Quote:If he signs with us the browns will have 5 days to match the offer and keep him.
He doesn't appear to want to stay long term with the browns, so there is a possibility he won't sign any offers in order to keep the browns from being able to match a long term contract thus keeping him there. If he doesn't sign an offer, he would play for the browns next year under the transition tag which would pay him the average salary of the top ten offensive linemen in the NFL. It would also put pressure on the browns to release him the following year due to the limit on the number of times you can tag a player.
It is a bit of an awkward situation. The browns have a lot of cap space so theoretically they could easily match any offer made.That's why you haven't seen any offers being made for him yet. Teams are just watching and waiting right now.
That's an interesting point. How much cap room do the Browns have?
The Browns are basically having other teams set the value of Mack and drawing up his contract. Any team that pries him away from Cleveland will have to do so by overpaying for him. Cleveland has spent some money already. I suspect talks with Mack will heat up as Cleveland signs some more guys and lowers their cap space. He hasn't signed the transition tag offer. He wants out of the circus.
Quote:That's an interesting point. How much cap room do the Browns have?
49 million I believe. Enough room to front load an entire multi year contract this year. Basically they could match any contract structure offered if they wanted to.
We could possibly offer a draft pick or two to keep the browns from matching.
Maybe the Monroe picks which would balance out that trade.
Quote:That's an interesting point. How much cap room do the Browns have?
According to ESPN 27.2 million as of now, 2nd most in the league. We're # 1 at 28.3
Quote:According to ESPN 27.2 million as of now, 2nd most in the league. We're # 1 at 28.3
link?
we're still in a great position. Cleveland burned a lot of cap with Paul Kruger and Dez Bryant
Quote:<a class="bbc_url" href='http://espn.go.com/blog/afcnorth/post/_/id/68227/salary-cap-updates-for-afc-north-teams'>http://espn.go.com/blog/afcnorth/post/_/id/68227/salary-cap-updates-for-afc-north-teams</a>
Umm that's a link from last year..
Quote:we're still in a great position. Cleveland burned a lot of cap with Paul Kruger and Dez Bryant
yeah i forgot dez doesn't play for dallas anymore
Quote:yeah i forgot dez doesn't play for dallas anymore
Quote:we're still in a great position. Cleveland burned a lot of cap with Paul Kruger and Dez Bryant
You are clearly really tuned into this whole NFL thing...
Back to A. Mack; why is everyone staying away from this guy? Indianapolis and Jacksonville both have apparent holes at Center and Indy went and signed Phil Costa. I'm not getting a feeling that Jacksonville is all that interested either. From all reports he is a quality player, so why is everyone avoiding this situation?
The transition tag makes it a slippery slope. Believe me. Teams are interested. I don't know if we land him, but I have to imagine he is still in play in Caldwell's master plan. If Cleveland signs Tate to a big deal and maybe one or two others, I can see us putting an offer out there which would hamstring CLE to match.
Quote:Back to A. Mack; why is everyone staying away from this guy? Indianapolis and Jacksonville both have apparent holes at Center and Indy went and signed Phil Costa. I'm not getting a feeling that Jacksonville is all that interested either. From all reports he is a quality player, so why is everyone avoiding this situation?
He has a transition tag. Any team that works out a deal with him could wind up just working out a deal for Cleveland.
I think teams will sit back and wait for more developments.
Quote:He has a transition tag. Any team that works out a deal with him could wind up just working out a deal for Cleveland.
I think teams will sit back and wait for more developments.
But what development can occur? It's as you stated, there is a transition tag on him. The only change that can occur is if an outside team gins up a contract and gets him to sign. Without that, the situation is stagnant.
However, as Kotite stated, Cleveland's situation can change some in that they can get reduced Salary Cap space based on how active they are in Free Agency, but I can't see just one or two signings eating up so much space as to hamstring them.
Quote:The transition tag makes it a slippery slope. Believe me. Teams are interested. I don't know if we land him, but I have to imagine he is still in play in Caldwell's master plan. If Cleveland signs Tate to a big deal and maybe one or two others, I can see us putting an offer out there which would hamstring CLE to match.
Cleveland has too much cap space for us to hamstring them. They won't find themselves in a position where they couldn't match and I doubt Caldwell would throw out ridiculous money to where they wouldn't want to match.
You will probably have to offer a trade or wait and see if the relationship between Mack and the browns deteriorates to the point that they drop the tag.
Quote:But what development can occur? It's as you stated, there is a transition tag on him. The only change that can occur is if an outside team gins up a contract and gets him to sign. Without that, the situation is stagnant.
However, as Kotite stated, Cleveland's situation can change some in that they can get reduced Salary Cap space based on how active they are in Free Agency, but I can't see just one or two signings eating up so much space as to hamstring them.
Cleveland wants Mack but Mack doesn't want to be there. They are hoping he changes his mind and signs with him.
If he is determined enough not to be there he could eventually become too much of a distraction for them and they might drop the tag.
Or Cleveland could decide that a certain price as far as draft picks would keep them from matching an offer.
It's kind of wait and see right now. It could take a while for this to resolve itself one way or the other.
I don't see a scenario where CLE drops the tag or we work a trade. The only way we land him is if we overpay with a heavily frontloaded contract. The deals CLE has done thus far are paying more in 2014 than the players they replaced. While CLE will have the $ to match, I don't know that they will mortgage their future to lock up a C who doesn't want to be there. They have plenty of needs too. I honestly think Dave and Mack are just waiting for CLE to sign more guys and eat into that 2014 cap # before they make a move.