the last two games to better position themselves for the uncapped year? It seems very convenient that we could have made the divisional round by beating the Cowboys in week 17 (automatically putting ourselves in the Final 8)and then we crapped out in the wildcard round, keeping ourselves out of the Final 8 once again. Food for thought....— slim38
- why does Domowitch post to his own blog as "Imbrianfellows"?— Shaggy
- Paul - nice article but I'm confused about something The cba states in Article LVI Section 3: In the event that a salary cap is not in effect in the League Year prior to the Final League Year, the number of accrued Seasons required to be an unrestricted free agent during the Final League year shall be five Accrued Seasons - which means that 4 year players will have 5 years at the end of the year. But in Article LVI Section 2 - here is where it speaks of having 6 years of service, but that is with a salary cap in the league year prior to the final league year.— hemtri
Comment removed.- Shaggy - you keep digging yourself deeper. Why are you critiquing a blog in the first place? come on man, get a hobby or something.
- Comment removed.
- Here's good news - because Dallas is in the Final 8 they cannot trade for any players they would not be permitted to sign as an unrestricted free agent.— hemtri
- Play Ball!!!— DJ
- I bought the Daily News today and instead of a story about Brian Westbrook in the paper there was a note at the end of the Eagles story telling me to go online to be updated about Westbrook's situation. When I went online there was a good article about Westbrook and his injury etc. Why wasn't that in the paper that I paid for?— Informed Reader
- Imbrianfellows-- your hobbies allow you time enough to critique someone critiquing a blog?— Shaggy
