Clements to the 9ers...

Yeah thats the rumor...

 

San Francisco will make a playoff push in 2007. Nice.

 

Updated:2007-03-02 11:20:52
With Cap Higher, Free Agents Could Cash In
Frenzy Set to Begin as Players, Agents Await Calls
By CLIFTON BROWN
The New York Times

http://sports.aol.com/nfl/story/_a/with-cap-higher-free-agents-could-cash/20070302085309990002

When the National Football League’s free-agent signing period begins, Todd France has a basic rule. Never stray far from a cellphone.

France is an agent for N.F.L. players, and one of his clients, cornerback Nate Clements , is expected to be heavily pursued from the start of free agency, which officially began at 12:01 a.m. today. Clements, 27, has made the Pro Bowl twice. In his six seasons with the Buffalo Bills , he has never missed a game and he has returned 5 of his 23 interceptions for touchdowns.

This is an opportune year for Clements — or any coveted free agent — to cash in. The league’s salary cap is at a high of $109 million, 27 percent higher than it was two years ago. Teams like San Francisco , New England , Green Bay and Minnesota have at least $24 million under the salary cap to spend. For a player as good as Clements, who is expected to seek a signing bonus of at least $18 million, being a free agent this year is like having a royal flush in a high-stakes poker game, with millions on the table just waiting to be raked in.

“For an agent, this is the time when you get your rush — the phone ringing, deals to be made, all the homework you’ve done paying off,” France said in a telephone interview Wednesday from his office in Atlanta . “Things move quickly, and anything can happen. The back and forth with teams can get crazy, but that’s what free agency is all about.”

France did not make Clements available to comment.

But among possible suitors for Clements are the Jets , the Giants , Cleveland , New England, Tennessee and Washington . With so many teams in the mix, Clements has leverage, but he also has decisions to make. An Ohio native, would Clements chose the Browns over a Super Bowl contender like the Patriots ? If France hears a blockbuster offer right away, will he advise Clements to sign it?

Or will they wait, and risk ignoring a good deal for a sweeter one that may never materialize? That is part of the free-agency game, as teams, players and agents try to outmaneuver each other. Although free agency will officially start today, in reality, it began months ago with teams studying their rosters, their salary-cap situations and potential free agents. Different teams take different approaches. Some will make aggressive opening bids, hoping to quickly land the players they want. Others will wait to gauge the market.

Clements and France will have to decide which team to visit first. When a free agent visits, teams offer the red-carpet treatment, hoping to persuade a player to sign before he leaves. “Every team wants to get the first visit,” France said. “That can be an advantage right there, making your pitch face to face before anyone else.”

Teams that single out the most prominent free agents do not always get the best results. Last season, three high-profile players — guard Steve Hutchinson of the Minnesota Vikings , running back Edgerrin James of the Arizona Cardinals and wide receiver Antwaan Randle El of the Washington Redskins — signed with new teams as free agents. None of those teams made the playoffs.

The 49ers insist their cap-friendly position will not necessarily make them lavish spenders on the open market.

“Free agency is about getting better players, not the money,” 49ers Coach Mike Nolan said last week during the league’s scouting combine. “We don’t have a quick-fix mind-set. We won’t.”

But when the bidding starts, the 49ers could find it difficult to ignore a proven player like linebacker Adalius Thomas, who had 11 sacks for the Baltimore Ravens last season. Still in his prime at age 29, Thomas could add a pass-rushing dimension to San Francisco’s defense, and he already played for Nolan when he was an assistant coach in Baltimore.

The free-agent market includes few impact defensive players, which should increase the market value of Clements and Thomas. Defensive end Dwight Freeney of the Indianapolis Colts and linebacker Lance Briggs of the Chicago Bears , who would have been coveted free agents, instead were given the franchise tag by their teams.

That means Clements could become this year’s highest-paid free agent. For France and Clements, it could be difficult to know when they have received their best offer. France recalled another year, when a team told him it was no longer interested in one of his clients. Days later, the same team called back with a better offer.

“Sometimes, another player that they thought they were going to get slips away,” France said. “Then they come back to you. That’s the kind of thing that happens.”

Asked to name the hardest part of free agency, France laughed.

“Probably the phone ringing,” he said. “Gives me a headache sometimes. But when it rings, it could be good news.”

Moments later, France ended the conversation.

“Got to go,” he said. “One of my phones is ringing.”
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I'll link in a sec.

 

good, let them over spend on Clements and Thomas, so that they cant go after anyone else.

 

theres nobody else to go after except trash players lol.

thomas on the pats makes them psychos this better not go through.

only signing i think id be excited about at this point would be Mughelli at FB.

 

All this site is into is the Jets ignoring all the great players and settling on a bunch of mediocre players that they can then proceed to overate.

 

I'd like to see us go after Porter, Foley, Steinbach and Dielamn They are all still available

 

You need to get out more....

:lol:

 

what In Gods name? dude, id you want me to be your lofe mentor I can. But the first rule is to never, ever say anything like that again

 

thats ok dude. I SAID lofe MENTOR

 

$23 million GUARANTEED?

Jeez. I can only imagine what a player will get in 2009.

 

If there was a young pro bowler out there at a need position I'm sure the Jets would be extending for him as much as they could. There isn't.

Not a single free agent on the market is a regular pro bowl type player in early to mid-prime. Thomas? Yeah he's a good player but he's not a guaranteed all-pro. Same for Clements.

So you pick your spots and you sign the players who make sense financially and who do not cost you future value by having to pay compensation for them.

That's how teams get to be great. All this free agent mania? That's how teams get to be the Washington Redskins...

 

CLEMENTS BLOWS OUT THE CURVE

Adam Schefter of NFL Network reports that the San Francisco 49ers have signed cornerback Nate Clements.

It's a mind-boggling eight-year, $80 million deal, with $22 million in guaranteed money, and it makes Clements the highest-paid defensive player in NFL history.

Clements was expected to be pursued by several teams. But he never got out of San Fran.

 

That's insane.

 

that is absolutely ridiclous. Hes good but hes not Champ Bailey good