MVN - Most Valuable Network

Time Running Out to Get a Deal With Stacy Andrews

At 4 pm on Tuesday, the deadline will pass to sign franchise G/T Stacy Andrews to a long-term deal.  It is the story no one has talked about all off-season.   For the 2nd straight year the Bengals will tie up approximately $8 million in a one year deal.  It is salary cap management at its worst.   The purpose of the franchise tag is two-fold.  First, it protects you from losing a key free agent.  On this front the team has succeeded.  Second, by limiting the player’s options it is suppose to facilitate a long-term deal.  On this front the team has failed miserably.  Most likely, Andrews is trying to parlay his franchise status into a $50 million contract like Eric Steinbach and a host of others did a 2007.   Unlike Steinbach, Andrews is hardly a proven commodity.  He was a spot starter last season and while he performed admirably esp. in pass protection, he was not nearly the run blocker Willie Anderson is (few are).   Andrews is and always has been about upside.  Heck we don’t really know whether he is a better guard or tackle not to mention a starting job (personally i think he is a better guard). The time to sign upside (and get a discount) is to sign it early (2 years ago early).   In the end, the biggest problem with not getting a deal done is it limits the team’s ability to sign its pending free agents (TJ being the biggest name).   It also allows the team to say it has spent most of its cap money (at least close in Bengals terms).   Not signing Andrews long-term won’t be a surprise but it is still a disappointment.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 14th, 2008 at 6:01 pm and is filed under stacy andrews, Bengal News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.