Steve Smith

My feeling is Smith will be released. Why would Hurney suddenly learn the art of leveraging your talent for compensation? His track record as a GM would point to a release, when the lockout is lifted.

Put yourself if Belichick's shoes, assuming you'd like Smith. Analyze Smith's relative unhappiness with the situation in Carolina. Understand that his value is lower now due to a couple of sub-standard statistical years. Then, you tell me what you are willing to part with in order to land Smith?

Personally, Smith is good, and will make a good WR for someone else for the next 3-5 years, but when the whole world knows a player wants out, only a weak-minded or desperate front office makes a trade for a player that will be gone soon anyway. (See Julius Peppers--nobody traded for Pep. They waited it out, and the Bears gobbled him up).

 

They're probably just waiting for him to get released.

 

Smith's just turned into a negative fuck since 2009. Get the feeling that he doesn't like Rivera, either, probably because he can't walk all over him like his last two coaches in Carolina.

That, and he broke Ken Lucas' face, unprovoked. But....shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

 

Which means that Carolina could release Smith with zero damage to the salary cap.

The new CBA may have different rules regarding contracts, as the old CBA was structured to allow for "signing" bonuses that could be spread out over the term of the contract. This meant that long-term contracts were preferable for marquee free agent signings (McNabb), though the guaranteed portion (the signing bonus + current year salary effective day one of the regular season) was the only number that really mattered cap-wise. A new CBA may clean this up to get rid of the funny money in contracts.

Meaning: make the contracts guaranteed.

For Smith to get traded, a team will want to reduce his salary (and, thus, his cap number) and/or get him to re-structure to a lower salary number in exchange for a couple more years on the contract (takes him to 36). If the current provisions for contracts in the CBA carry over to the new CBA, a trading team can re-structure and convert salary to a signing bonus (if Smith agrees to do this). Otherwise, none of the salary is guaranteed and the team that gets Smith can release him without salary cap penalty same as the Panthers can.

 

Not defending Hurney, but Pep wanted to be the highest paid and everyone knew it. Plus he had that insane cap figure in the last year of his deal (again, not defending Hurney). This is closer to Jenkins' situation IMO.

 

Trade him to the frickin' Raiders for whatever they'll give. Disloyalty has its price.

 

http://www.profootballweekly.com/2011/05/10/panthers-smith-addresses-trade-talk-future-in-caro

He's finally talking about it.

 

Wow, great stuff there by Steve

 

Ever since Jake started sliding downhill, Smith has been less relaxed, less hilarious, and less productive.

Smith had tremendous swagger when Jake was feeding him smoke screens and tossing up poorly thrown post routes. His numbers were amongst the best, and he carried himself like he was one of the best.

But, true leaders understand that the culture of an organization can change--quickly. It did here, and I don't think Steve has handled it well. Sure: no punches or assaults. Great. But his overall indifference to the process since 2009 has been disconcerting.

Someone with a more granular knowledge of our offense can help me here, but I don't know--even with all his grit, heart and talent--that Smith has the makeup of a WR that can maximize his talents in this scheme. I might be so goddamned wrong on that, it's not even funny. But I just take San Diego as my template, and all I see there are tall, physical receivers and a dominant TE. In 2010, San Diego didn't carry a single WR under 6'0". Smith can play much higher than his frame, but he's not a big target, and he's been making it a habit of dropping routine balls lately.

If the league goes uncapped in 2011, then many FA options disappear. However, if the landscape changes, Sidney Rice would be worth a very close look. Forget the fact that I covered him in high school for 2 years, and that he grew up an hour away from Charlotte. He's 6'4" with speed and good hands. Injuries are a concern, so buyer beware, of course. Malcom Floyd, clearly, is ideal. He's a free agent, but again, had a ton of hamstring issues in 2010. Still, has been extremely productive in his role for the past few seasons.

No matter what Smith thinks of Clausen, he did not handle 2010 like a professional. I don't care if Clausen is the biggest ass the world--your job is to constantly work with your QB and help him get better, so you can get better, and your team can get better. That whole thing pissed me off, particularly Smith feeling it was somehow wise to air it out to the media.

I'd love to keep Smith, but I don't want him here if he's just going to sit on the end of the bench with Kasay all the time and bitch about life.

He wants a ring, and so do we. Perhaps both parties will get there faster without being married to one another.

 

Great article. Sounds like alot of things. My guess is that he's here next season.

Reasons he stays:

1 - his house wont sell. That's just a fact. And it's a big deal.
2 - he feels good about the changes in coaching / offense / philosophy.
3 - he's under contract for 2 years. He plays lights out this year, he MAY get another nice signing bonus / extension.

Reasons he leaves:

1 - he's concerned about future / money. He feels he's blown alot. He also thinks he might be running out of time to get one last extension / signing bonus, and he's right, and he may be more likely to get that elsewhere.

2 - a team with a strong passer (san diego) might be willing to dish out a nice pick and pay him a large signing bonus / extension, offer him a chance to catch alot of balls and also win a championship.

I have a feeling he lost his shirt in 2008-2009 financial mess.