Jurecki's Observations on June 1 Cuts.

[Cardinals.Ken]

It’s been long overdue and finally the Arizona Cardinals have decided to change the language in the injury protection waiver. This guarantees first-round picks at least the signing bonus from where they were slotted in the first round. The team was able to negotiate with an insurance company that allowed the club to protect themselves in case an injury would occur. Now that this is in place, the newly acquired players can work out and practice during the rookie mini camp that will take place the first week in June. This wasn’t the case last year with former first-round pick Wendell Bryant, who decided to skip the rookie mini camp plus all of training camp which played a huge role in his development as a player. The bottom line is that he was a disappointment in his first year. There should be a more efficient and open line of communication between Joel Segal (Bryant Johnson) and Pat Dye Jr. (Calvin Pace) with Vice President of Football Operations Rod Graves now that this is in place. A year ago, Graves and Neil Cornrich (Wendell Bryant) were never able to see eye to eye during the negotiations that eventually led to Bryant’s holdout. I’m led to believe that this is not a one-year wonder but instead a solution put in place for the future.

Conclusion … The Cardinals are gearing up for June 1st but I have news for you…it’s overrated. My prediction is that it will be slim pickings this year. For most part what you see right now is what you’ll get with the exception of a few minor additions to the team. There are a couple of reasons why players would be let go June 1st. First, salary cap restraints and when there is a drop-off in production. Remember, if a player is on the roster as of June 1st, then teams have the right to release the player and take a portion of that signing bonus and prorate it to the next year. What has transpired over the last few years is that the agents have written into contracts that the roster bonus or second-tier bonuses are paid on March 1st instead of June 1st. Because of this, the big named players are off the board and the ones that could have become cap casualties. Instead, they have decided to restructure or take a pay cut to stay with their original team. Teams around the league have now done a much better job of managing the cap. Since there are not up against the cap, teams aren’t forced to release premiere players. Case and point, as of last week, 22 teams had more than $2 million in cap room to spend. Mark my words-- the unrestricted free agent pool as we speak has more talent than what will become available after June 1st.









Birdseed

Get out your calculator…Once again they find themselves currently with the most money under the salary cap. They are approximately 16.5 million under the salary
cap and 3.955.832 million will go towards the rookie pool for the team’s seven draft picks leaving them about 12.5 million. The National Football League has a rule that each team must spend 85% of the salary cap (about 64 million). The Cardinals plan is to add a couple of veteran players after June 1st, and then they would like to possibly extend a few of their current players under contract. A couple players on that list are left tackle L.J. Shelton, defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch, linebacker Ray Thompson, cornerback David Barrett and tight end Steve Bush. The Redbirds must prepare themselves for the escalators and incentives in Leonard Davis’s contract set to go into effect for the 2004 season.

How big is BIG… He’s had off-season surgery that has limited his mobility when it comes to conditioning. You have to wonder how motivated Leonard Davis is to be either good or great. With his size and athleticism, Davis realistically could go to the Pro Bowl for the next 10 years but first he must show self-discipline to be that kind of player. I am hearing that Davis weighed in at 395 lbs. at mini camp, this considering he didn’t work out. Ideally, the Cardinals are going to have to monitor him to get the weight down to 350-360 lbs in order to be effective in the fourth quarter plus in the 2nd half of the season. The former first-round pick doesn’t lift weights during season and applies the weights if any, as a stretching exercise. He has workout clauses in his contract that will pay him a substantial amount of money just to work out and to stay in shape in the off-season. Size, speed and strength are skills Davis has that cannot be taught; now it remains whether he will apply himself?

Workout bonus in Leonard Davis contract:

2nd year 2002- 250,000
3rd year 2003- 225,000
4th year *2004- 200,000
5th year *2005- 175,000
6th year *2006- 150,000

*He must be on the roster (no brainier).

Rookie camp gets started next week June 2nd thru the 6th. Yes, wide receiver Bryant Johnson and defensive end Calvin Pace are expected to workout after reaching an agreement on the injury waiver. This has been covered thru an insurance company.
In two weeks, it’s veteran rookie camp June 9th thru the 12th. This is the last time as a team that they will practice before they head up the hill. Coaches are expecting the players to know the system by that point. This team will have gone through three different camps together plus the off-season team activity workouts.

So lets Re-cap…(I feel like Jimmy Kimmel)
1. Mini-Camp…May 3-5 (entire team)
2. Veteran Camp-May 6-10 (vet’s only)
Rookie Camp-June 2-6 (Rookie’s and 1st year and selected players)
3. Vet and Rookie camp- June 9-12 (entire team)

59 days (as of 5/27) officially until Cardinals players go through their physicals and must report to Flagstaff for training camp on Friday July 25…
Saturday July 26…Two–a-days get started at 8:50am- Practice #1…

Dates to remember…
Training camp Begins Friday July 25…
Scrimmage is scheduled for Saturday August 2, in the Walk-up Sky Dome at N.A.U.
First Preseason game against the Dallas Cowboys Saturday August 9.
The team will break training camp in Flagstaff Thursday August 14.
First Regular season game- Sunday September 7… on the road in the
Motor City against the up and coming Detroit Lions… 10 am (MST)– Kick-off
(All dates and times subject to change)

J.J.'s not on the Redbirds radar … according to my sources, don’t anticipate the Redbirds to go after wide receiver J.J. Stokes who will be released after June 1st from the San Francisco 49ers. He has rumored that he will end up in Jacksonville.

Memo to Mr. Rod Graves and agents Joel Segal (WR-Bryant Johnson), Pat Dye Jr. (DE-Calvin Pace). You fellas have less then nine weeks to get your two first round picks SIGNED and into training camp on TIME… Time is ticking!

Could #26 finally get his wish…The situation with Running back Thomas Jones will be resolved within a matter of days. Arizona is confident something will be worked out soon, (like real soon) they have been shopping him all off-season…

I have two words for you when it comes to June 1st cuts…. “Over rated”

 

[Russ Smith]

So now we have to be concerned about Big's work habits too?

I always worried about guys that large(like Clement) for injuries and tendency to get fat but Leonard seemed to be under control his first 2 years. Hopefully this is just a blip but Jurecki seemed to be implying he's not a hard worker?

 

[Ed B]

Leonard's knee probably limited his ability to work out.

But I have been preaching for 2 years that it's not enough for Leonard Davis to be a big freakshow who occasionally makes an awesome play but also makes a lot of bad ones. When his salary balloons to $7 million a year, he's gonna need to play like Orlando Pace to justify that.

Russ, I know you have said that before too. Jurecki seems to be on that boat now. The Davis love-fest around here is very dangerous, he's a tremendous talent who has shown very average production so far and needs to start playing like Pro Bowler on every play, not just some plays.

The 3rd season is crucial. If he puts it all together this year, he may be a 10-year pro bowler. If he doesn't progress, we may be looking at a player who has peaked.

 

[slanidrac16]

Sorry gang , but with all the problems this team has , Leonard Davis is way down on my list. Davis must improve, but so must all our 2nd and 3rd year players. The same could be said about Shelton and Clement too.

 

[Lomax to Green 84]

I got ripped a few weeks ago for saying that Davis needs to be more consistent. He does worry me and the not working out stuff appears to be true because even as far back as his college days Leonard used to talk about getting by on just natural ability and rarely needing to hit the gym to improve his strength and conditioning. I saw Leonard Davis last summer at training camp and was in total awe of his awesome size. The guy is an absolute monster and it is scary to think what he would be like if he lifted as passionately as a guy like Kyle Turley. I spoke with Mike Devlin last summer about Leonard Davis and he just laughed and said the guy was an absolute physical freak, so much stronger than anyone on the team that it wasn't even a contest. I got the impression from Devlin that Leonard Davis could get by without ever picking up a weight and still go out and be the strongest guy on the team. Devlin who weighs in the 320 pound range said Davis would toss him around like a rag doll in practices and that he would literally scare opposing defensive linemen the first time they had to line up against him.

 

[Goldfield]

I also think Davis can play alot better, but there is alot of other things to worrie about first on this team...

 

[CardsRep03]

Leonard is my favorite Cardinal. To hear that opposing linemen are "scared" strikes me as funny and makes me proud to call him a Cardinal. I'd just love for him and a few other linemen go to the pro bowl this year. If some of them made it to the pro bowl it would most likely imply the Cards had a really good year. And that doesn't seem like a bad idea. GO CARDS

 

[nooch]

Leonard was in my shop three weeks ago I spoke with him he's in fine shape. He'll be ready to go. Count on it.

 

[Shuesters2]

Davis,
Big had to play both guard and tackle last year instead of focusing on one position. It was also lineman-du-juer on the O-line in 2002, that had to hurt his performance last year. I expect a break out year for him 2003.

Shuesters

 

[JeffGollin]

I expect a break out year for him 2003.
If his eating habits are causing him to balloon to 390, it's no wonder he's breaking out.

We may have other things to worry about, but Davis represents a huge investment in dollars, resources and expectations. (If he's unable to get the job done, we're dead meat).

Hopefully he's added muscle rather than flab, but even then, his knees and lower back have to support all that bulk - and that's scary.