A. Thomas vs. L. Fletcher

I would definitely take Thomas over Fletcher, but Fletcher is not going to be looking for the money Thomas will, and hopefully in the end Fletcher will end up being a good pickup for us.

So long as we're counting on PFT for our Fletcher news:

POSTED 7:46 p.m. EST; UPDATED 7:56 p.m. EST, February 26, 2007

FLETCHER DEAL NOT DONE?

Although there are rampant rumors that the Washington Redskins have reached a deal with Bills middle linebacker London Fletcher, a source close to Fletcher says that a final decision has not been made.

The Redskins, Patriots, Lions, and Bills are interested in Fletcher, and the source says that the Bills currently are the favorites to land London, with the Redskins at No.2 on the list.

Ideally, however, the Bills should have the exclusive ability to negotiate with Fletcher until Friday. But that's simply not how it works in the NFL anymore; virtually every team violates the prohibition on tampering when the time comes to talk to pending free agents. Indeed, we're not aware of a single team that doesn't get an early start on chatting with players who technically are the property of others.

This pretty well puts an end to the argument that we should be concerned because "his own team doesnt want him." Apparently they do, they just might not be willing to pay him what he wants...

Can you guys even afford Thomas? Is that a serious option for you? I'm not farmiliar with the cap situation.

If Thomas goes anywhere else than SF I would be pissed. There is no reason he should go anywhere else, Nolan knows him and he would fit our system perfectly, upgrading the defense significantly. We have 37M to spend I expect to sign at least two top tier FA's with a couple other significant signings, as well as moving up to another 1-2 rounde pick in the draft. Thomas, Clements, Steinbach, Bennett would all be guys I would be pleased to land. I doubt we can land them all, but we better get at least two.

Thank u. Thomas IS NOT coming here.

Now again, when I say 'dumpster diving' or 'sifting through other teams' trash' I don't necessarily mean they're "garbage" in the literal sense, (though some of them certainly were), I'm talking about taking players that were no longer wanted, or there was no real push to retain them by their original teams. But just off the top of my head, here goes:

Renaldo Wynn
Bruce Smith
Mark Carrier
Jeff George
Jacquez Green
Reidel Anthony
Trung Canidate
Darrell Russell
Daryl Gardener
Jessie Armstead
Jeremiah Trotter
Danny Wuerffel
Shane Mathews
Brandon Noble
Joe Salave'a - wasn't even in another team's garbage can, was out of football
Philip Daniels


Those are just the guys I can think of -- I know there's more. The defensive line seems to be the recipient of most of the garbage, as evidenced by this team's neglect of that position in every single draft since 1997. Some, like Salave'a and Daniels have worked out OK, but it still represents this organization's tendency to treat the defensive line as an afterthought.

so dumpster diving is signing any free agent that doesn't stay with his old team... which means every free agent there ever was lol.

a bunch of thoses guys were super cheap, and gardener and noble both gave a good year before moving on.

Armstead had a couple of solid seasons for us, not sure why people want to keep lumping him in with the likes of Wuerffel, etc.

If it was all about knowing the system, we'd be plowing along racking up Lombardi trophies with Wuerffel, Reidel Anthony and Jacquez Green

Of course they have to be quality players above anything.

My point about the benefit of Fletcher knowing the system is there is a built in comfort level there with him and Williams. I don't think things like that can be underestimated.

I think it also shows that Gibbs and co. are trying to make smarter decisions regarding personnel this year. They'd rather go after guys they are very comfortable with rather than taking a chance on a guy fitting in a la Archuletta/Lloyd.

That's right. Here's a project: buy a company and set yourself a goal like "Be the #1 company out of 32 companies like this one in less than a year." Now, go out and hire 4 or 5 key guys to help you achieve this goal. Where are you first going to look? Monster? Help Wanted? Probably not. You'll make a list of people you know that you feel comfortable with and have positive experience working with....at least that's what I would do.

de:Carter
dt:Griffin
dt:Branch
de: Daniels
olb: Rocky
mlb: Fletcher
olb: Washington
cb:Bly
cb:Rogers
nb:Smoot
fs:Taylor
ss:Springs

just wanted to write out the proposed depth chart

thomas has never played in a 4-3, and i have a feeling he wouldnt be nearly as good here as he was in baltimore. id go with fletcher any day

thomas has never played in a 4-3, and i have a feeling he wouldnt be nearly as good here as he was in baltimore. id go with fletcher any day

Agreed. Adalius Thomas IS a MONSTER but, like you said, no 4-3 experience. Fletcher, small downgrade in production but MAJOR jump in experience and field readiness. I'd take Fletcher.