30 FAs in 30 Days: Carl Nicks
 

http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/article...1-045ee89b8958

Today's featured player is New Orleans Saints left guard Carl Nicks

NFL free agency begins Tuesday, March 13th at 3:00 PM (CST). With the Chiefs looking to improve depth and competition across their roster, KCChiefs.com will preview 30 potential free agents in the 30 days leading up to the start of free agency. Up first is New Orleans Saints guard Carl Nicks (1/30).

NAME: Carl Nicks
POSITION: Offensive Guard

HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 6-5, 343

COLLEGE: Nebraska

GP/GS: 64/61

AGE/EXPEREINCE: 26/4 seasons

BACKGROUND: A two-time Pro Bowler and back-to-back All-Pro performer, Nicks hasn’t missed a game since joining the Saints as a fifth-round draft pick out of Nebraska in 2008. Nicks is known as a powerful run blocker and for his quick feet in pass protection. He’s started every game at left guard since Week 4 of his rookie campaign.

In Nicks’ four seasons as a starter, New Orleans leads the NFL in 1st downs (1,469), offensive touchdowns (231) and yards from scrimmage (27,046).

AVAILABILITY: An unrestricted free agent in 2012, Nicks will be one of the most appealing players to hit the open market. He’s regarded by most as the prime target of this year’s free agent class of offensive linemen.

According to Nicks in an interview last week, the Saints have yet to reach out regarding a contract extension.

"They never talked to me at all about it really, which I thought was kind of weird," Nicks told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "I talked to (GM Mickey Loomis) the last day before exit meetings, and he said they were going to do their best to try to keep me. So that's the gist of contract talks."

Nicks is reportedly seeking a big contract after seeing teammate Jahri Evans haul in a seven-year, $56.7 million contract in 2010. Evans’ contract was the richest deal given to an interior offensive lineman at the time.

From the sounds of it, Nicks wants to stay in New Orleans. Time will tell if that happens or not.

COACHING CONNECTIONS: Chiefs linebackers coach Gary Gibbs and defensive assistant Adam Zimmer know Nicks well. Gibbs served as New Orleans’ defensive coordinator during Nicks’ rookie season and Zimmer paired with Nicks for two seasons, including the Saints Super Bowl XLIV championship squad in 2009.

WHY HE FITS: The Chiefs have keyed an improved offensive line as one of this year’s top off-season priorities. Kansas City is set to return both starters at guard from last season – Jon Asamoahand Ryan Lilja – but it’s hard to argue against Nicks’ accomplishments and his age is appealing as well

Nicks would be a starter for any of the NFL’s 32 teams, which is why he’s one of this year’s marquee names heading into free agency.

**** spending that much on a guard, especially on a line that would still have Richardson at right tackle.

I guess it would all depend on Carr and Bowe as well as how the contract is structured. If it is heavily frontloaded, then I'm more than okay with it. It's not like we don't have the space.

Its a luxery that in the long run will have the team making decisions to cut good players down the road. He'd certainly be an upgrade over Lilja. If you can't keep Waters for the same reasons, you can't take a run at Nicks.

This is going to end up being a list of 30 free agents the Chiefs will either not pursue, or make embarassingly low offers to.

All we would have to do is structure the deal with performance bonuses and a second year roster bonus and all of a sudden, you have a guy on a 50 million dollar contract that 28 million is paid out in his first two years and the other 22 is spread between 5 years.

Saying we would have tote ANYONE go because of deals is a little off.

If there were a cap floor this year, we would be 50 million dollars away from it.

Where there is a will there is a way.

I could see Pioli signing him and drafting a right tackle really early in the draft because those are two moves that could help his pet rock "step his game up"

I wouldn't be the least bit shocked to see us have a line like this next year:

Albert
Nicks
Hudson
Asamoah
Reiff

That would be damn impressive and if Cassel still shits the bed, Stanzi would be able to flourish behind that line with the weapons we have.

Waters and Nicks are not remotely in the same spot in their careers. Nicks would cost more, but we are so far from cap trouble it's insane. I'm not saying sign him come hell or high water, but I would be happy to see it.

Or make good offers to, which the player then uses as leverage to get better contracts from other teams.

Bowe, Carr, and Nicks? That's 3 top flight FAs in a single year. I just don't think its gonna happen.

There are lower tier guards out there that can still upgrade the position.

This would be a sick line. JC would rape faces.

I'd absolutely love the Broncos to sign Nicks to help with the run game. He's one of the FAs the Broncos should pursue. We have a great guard in Kuper, but Beadles is not working and should be a back up. Put Kuper on one side, Nicks on the other and hopefully this will help Walton.

I still believe the better option in free agency would be signing Nick Hardwicke or Chris Myers and leaving Hudson at his natural position of guard.

Could be true milk, just have to depend on what they view Hudson as.


Both those centers are a little older. With Nicks you get a guy that could be the top G in the NFL for 8 years.

Just because Hudson started at G in college doesn't mean thats his natural position. Scouts felt he fit better in the NFL as a C.

Ummmm..... I think you're on the WRONG MESSAGE BOARD !

DUMBASS!

There's no way scouts can know with certainty that Hudson can play center.

It's a projection, and the transition isn't necessarily as easy as people like to think it is.

Brian Waters struggled with snapping the ball and getting underneath pads when he made the transition.

He also struggled with the exchange.

Sacapoo would have a permanent boner, but would still be calling for a left tackle to replace Albert next year.

I'm thinking Nicks is gonna be a Cowboy.

I would love to have Nicks tho.



This off-season is a huge one for the Chiefs. They are in a spot to either become somewhat contenders or status quo and suck.

If we sign Nicks, anyone know the cap hit to cut Lilja?

I foresee the general populace in this series stating we should take every player listed. A lot have been talking about Soliai already. There are certainly positions where we can and should upgrade. We certainly had poor interior protection last year. Can't say if that was on Lilja or if he was trying to cover for other weaknesses on the line. I'd say in order of importance it would be QB, NT, RT, ILB, depth at S and o-line. The problem with signing expensive FAs is that even if you can front load them like we would need for this year, down the line you still have an expensive player at that position that could lead to future cap issues. Drafting and signing your own players seems to be our strategy now and is more fiscally sound. CP always had us in cap hell because he couldn't draft to save his life.

Nicks is one of the best guards in the league. The logical part in me says we don't need to spend that much on a guard but the Husker homer in me would love to see us sign him.

it's already been discussed over on the Omane. Just putting an opposing teams fan perspective in the mix.

Can Nicks pull for the stretch play that JC thrives in?

How about the "we don't give a shit about your irrelevant team" perspective? GO BACK TO THE MANE.

It is so hard to make a decision on these without knowing about Carr and Bowe. If we spend a bunch for both then I would rather avoid this contract to get both a guard and Soliai.

As I mentioned in the Landry thread, we're about $60M under the cap.

They can sign Bowe, Carr, Nick, Solai, Landry, and 3 or 4 other guys and STILL not be close to the cap.

Carl Nicks is an excellent example of why you don't draft Guards high.

They can be found mid to late in the draft.

Its not just about this season. If we spend all the extra $30 million on big contracts, when 2013 comes back and we no longer are allowed to be $30 million over the cap what do we do? I would rather get the first 4 guys plus some others and still have a little room for other young guys down the road. I like Lewis as well, so to me I would rather spend it in other spots.

If we get the first 4 guys you are looking at like $40 million give or take, so anything else is using the role-over money that dissapears next season. I am all for spending, and its not a bad move, but I just would rather spend it somewhere else. I guess this is assuming that we aren't going after Manning.

Beyond this, just on my personal feeling of what Pioli will do, I doubt he goes after a bunch of names. If he is only going to go get 1 or 2 big guys I would rather it be Nicks and Soliai. I personally think the best we will see is Carr, Bowe, and Soliai. Not even sure we see that.

THIS

That's pretty good.

First of all, we're not allowed to be $30M over the cap next year. The uncapped year was this past one, was it not? Not sure where you are getting that.

We're $60M under the cap. We're not talking about cash. Those first 4 guys won't come anywhere CLOSE to counting $40M against next year's cap. With bonuses and everything, they MIGHT count $25M against next year's cap.

We could sign Bowe, Carr, Nicks, Solai, and Landry and STILL have room for Peyton Manning.

I'm not getting my hopes up, that's for sure.

Pipe dream.
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Lets pray that the Patriots release Waters so Polio would sign him. He fits our philosophy, he would be am ex Pat.
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I am getting at the role-over cap money. We are 60 over as you know because we are allowed to use the 30 from last year we didn't use. In 2013 we won't be allowed to use that extra 30 million, so if you spend it all this season we will have to get rid of 30 million for the 2013 season.

All of the numbers I've seen suggest we're $60M real dollars under the cap. What's the purpose in reporting a team is XXX under the cap when everybody knows they have to account for rollover? It would be more accurate and easier to just suggest the Chiefs are $30M under instead of $60M. Surely every talking head out there hasn't completely dismissed the rollover money?

Even if you take the rollover into effect, just frontload the contracts this year if you have too.

It would be the smartest thing to do.

Instead of slowly climbing contracts sign any FA's to front loaded/multi year deals.

There is absolutely no excuse for not keeping BOTH Bowe and Carr as well as signing 2-3 impact FA's...

This.

This.

And more "this".

upgrade RT in free agency. Draft a guard on day 2. Resign Bowe and Carr, sign Peyton Manning and we will win the Superbowl. OR trade up to get RG3. I'm gonna go ahead and say it, RG3 will be more NFL ready than Luck. I know you guys associate all black QB's who can run as if they are all just another Mike Vick, but RG3 is different. He's smart (very smart), a student of the game and is the type of player that wants himself to be great and he's not all flash without enough substance. He's gonna make Cam Newton look terrible and Cam Newton is a beast.

But Pioli isn't aware of this, unfortunately.

Why would we sign a guard in FA when we have a perfectly fine first round pick to use?

First of all, there isn't a right tackle in free agency that is anywhere near as good as the guards available in free agency.

Nicks is an immediate pro bowler.

Sign Nicks (or grubbs, for that matter), draft Reiff or Martin in the first. Soliai, Bowe, Carr, and I wouldn't mind seeing D'Qwell Jackson come in, either. Guy's a tackling machine, and let's not forget we were 26th in the league against the run last season.

Oh, and if RG3 were white, he'd be the #1 overall pick and it wouldn't be close. No one can convince me that race isn't a factor. People can see the GPA, see the degrees, the production, the resume, everything. The second they see the corn rows, they think he's a risk. Sad.

Landry is today's FA. You know what makes me :whackit:?

Flowers
Carr
Berry
Landry

that is true about RG3, especially in the mid-west. It just is what it is. But RG3 is a special player and one of a kind, I think he's gonna win multiple Superbowls if he gets on the right team.

Adam Schefter @AdamSchefter
Those interested in a Pro-Bowl guard. RT @15miller: Carl Nicks said new contract has to be more than teammate J Evans $56.7 M dollar deal.

why the **** do people want to spend 60 mill on a guard?

Not worth it

Maybe it's that 90/early 2000s Chiefs fan way of thinking. Desperately wants probowlers at every spot on the O-line.

:shake:

Guards and Centers are just filler positions you can get in the middle of the draft. Much like how Carl Nicks was.

people think it is crazy to pay a CB but have no problem throwing it a guard...weird

Consider Evan Mathis instead. Up and comer. Far less expensive. Albert, Mathis, Hudson, Asamoah and draft Reiff. save money for Solial.