Merrill: Peterson plays down the Law...

[DaWolf]

Peterson plays down the Law (http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/12182574.htm)

No workout, no offer for talented cornerback

By ELIZABETH MERRILL The Kansas City Star

Carl Peterson was back in his office Wednesday, rested from a short vacation and mildly amused over the late-summer hubbub about a free-agent cornerback he hasn’t seen since March.

Or is annoyed a better word?

“I wouldn’t worry about Ty Law at this point,” the Chiefs’ president/general manager said.

“You’re talking to the horse’s mouth here. We have had no conversations with Ty Law or with his agent specific to a contract. Never have. We haven’t made a contract offer to him. I won’t make a contract offer to a player until I get to see him really actually work out. That’s what my job is, and he hasn’t been able to do that yet.”

In the month since cornerback Julian Battle went down with a torn Achilles’, Law went from an afterthought to the object of Chiefs’ fans affections. Message-board junkies suggested putting together a pool to pay for Law’s contract. Speculation swirled that Law and the Chiefs were close to a deal.

The hype intensified last week when word of Eric Warfield’s four-game suspension came out. Peterson said Wednesday that the Chiefs had long anticipated Warfield’s absence, which is why they signed veteran cornerback Ashley Ambrose earlier this month.

Law is coming off of foot surgery, which is an obvious concern for Peterson. After conversations with Law’s agent, Peterson said he thought Law was “a ways away for anybody to really look at him physically.” And then there’s the issue of money. Law has made the rounds in the national media lately, saying he’s one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL and wants to be paid accordingly.

Peterson is already paying one cornerback big money. He signed Patrick Surtain this spring in a deal that is worth about $51 million.

“People here are putting an awful lot of emphasis on Ty Law,” Peterson said. “Well, we’ve already made decisions. I had to make a decision on whether we sit and wait for Ty Law or make the trade for Patrick Surtain. That decision is made. There’s only so many dollars.

“I smile at some people out there who say, ‘Well, you should just give him X million dollars and so forth.’ Well, none of us in the National Football League have those X million dollars left. We have a cap. And very few of us have even signed one or two draft picks yet.”

The Chiefs start training camp in River Falls, Wis., next week, and Peterson said he doesn’t anticipate any other roster moves. At least two other teams are believed to be heavily in pursuit of Law — the Jets and the Jaguars. Reports out of New England this week have suggested that the Patriots might want Law to return.

“If Ty Law, once he gets well, has an interest in the Chiefs for a contract that makes sense to us, then I’m happy to talk with him,” Peterson said. “But right now my understanding is he’s looking for a big contract, but he’s not even physically well yet.”

[Mecca]

At this point I'm not going to believe anything that comes out of the Chiefs or Ty Law or any organization interested in him. I consider every bit of it posturing for a better deal at this point. Peterson's not going to bust out the "oh we need ty" stuff and give him any contract leverage he'd be a fool to do that.

The cap stuff is BS, you can circumvent and work around the cap if you so choose. If they don't sign Ty Law they can use the cap as an excuse publicy but I don't believe that would be the real reason. Has more to do with straight cash then cap money.

When she talks about message board junkies, has she been reading the planet?

[CrazyHorse]

screw Law.

Why pay that kind of money for someone to cover the leagues #2 recievers. It would be considered gross mismanagement of the cap. If you have a young guy playing his rook contract and an elite guy you pay big bucks, that's one thing. But to bust the cap for the next several years? Nah.

[jspchief]

The cap stuff is BS, you can circumvent and work around the cap if you so choose. If they don't sign Ty Law they can use the cap as an excuse publicy but I don't believe that would be the real reason. Has more to do with straight cash then cap money.

So why does the NFL have a cap? If it's so easily "circumvented" and doesn't have any effect on any team's ability to sign players, why do teams have to let quality guys go sometimes?

A certain faction of the BB seems to hold on to this ridiculous notion that the cap has no real bearing on the issue.

[MichaelH]

Carl is right on and has been lately. How can you offer a big contract to a player that can't perform up to it? We need to sign Derrick Johnson before anyone else.

[DaWolf]

screw Law.

Why pay that kind of money for someone to cover the leagues #2 recievers. It would be considered gross mismanagement of the cap. If you have a young guy playing his rook contract and an elite guy you pay big bucks, that's one thing. But to bust the cap for the next several years? Nah.

I'm willing to bet that any contract the chiefs offer would essentially be a 1-2 year deal with no major cap ramifications. We're just waiting for Law to figure out no one is going to pay him big coin this year. If someone does, good luck to them.

I don't know why but I would not be shocked to see someone like Al Davis sneak in at the last minute and take Law from under everyone's noses with a contract none of them would have offered...

[DaWolf]

So why does the NFL have a cap? If it's so easily "circumvented" and doesn't have any effect on any team's ability to sign players, why do teams have to let quality guys go sometimes?

A certain faction of the BB seems to hold on to this ridiculous notion that the cap has no real bearing on the issue.

In any select year, if a team is in good cap shape, IE the 2005 Chiefs, they can massage contracts and so forth to give that extra space they need. That eventually gets with you down the road in certain cases, but it can be done. Where teams get into trouble is when they sign turds or overpay guys and have to cut them and deal with the dead money on the books. That's money that cannot be moved...

[CrazyHorse]

I'm willing to bet that any contract the chiefs offer would essentially be a 1-2 year deal with no major cap ramifications. We're just waiting for Law to figure out no one is going to pay him big coin this year. If someone does, good luck to them.

I don't know why but I would not be shocked to see someone like Al Davis sneak in at the last minute and take Law from under everyone's noses with a contract none of them would have offered...

Even so, he would be hired due to a 4 game suspension. the Chiefs fans were satisfied with the signing of Surtain, until the suspension. Now it seems as though the Chiefs fans are willing to pay anything for no mare than a name.

There is no guarantee that Law will play well if we did sign him. Though I do feel he will return to form. I'm very reluctant that he will be 100% by the start of the season.

In an incentive laden contract, the Chiefs will still have to have enough money on the books to pay it.

[Mecca]

In any select year, if a team is in good cap shape, IE the 2005 Chiefs, they can massage contracts and so forth to give that extra space they need. That eventually gets with you down the road in certain cases, but it can be done. Where teams get into trouble is when they sign turds or overpay guys and have to cut them and deal with the dead money on the books. That's money that cannot be moved...

Thank you for explaining that, so I wouldn't have too. Also you can tack on the Chiefs have alot of players who probably won't be on the roster in 2 years so the cap situation of the future isn't as bad as it's percieved.

[tomahawk kid]

I think the takeaway here is this - don't get too excited about any Law rumors until the Chiefs bring him in for a workout.

At this point, I kind of think he's going back to the Pats......

[jspchief]

In any select year, if a team is in good cap shape, IE the 2005 Chiefs, they can massage contracts and so forth to give that extra space they need. That eventually gets with you down the road in certain cases, but it can be done. Where teams get into trouble is when they sign turds or overpay guys and have to cut them and deal with the dead money on the books. That's money that cannot be moved...This team just signed a sh*t ton of expensive free agents this off-season. I don't buy that we're in that good of shape regarding the cap. There's a lot of speculation, but since there is no legit source for cap numbers, it is only speculation.

Besides that, the team has spent a ton of "cash" in signing bonuses. At some point they have to draw a line and say no more.

I just think the idea that "Carl can make it happen if he wants to" may be a bit naive and uninformed.

Besides that, no one wants to acknowledge that Law is refusing to take a physical for the team. Doesn't that raise question marks?

Personally, I think Law and his agent are using Chiefs fans to get more money, and I don't think they have any intention or shot at coming here. Sadly, a lot of you are taking it hook, line, and sinker.

[Chiefs_Mike_Topeka]

Lets get Rhonda Moss to give us the real story before we start making conclusions about the Chiefs and Ty Law.





:rolleyes:

[the Talking Can]

I blame Nick Athan.

[ROYC75]

Does Hugh Douglas ring a bell here ? Anyone ?

[Dinny Bossa Nova]

What I'm wondering is if Carl's belt went with his shoes, and was the room tastefully decorated?

:harumph:

Dinny

[Mecca]

This is how I'm viewing this......
I feel this year is our last real shot at a Superbowl. I'm almost 25 years old, I've never seen this team in a Superbown. I'm sure there are posters here that are older than I am that can say the exact same thing.

This year is about the Superbowl, I don't want to sit around after this year saying "What if we got Ty Law we might have won it then". It's that kind of stuff right there, in your last legiment contention year before older players finally hit their wall. Others of them retire and you experience cap problems. Sometimes it's time to go balls out and take a risk to get a reward.

In my opinion for this year, for what this team wants to do he's worth that risk. It's not even the first 4 games that worry me. It's playoff games it's postseason play.

Ty Law brings things this team and most important this defense lacks. He brings Superbowl experience a ton of playoff experience leadership, and most importantly a swagger this defense hasn't had in years. Will some of the other signings help things like that? Sure, but I think Ty Law would be an ultimate capper to this offseason and our shot at the Superbowl.

I just don't want to be sitting around after this season talking about "if we had Ty Law it would be diferent". If this team goes balls out and gets him and doesn't win, none of us will be able to say "what if" about any player moves this year.

I don't think we'd go through a serious cap hell period just due to the amount of players that we'll lose due to retirement and cuts. We'd go through a few years of rebuilding but nothing like what the Titans are going through.

As has been said before, A few years of being bad is better than never seeing a Superbowl for your team the entire time you've been alive.

Maybe my views on this are a little selfish but sometimes that comes when you've been a fan of a team for so long. This team for the entire time I can remember back has broken my heart. Hell you tell other people you're a Chiefs fan, and they all laugh "ahaha 30 years ahaha"

I just like to be able to look back at this year after it's done and know we did all we could to win the Bowl and think. "Man that was our year right there".

[BigRedChief]

This could all be posturing by King Carl to get Law cheap. Doesn't really matter to me. We will never see Law in a KC uniform.

It looks like McCleon or the other aging CB as starters for the first four games. We could come out of those 1-3.:banghead:

[FRCDFED]

This could all be posturing by King Carl to get Law cheap. Doesn't really matter to me. We will never see Law in a KC uniform.

It looks like McCleon or the other aging CB as starters for the first four games. We could come out of those 1-3.:banghead:If Carl is hoping to get Law cheap then he will talk his way right out of the negotiations. While I agree that Law would be a risky signing because of his current physical condition I also agree that he would bring intangibles that can't be taught to this team. As Mecca stated, Law would bring a swagger and experience that could put this defense over the top, which is something I would welcome. If and I mean if we could get him for a 2-3 year deal then I would be all for it.

Other players (only a few) have fully recovered from the same injury that Law is working to come back from. The mere fact that he is putting so much effort into the comeback tells me that he will be able to play this season. The extra weight is a product of his rehab. It's simple logic that if you aren't able to exercise then you gain weight. We are going to look pretty silly criticizing him for being a little heavy and out of shape in September when he is back on the field.

I don't care if he is lined up against the 1st or 2nd WR from the opposing team. He will shut down either one. He has natural ball instincts that are very rare. Teamed with Surtain we could have the best DB tandom in the NFL. Minn would most likely be second.

Bottom line: Law will be in shape by the beginning of the season and ready to play for someone. If he is reasonable (not cheap) on his contract demands then he could play for a contender.

NE already has about 3 mil in dead cap money from releasing Law. Therefore, it would be hard to imagine him returning to NE. I won't disagree that they need him but to carry 3 mil in dead cap money on an active player is pretty ludicrous.

[TRR]

“I smile at some people out there who say, ‘Well, you should just give him X million dollars and so forth.’ Well, none of us in the National Football League have those X million dollars left. We have a cap. And very few of us have even signed one or two draft picks yet.”

Great quote. So true.

[StcChief]

Carl is right on and has been lately. How can you offer a big contract to a player that can't perform up to it? We need to sign Derrick Johnson before anyone else.
Yep. and the rest of the draftees before during training camp.

[StcChief]

2-2 after four games.
Jets W
Raiders - W
Denver - L
Eagles - L

Then move on with Warfield back.

[BigRedChief]

2-2 after four games.
Jets W
Raiders - W
Denver - L
Eagles - L

Then move on with Warfield back.

I hope you are right ole wise one.:)