Dolphins will not franchise Carey or Bell

[DolFan619]

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolphins_in_depth/2009/02/sparano-dolphins-will-not-franchise-carey-or-bell.html

Dolphins will not franchise Carey or Bell

Today is the deadline for teams to utilize their franchise tags on their unrestricted free agents. Today's doesn't mean much in that regard for the Dolphins because they will not use that designation on any of their free agents.

Dolphins coach Tony Sparano, speaking with the media at the Indy Combine, just confirmed the Dolphins will not franchise either right tackle Vernon Carey or strong safety Yeremiah Bell today. And, as we know, none of the other Miami free agents are going to carry a franchise tag either.

Miami's other unrestricted free agents include linebacker Channing Crowder, free safety Renaldo Hill and cornerback Andre' Goodman.

The Herald's Jeff Darlington, freezing Indianapolis while I stay warm in South Florida, will provide a complete report on Sparano's talk to the South Florida and national media later this evening. Check miamiherald.com for the story.

So it now seems clear the Dolphins are prepared to lose any and all of the unrestricted free agents. I don't think they will lose them all. If I had to guess, Channing Crowder is gone.

Miami's best chances of retaining players will be with Goodman and Hill because I don't see a huge market for them in free agency. Carey worries me. He's going to get offers and I believe he's not giving the Dolphins a hometown discount.

[YoFuggedaboutit]

Good.  Hold on to that franchise tag.  While Carey and Bell are good, they are not worth the money it will cost to franchise them.

[Dphins4me]

Good.  Hold on to that franchise tag.  While Carey and Bell are good, they are not worth the money it will cost to franchise them.

Hold on to it?  For what?  It will be there next year.  I think franchising Carey for one year makes sense.  If he plays great, then sign him to a new deal.  He is sucks then you can let him go next offseason.  Frankly I'm having a hard time understanding the Carey is not a good player thing.

  No player is worth the top money being paid, so what make Carey any different.  Gross is about to sign a new deal for 9 million plus & he only has one PB under his belt & that was just this past year.  Not exactly lighting things up. 

I question letting Carey hit the open market about as much as people should have questioned giving an injury prone Smiley 5 million a year last year.  Giving a dude like Wilford 6 million up front.

Bad move IMO.

Plus, if a team is interested in Carey & Miami does not want to keep him for the price  then Miami can trade him for something.  Carey does have value.   At least a 2nd Rder after you factor in the cash it will take to sign him.

[DolFan619]

http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/thedailydolphin/2009/02/19/no-franchise-tags-coming-for-vernon-carey-yeremiah-bell-and-co/

No franchise tags coming for Vernon Carey, Yeremiah Bell and Co.

by Edgar Thompson

INDIANAPOLIS - With the 4 p.m. deadline looming, coach Tony Sparano said the Dolphins won’t assign the franchise tag on any of its pending free agents.

This leaves the Dolphins with a little more than a week to decide on the futures of five players who were key starters last season, including right tackle Vernon Carey, who has started 60 straight games, and safety Yeremiah Bell, who led the team with 120 tackles.

Carey and Bell were the most likely candidates to receive a tag, but the cost for each (Carey, $8.4 million, and Bell, $6.3 million) seems too high for either.

Meanwhile, linebacker Channing Crowder, cornerback Andre Goodman and safety Renaldo Hill also remain unsigned.


An NFL source said today that Crowder, who was second to Bell with 114 tackles, and the Dolphins have not spoken in weeks about a new deal. So unless something dramatically changes, Crowder would become a free agent when the clock strikes midnight next Friday.

Who joins him remains to be seen. Sparano won’t offer any clues, but knows the loss of Crowder or anyone else would create another hole on a team that has a number of them to address during the off-season.

“All those players did a heck of a job for me and they know I think an awful lot about every one of them,” he said. “As a head coach, you’d love to have all your guys back. But they have options, we have options … that’s kind of where it is.

“One way or another you have to address (a position), whether it’s your player or through the draft or through free agency again, you have to address it. And we will.”

But the options are becoming more and more limited.

Visions of Antonio Bryant giving the Dolphins a No. 1 wide receiver next seasons or safety Oshiomogho Atogwe ballhawking alongside Bell went up in smoke in the past 24 hours.

Julius Peppers? Gone minutes ago, tagged for a hefty tag of $16.7 million.

By the 4 p.m. deadline, more dream scenarios for Dolfans also will end - and the reality of the free-agency pool will set in.

Few big-name, big-time players are going to make to free agency.

“The franchise tags have changed over the course of free agency,” Pittsburgh Steelers’ director of football operations Kevin Colbert said. “Teams are doing a much better time keeping their own guys, so there’s a more limited group of free agents that are available.

“It’s not that a team may think a player’s actually that valuable, but they have to protect themselves only because of the alternatives.”

Like the Carolina Panthers facing Peppers in a Dolphins uniform next season when the team’s square off during the regular season.

Signing offensive tackle Jordan Gross to a multi-year deal allowed them to tag Peppers.

Even so, Peppers, 29 and arguably the NFL’s most talented defender, wants to be traded to one of four teams, including the Cowboys and two others from the NFC. He also wants to play in a 3-4 scheme.

Sounds like the Dolphins would fit the bill, but a franchised Peppers would cost two first-round draft picks - too high a price for Bill Parcells.

Asked about whether Peppers would fit in in South Florida, Sparano wouldn’t go there.

“I stay from commenting about anyone else’s players or the free-agent stuff,” Sparano said. “What I do know is there’s more teams now … Kansas City might be going to a 3-4. There’s more options out there for those players.”

[dolfan13]

man i'd like to see them get a deal done with carey.... could care less about all the other guys.

[Dphins4me]

With Gross being signed, Carey now becomes the top tackle on the market.  Its pay time now for Carey.

This is a bad mistake by Miami.  Now they will have to spend a draft pick for a position they already had filled or sign a lesser talent for not much savings.  Dumb arse move!!

[DolFan619]

With Gross being signed, Carey now becomes the top tackle on the market.  Its pay time now for Carey.

This is a bad mistake by Miami.  Now they will have to spend a draft pick for a position they already had filled or sign a lesser talent for not much savings.  Dumb arse move!!

  As it turns out, it wasn't such a stupid move afterall.

[YoFuggedaboutit]

With Gross being signed, Carey now becomes the top tackle on the market.  Its pay time now for Carey.

This is a bad mistake by Miami.  Now they will have to spend a draft pick for a position they already had filled or sign a lesser talent for not much savings.  Dumb arse move!!

Care to repeat that?