Take Champ's Money....

[Kilmer17]

Simple. By placing the franchise tag on him we get one of the following.

1- We get to keep Champ at a cheap (relative to his demands) contract for a year.

2- A team has to give 2 number 1 picks to sign him. Obviously that is too high. But we would get to set what we thought was acceptable. And if nobody is willing, then we keep him at a lower salary.

[Whiskeypeet]

Champ isn't stupid, he know he isn't having his typical season, regardless of being injured for most of it. With the high number of quality corners on the market he'll realize he best chance at a payday is with us and he'll stay.

Gamebreaker that's a pretty typical response from a Champ apologist. Listen to yourself. "The sun was in his eyes". "He is injured." This is pathetic. I'm tired of the excuses. Champ is NOT a shut down corner. If he was you wouldn't have to be making excuses weak in and weak out. He is a very fine corner but nothing more.

Of course the bottom line here is how much he gets/wants to get paid. If he asks and receives an amount commensurate with "good" corner play then fine lets bring him back. But there is no way we pay him what he has been asking. In fact if we pay him anywhere near our original offer we are making a big mistake.

Your clearly a Champ homer and thats fine. We Skins fans tend to do that with a lot of our players. But you have to look at his performances objectively. As it stands now Smoot is not getting picked on more than Champ is. Why do you think that is? You can blame safety help and lack of pass rush if you want but I for one don't want to have to make excuses for my franchise corner back.

In the end though the only thing that really matters to this discussion is how much he gets paid. If, like you say, we don't have to bust our cap on him then this will all work out. However based on his comments to date I doubt he will make doing that easy on us.

[Gamebreaker]

Say what you want, I think of Champ no more than I do Smoot, Coles, Ramsey or LaVar. I simply believe we won't do any better by bringing in someone else, even if we improved the DL.

Smoot has done nothing that Champ hasn't done before, and please don't try to tell me Smoot hasn't been beaten for big plays this season. He has. Although Smoot has played better than he did last season, he isn't having a great year either and this has more to do with our anemic pass rush than either one of their coverage skills.

If Champ wants more than that initial contract offer, than we shouldn't re-sign him. It's that simple. I've never said any differently. Yet I have issues with fans who try to justify this fact by saying "Smoot is better","He isn't a shutdown corner", yadda yadda yadda. Up until this season, he was called THE shutdown corner in the league. By many on this board, as well as coaches and GM's around the league. I refuse to believe Smoot is somehow exempt from this blatant haterism, yet Champ has to endure it despite playing with injuries most players would be on the sidelines with.

I'm not being a homer when I say he deserves the benefit of the doubt when he isn't healthy. This is the only season where he wasn't perfectly healthy, and no surprise, he's struggling at times. Now if we had a healthy pass rush, and he was still getting beat on occasion, I would agree with you. Yet when the QB has enough time to drink some kool-aid, digest, and then take a piss on the 50 yard line before making his pass. I don't feel it's Champ's fault that he can't cover a reciever long enough for our old, weak DL to get to the QB.

[WallyG3]

I thought we learned from Smoot being hurt that WE NEED BOTH!

We should sign Smoot to a long term deal and franchise Champ.

[jhayunga]

Smoot had a great game yesterday. He also showed hi toughness in dallas. But we have all seen his inconsistancy.

[Kilmer17]

It IS Champs fault if he takes up so much money that we have no option but play old washed up Dlinemen. That's the point.

[SonnyJ]

I'm mystified as to how any of us are "hating" on Champ.:confused:

What we've done, and apparently what you've done, is attach a value to his services and pointing out, accurately, that he is not playing up to how he perceives his value, for whatever reason that is the case.

He wants Ray Lewis money. Well, he doesn't play like it. Ray Lewis has no excuses made for him. You think he doesn't play in pain? Players come and go, systems change, and the Raven D is still rock-solid. And, it is because of Ray Lewis.

If you can say that about Champ, then you give him the dough. You can't, though. People make excuses, instead. There is no earthly reason why he should give up a play like he did yesterday. That wasn't a McCardell-type catch that was just amazing. That was a ball thrown up for grabs to HIS man. And he didn't come close to making a play. And it has happened with alarming frequency to him this season.

No one is saying that the team will get someone better than him, just that, if he is going to insist on a Lewis-type contract, than there is far better value to be had elsewhere.

[Whiskeypeet]

Thanks Kilmer. Thats exactly the point.

Champ isn't just going to back off his demands because he his having a bad year. He and his agent will still try and break the Redskins bank.

Given the nature of the market this year thats not likely to happen so we can afford to play hardball with Champ. If he doesn't like it he can eat the franchise tag. There are too many other options on the market that will likely have a lesser price tag.