Re-sign Haynesworth NOW

I don't know jeff we get all over troupe but he isn't playing. They bring him out early against the falcons and try to get him involved in the offense. He responds positively with a couple of catches and good effort YAC and that is it, he disappears and they don't play him. They are in love with hall and feel he is integral to the running game and the few times we did play the double TE sets we used hartsock because he is a good blocker.

I like the 2 TE set because we pass better and nobody can argue that troupe is less a receiving threat than hall or hartsock. I think we are wasting his talent..

 

I do agree that Troupe might be back but like Jeff said, a one year deal like Brown and Troupe will only agree to that if he doesn't get any offers from other teams (like Brown). The light might come on with this kid...I just hope it is soon.

 

We have money! About $9M below the cap counting pacman. Haynesworth already is counting $6.5M against the cap this year because he is at peak salary so his new deal might actually be less of a hit for 08 then this year. We can sign him to a $7.5-8M a year deal and the extra hit on the cap short term won't be that bad..

We will save $3M against the cap by simply releasing givens after the season. Because givens is in only his second year of his contract we would have taken a penalty to release him but next year there is no penalty. That's a pretty hefty contract off the books.

The only real significant change will be stewart who will be wanting an $8M type deal and he is only counting $400K against the cap now. Odom counts $800K now and may want a $4M deal.

We can save some money by cutting olson loose if this new kid harris is ready to play. Harris counts almost nothing against the cap while olson counts $4M.

 

Troupe,

neither of you responded to my claim that his talent is being wasted.

Troupe got some playing time last week and in a matter of a couple of minutes had 2 catches for over 20 yards. 11 of those yards were yac. Hall isn't part of the pass offense at all and hartsock either. Scaife hasn't done a whole lot this year. If troupe in a couple of minutes is good for a pair of first downs that tells me he can play and be productive.

Who would you rather have next season scaife for $4M a year or troupe for $1.5M? Prior to this season troupe has given us 33 catches for 336 yards a season on average. That's not bad at all and is similar to what dallas clark did last season for indy! That's comparable to what kinney gave us when he was starting. You don't just waste a guy like this.

 

IMO we should wait and see what Troupe gives us the rest of the eyar to make a final judgement on his value. I do like the fact it looks like he gives us a little more offensive punch but his play is sparatic and he seems to get injured often. I also doubt Scaife is going to be getting anything close to $4 mil per year on his new deal.

I do think in a more perfect world Troupe should be to us what Dallas Clarke is for Indy. A guy who can line up in the slot and create mismatches and occasionally get deep. We need someone who can stretch the field and if teams are going to continue to play their Ss like LBs a guy like Troupe should be able to make an impact.

 

Jeff, how amazing that troupe was able to be a pretty productive guy for us his first 2 years. Is he less a receiving threat now? We can have casey cramer in there at fullback but we can't have troupe at TE?