RebelYell Posted March 10, 2003 Share Posted March 10, 2003 I have a theory that we might not really be interested in Coles. Thinking about the events of the last few days, it seems to me that they're more consistent with an attempt to sign Morton than a serious desire to sign Coles. Let's assume we want to sign Morton to a "reasonable" offer sheet. What strategy should we employ? 1. Well first we have to agree an offer sheet with Morton. Obviously we will have to give Morton an incentive to move (there's no indication that he is unhappy with the Jets), so he will have to get paid more than he is currently being paid. So we make him a nice offer which is nevertheless not way over the top. 2. Of course the problem is that we don't want to overpay Morton, so we have kept the offer to a reasonable level which in turn means that the Jets might well match it. 3. So we need to find a way to encourage the Jets not to match the offer. What better than leaking a story to our pet newspaper - a story that we are this close to making a huge, enormous, cap-busting offer to Coles? This (hopefully) forces the Jets not to match the Morton offer, in an attempt to preserve the space they need to keep Coles. Now, suppose instead that we are really after Coles. What's our best strategy? 1. Make a healthy offer to Morton, just low enough that the Jets will match it. Thus far of course the strategies are the same. 2. The next step would be to wait until the Jets match the Morton offer before letting them get the slightest sniff of the Coles offer. That way the Jets match the Morton offer and compromise their cap still further before being blindisded by the Coles offer. 3. In order to minimize the reaction time available to the Jets, we certainly would not want to leak the fact that we are nearly ready to sign Coles to an offer sheet in advance of the fact. We would just sign him and let the Jets panic after the clock was ticking. Why would Coles play along with the first strategy? Well of course it helps him too. Right now, we haven't actually signed that offer sheet, so the Jets have a chance to sign him to along term deal of their own design. Now that we have shown other teams that Coles is available, the Jets probably realize their danger and will be working on a new offer to Coles before they are hit with an offer from us or the Vikings. Of courese while they're frantically working on getting Coles signed (to a nice fat deal which keeps Coles happy), they're not thinking about the Morton situation. Just an idea... RebelYell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
@DCGoldPants Posted March 10, 2003 Share Posted March 10, 2003 you're the 2nd or 3rd person to suggest this today. Its very possible. We'll see. It seems "win/win" right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeathByLinebacker Posted March 10, 2003 Share Posted March 10, 2003 I think we are after Coles since he fits the exact profile of what the coach seemed to think was our biggest offseason need - a really fast WR. At the same time, we pretty much have put the Jets in a position where they can't keep Morton if they do match Coles, so it works out for us either way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted March 10, 2003 Share Posted March 10, 2003 I mentioned something similar last night RY. It would be just like Snyder to start working with Coles suddenly, releasing the status of the negotiations to get the Jets focused on something other than Morton. Obviously this is all moot the moment any deal with Coles is consumated. But, let's go over some of what we know again about this offseason. This team had a list of players available about three weeks before the offseason started. It did its homework. It had a plan. It attacked that plan. Then, suddenly, on a Friday night Snyder has to ask a reporter for the home telephone number for the agent for Coles? Does that fit in at all? Asking a reporter assures the news hits the public. The conversations probably do take place. Coles goes public with statements that let almost anyone know Snyder's talking to him and is "willing to offer a contract the Jets can't match." He goes on record talking about his willingness to leave. A reporter knows this is happening because he was the conduit between Snyder and the agent, making this a public thing. It just falls outside of the plan. It's the first move that didn't seem planned. It's the first action that seemed spur of the moment and outside what we've been talking about. That is, of course, if it's all true . I could see this be just a big distraction. I don't know that Morton is really the type of player to make it worth it though. Still, it is possible that the Redskins feel burned a little by the mistake they made on the compensation for Morton. They know it looks pretty silly if they fail to get him due to the trades that were made. It may be as simple as saving face. I'm fascinated to see how this works out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebelYell Posted March 10, 2003 Author Share Posted March 10, 2003 Art, If I'm right of course, the Coles deal never will be consummated :-). The offer sheet won't quite get signed due to an inability to agree on the last few details or somesuch. The key point of course is not just that this behavior might help to get Morton, it's that it seems almost designed to minimize our chances of actually getting Coles. RebelYell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riggins44 Posted March 10, 2003 Share Posted March 10, 2003 I can see some validity in this theory, but feel is this on the up and up. With Price being taken and the unknown of Johnson and Rogers forced Snyder and Co. to implement plan B. With the moves that several other teams have maken, the Redskins see very little chance of getting either one. Their cap cost would be as much if not more than Coles, plus you have a proven commodity. Besides, how many teams are going to let us trade up? I think we've pi$$ed the entire NFL off the offseason with our aggressive approach. Hats off the Synder and Co. for having a great game plan and working it to perfection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
codeorama Posted March 10, 2003 Share Posted March 10, 2003 Wouldn't we much rather have Coles than Morton? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebelYell Posted March 10, 2003 Author Share Posted March 10, 2003 The trouble with writing as you think is that then you think of something else :-). This could all be designed to sign Coles to something less than a $13million signing bonus. 1. Convince the Jets they can't keep Coles 2. Encourage them to sign Morton 3. Then sign Coles to an offer sheet that they could have matched before they signed Morton, but that they can't match after they signed Morton. I think that if I think much more I'm gonna think myself into a place I can't think myself out of again :-) RebelYell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Tater Posted March 11, 2003 Share Posted March 11, 2003 ALTERNATIVES. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matty dread Posted March 11, 2003 Share Posted March 11, 2003 It's an interesting view of the whole thing, but I find it hard to believe Snyder would throw a huge deal at Coles unless he was seriously interested. Money may be no object to him, but 13 mill up front?! 7 years 35 mill?! That's some serious balls to throw out that kind of offer hoping the Jets will match! I think the front office didn't figure Coles would be an option, but when the Jets low balled him Danny saw the chance to jump in and steal him away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebelYell Posted March 11, 2003 Author Share Posted March 11, 2003 Matty, I agree - but the whole point is he hasn't actually made that offer yet! So far all he's done is say that he's about to make the offer. It's precisely the fact that he hasn't made the offer, but has talked about it a lot, that prompted my speculation. If we do in fact make the offer as it is currently advertised, then I absolutely agree that I am utterly wrong and we clearly are and always were interested in Coles. RebelYell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matty dread Posted March 11, 2003 Share Posted March 11, 2003 Ok I see, I misread your post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skins26 Posted March 11, 2003 Share Posted March 11, 2003 I dont think if you dont really want to sign a guy you give him a 13 million dollar signing bonus. You give him an offer a little higher than they did so they focus on that. Did you read the article and what Spurrier said about Coles. They want him BAAAD:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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