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I guess the Knowshon Moreno experiment is done in Denver or they want to take a few miles off his tires by splitting carries

 

they're going to keep Kalil, and can't afford to not lose CJ. Regardless of talent he's at best third on the list. Adding the need to pay Beason ASAP, it becomes a situation where I don't know they can afford to do anything with DW. Years ago, I thought the way to handle him was to franchise him, because a year's rent is a lot smarter than most 2nd contracts for top RB.

 

The way to handle him was to not spend the 13th overall pick on another RB. But yeah, franchise would generally be better than a long-term contract at that position. Really don't like franchising Kalil, though. This organization has a long history of paying above average players as if they're elite. Same concern about CJ, really.

 

Johnson's numbers according to profootballfocus rated him as the top pass rushing end of last year, with almost no support at all. One year is not much to hang on but the suggestion is that he excelled in limited time in 08, 09 (though they don't mention 09's weight gain and significant exposure inside). He'll cost too much, but they like guys who actually want to play here.

 

Is there a reason to care what profootballfocus thinks? I was under the impression that the site was just a bunch of amateurs who subjectively assign numbers and grades to players, but don't really have any idea what they're doing. At least the Football Outsiders guys & Joyner have some established metrics.

 

it was based on QB pressures, knockdowns, and sacks.

 

Fair enough, but it's worth noting that 2010 had a lower DE leading sack total than any season since 1996, so being among the league leaders then wasn't saying a whole lot. (interesting aside is that DE sack totals have declined pretty consistently and significantly since 2000) None of us believe that Charles Johnson is one of the top 10 defensive ends in the game, so paying him like one on the basis of one nice season in an otherwise down year for the position would seemingly be a mistake. Then again, maybe we're underestimating him and he'll go on to be highly productive for years to come. I'd just rather not see the team bet a hefty portion of its salary cap on that.

 

CJ did rank #4 in total tackles from the list of 2010's top-10 sack leaders, a list that did not include Julius Peppers. To be fair, Pep did have 9 PD'd, vs. Johnson's 1. If my research is correct, Peppers led all NFL DE's in PD's, which is not insignificant (betcha 3-5 of those came from Clausen).

 

Strongside ends are naturally going to have more tackles, but getting sacks out of them is more rare, so CJ has that going for him. I just wish we'd seen at least two seasons of this before committing to a huge contract. One of the reasons Peppers was so unappreciated is that the average fan doesn't realize how rare it is for an end to get double digit sacks consistently.

 

That and taking plays off.