FINS DON'T WANT TO PAY BROWN LIKE NO. 2
The top five spots in the draft are getting too damn complicated. Last year, No. 4 wanted to be paid like No. 1, but was paid like No. 2. So this year's No. 4 wants to be paid like No. 2, and the team that drafted No. 2 doesn't want to pay the guy at No. 2 like No. 2, which will make it harder for No. 3 to get paid like No. 3.
Confused? We sure the hell are.
Word is that a big part of the impasse between the Dolphins and running back Ronnie Brown, the second overall selection in the draft, is that the team doesn't want to invest the kind of money in Brown that being the No. 2 overall pick typically entails.
Conventional wisdom is that the agents for No. 3 pick Braylon Edwards, Lamont Smith and Peter Schaffer, are waiting for Brown and the Fins to work out a contract before reaching a deal with the Browns. The danger in delaying, however, is that if the Fins cram a below-position deal down Todd France's throat for Brown, the Browns will have a reasonable basis for putting the squeeze on Edwards.
Behind both of them is running back Cedric Benson, whose agent is trying to parlay last year's trade of No. 4 overall pick Philip Rivers to the team with the No. 1 pick into the kind of deal that Rivers was able to muster from the four hole.
The whole thing makes us even more convinced that compensation for rookies taken in round one needs to be specific -- and it needs to be reduced. From the Dolphins' perspective, the prospect of paying a $20 million signing bonus to an unproven tailback makes little sense, given that the market for half backs is way, way down right now, with the high-end guys getting five-year deals in the range of $25 million for the total package.
In hindsight, the folks in Miami are probably realizing that they could have had Edgerrin James or Shaun Alexander for far less money -- and for as low as a third-round draft pick in trade.
And if quarterbacks taken in the round one can claim that they should get more than the slot otherwise would indicate because of the position they play, the depressed running back market should in turn drive down the price paid for first-round tailbacks.
The irony here is that teams like the Fins, Bears, and Bucs paid little or no attention to the boatload of backs available in free agency because they knew that they could address their needs in round one of the draft. The problem, as Miami and Chicago are now learning, is that the financial commitment for a tailback taken in the top five is too great, especially for guys who has proven nothing in the NFL.
The fact that this year's crop of blue chippers wasn't nearly as strong as in past years serves further to highlight the problem of paying guys millions based merely on draft order. Though it's easy to argue that the Fins shouldn't have drafted Brown, who else were they going to select? As the Nicktator noted prior to the draft, there were no Julius Peppers in this pool, no freaks of nature who commanded to be taken high. So the depth chart controlled and, as of April, Miami's greatest need was at tailback.
Although the Dolphins might now be tempted to not sign Brown at all and let him re-enter the draft next year, especially since Ricky Williams is back and looking as good as ever, the stigma of letting a top-five pick go because of the money he wanted would be too great. It would have been far better, in our opinion, for Miami to consciously and deliberately allow the 15-minute selection period on draft day to expire, waiting until a couple of the high-end running backs were gone before jumping on the one that was left over.
Given that the Bears would have still taken Benson and the Bucs likely would have went with Williams, Miami could have fallen out of the top five and still gotten the guy they took at No. 2.
And they could have signed him for a lot less money.
