Anderson - Will we keep him?

[LeQuitterNotMVP]

What do you guys think we will do with Anderson in the offseason?

Right now, there seem to be a few options:

1. Let him walk.
This seems very unlikely, the city would be ticked off, and that would not do anyone any good.

2. Tag him as the franchise player.
This seems a little more likely than letting him walk, but I don't see why we would do that, because I don't think any team will give 2 1st round picks for him, and then we're stuck with 2 QBs being paid a lot of money, when we could get Anderson back for much less.

3. Sign him to the qualifying offer with the highest tender and keep him.
This seems pretty likely, we get Anderson back for a very decent price and if he falters next year, then it's not like we're paying him insane amounts of money.

4. Sign him to the qualifying offer with the highest tender and hope some team signs him.
I don't think this is the most likely, because I'm not sure any team would give up 1st and 3rd round picks for him, (maybe the Bears, Jags, Chiefs, etc.), but if some team really wants him and is willing to give up a 1st and 3rd round pick, I don't see how we can pass that up and sign Anderson instead. We would create playing time for Quinn (the guy everyone was excited about up until after week 2 - remember him?), and we could add more young players to our nucleus.

3 and 4 probably could go together because we would sign him, and then keep him if no one wants him, but give him up if we can get draft picks for him.

At this point, we have to hope for Anderson to keep playing at the same level, so we can get to the playoffs and up his value so we could possibly convince a team he's worth giving up a 1st and 3rd round pick.

What do you guys think?

[Icness]

I would hit him with the franchise tag with the expectation that a long-term deal will be negotiated. You can also trade him if the offer is to your liking. It shows DA he's going to still be the man, and if he continues to play well he's going to get paid hansomely the way the Cowboys took care of Romo in a similar spot of his career.

I also do not advocate dealing Brady Quinn until a better #3 than Ken Dorsey can be found. I would sign a more viable old-guy QB for that role, like a Charlie Batch.

[snazel]

Ice, I really can't see us franchising DA. It gives all the leverage of this scenario right to DA and his agent vs. giving him a high tender.

1) 1st and 3rd rd picks (if hes RFA tendered) would give us help at defensive holes that would legitimately help make us a true playoff/division contender for years to come. If no offers taken, then we still likely get DA back and if he proves another good season, we work on a long term deal. We have the leverage here.

2) 10-14 million (whatever the franchise tag would entail) in the same money mold as Brady/Manning, yet after only one solid yr. of performance. I want DA to prove himself longer than just this season to warrant money, and I want to see more progression in his short passing game - as teams have picked up on his weaknesses.

3) We drafted a QB, essentially making the decision that he would provide a significant upgrade over our current roster (frye/da). I don't imagine a great deal of a dropoff in production from DA to Quinn. That is arguable in itself, I know, but to consider how much we've invested in Quinn at the time, and coming to a franchise decision that he was the best option vs. frye/DA, yet not exploring that option doesn't sit right with me if you can help the team on the defensive side of the ball with some picks.

Overall, I want DA to be great and to stay here, but franchising seems to give him ALL the leverage, whereas a high tender lets us have some leverage. As we all know, our defense is horrid, and extra picks would help shore it up. Also, we've got a franchise QB on the bench, and I don't see a dramatic dropoff in offensive production by switching to him next season. Is DA the reason for our offensive explosion this year? Brady Quinn will still have Chud as an OC, Joe Thomas/Steinbach manning the left side of that line, and k2/BE as options in the passing game. DA still has to prove more to me before I think about giving him franchise $$. We all know he still has accuracy issues and may force some balls with his gunslinger mentality, but DA still needs work in the area of "efficiency" in order to garner that "elite" QB money. DA just doesn't seem comfortable checking down and being efficient first down to first down. He has consistently missed his wideouts running crossing routes or simple quick slants. To be elite, you can't miss those throws. His game relies too heavily on the big play, and until he proves that he can improve there, he doesn't deserve elite money this early.

[imahustla]

There is no doubt as to what the answer to this question should be:

Qualifying offer, hope some team signs him. A first and third round pick? Are you kidding me? Look, I love DA. I live in Portland, Oregon right now and the locals keep telling me that they saw this coming from miles away. But we signed DA off the streets, and he was a sixth-round pick. We can turn that into a first and third rounder?

You can't assume Quinn is going to be better or even as good as DA has been. But you have so much talent on the O-line and skill positions that you have to give it a shot and see if you can get some help on the defensive side of the ball through the draft.

Sorry, DA. I love ya, but I love giving Phil Savage first-round picks to play with even more.

[snazel]

As every week goes by, the option tagging DA with the "franchise tag" just keeps looking like a better and better option than a high tender. If DA could only develop that short game - work on reading his check downs and consistently hitting those quick slants - then I'd really be down to tagging him. It's funny how some of Quinn's weaknesses are DAs strengths, and some of DA's weaknesses are Quinn's strengths. I still think Quinn is a more well-rounded QB that has potential to round our offense to more balance vs. DA's gunslinger mentality, but I just don't want to disrupt something that's working so well for us right now.