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It happens every May and June. Teams draft several prospects and pencils them in to start at various positions. They are counted on to replace free agent losses or just poor players. At this time every team is headed to the playoffs.
However, the team that did the best was the Bengals, only because they had their 1st round pick, QB Palmer, already signed.
This is a good article from nfl.com on the draft picks:
Teams have last-minute concerns
By Pat Kirwan
Special to NFL.com
Thur
(July 16, 2003) -- It's hard to find good talent, get them under the salary cap and keep them around long enough to help your franchise win. When players disappear this close to training camp because they decide to retire, or get hurt in non-contact drills, or fail a drug test, or have a run-in with the law, or your medical people misdiagnosed how long a rehab would take, it can be a killer to a franchise.
It's signing season ... if you have the room!
Sixty-one of the 262 draft picks were signed as of July 13. That's about 23 percent of the 2003 draft class. But by July 25, almost 200 will be signed to "slotted deals." As one assistant GM said to me the other day: "I told the agent what the deal was a month ago for our third, fourth, and fifth-round picks, but he was too nervous to sign it until some other players surrounding their clients signed." [!!!!!!!!!!! it will be a while]
He added, "We have the space to sign our draft picks so I'm going to just enjoy the last days of summer vacation and not worry about it."
That's not the case for about a half-dozen teams that have less than $1 million of cap space and need to restructure or terminate veterans to sign their rookies. Atlanta, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay still have some math work to do to get all the picks signed.
The Colts appear to have the most difficult situation. As of July 7, they had $188,000 of cap space. Their first-round pick, TE Dallas Clark, was taken at the 24th slot. Last year, Baltimore signed Ed Reed at that spot to a deal that had well over a $1 million cap charge. Their second-round pick, safety Mike Doss, is in a slot that was a $750,000 cap hit. The Colts need QB Peyton Manning to create some cap relief with a restructured contract, and they need it soon.
It happens every May and June. Teams draft several prospects and pencils them in to start at various positions. They are counted on to replace free agent losses or just poor players. At this time every team is headed to the playoffs.
However, the team that did the best was the Bengals, only because they had their 1st round pick, QB Palmer, already signed.
This is a good article from nfl.com on the draft picks:
Teams have last-minute concerns
By Pat Kirwan
Special to NFL.com
Thur
(July 16, 2003) -- It's hard to find good talent, get them under the salary cap and keep them around long enough to help your franchise win. When players disappear this close to training camp because they decide to retire, or get hurt in non-contact drills, or fail a drug test, or have a run-in with the law, or your medical people misdiagnosed how long a rehab would take, it can be a killer to a franchise.
It's signing season ... if you have the room!
Sixty-one of the 262 draft picks were signed as of July 13. That's about 23 percent of the 2003 draft class. But by July 25, almost 200 will be signed to "slotted deals." As one assistant GM said to me the other day: "I told the agent what the deal was a month ago for our third, fourth, and fifth-round picks, but he was too nervous to sign it until some other players surrounding their clients signed." [!!!!!!!!!!! it will be a while]
He added, "We have the space to sign our draft picks so I'm going to just enjoy the last days of summer vacation and not worry about it."
That's not the case for about a half-dozen teams that have less than $1 million of cap space and need to restructure or terminate veterans to sign their rookies. Atlanta, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay still have some math work to do to get all the picks signed.
The Colts appear to have the most difficult situation. As of July 7, they had $188,000 of cap space. Their first-round pick, TE Dallas Clark, was taken at the 24th slot. Last year, Baltimore signed Ed Reed at that spot to a deal that had well over a $1 million cap charge. Their second-round pick, safety Mike Doss, is in a slot that was a $750,000 cap hit. The Colts need QB Peyton Manning to create some cap relief with a restructured contract, and they need it soon.
