Bengals sign Shaun Alexander if available?

by Kirkendall on Mar 11, 2008 9:42 AM EDT in Contracts Comment 5 comments

John Clayton raises an interesting, though terrifying prospect. Read for yourself:

On chopping block: With deals to acquire T.J. Duckett and Julius Jones in the backfield, the Seahawks will have to do something with Shaun Alexander. Cutting or trading him doesn't have much of an impact on the cap. They would lose $150,000 of cap room by trading him. If they put the June 1 cut on him, they would save $4.475 million of cap room. That might be the best option. Before the Jones signing, the Seahawks had around $4 million of cap room. With more than $9 million of the cap being eaten up by Marcus Trufant's franchise tag, the release of Alexander might serve them better. It will be hard to get great trade value for him with his contract.

One interesting option for Alexander could be the Cincinnati Bengals. Alexander grew up in Florence, Ky., and has already been popular around Cincinnati. For years, there were plenty of rumors that the Bengals might try to acquire him in a trade. Rudi Johnson didn't have his best season last year and backup Chris Perry has been hurt for years. If he's released, the Bengals might be an intriguing option for the former league MVP.

Alexander in Cincinnati? Several seasons ago, when Alexander was an unrestricted free agent, support was strong for Cincinnati bringing Alexander home. That support, along with the mirrored degradation between he and Rudi Johnson, is likely low -- do we want another shell of a frustrating running back? The Bengals have a roster of young, though unproven, running backs. If the team picks up Alexander, who would be forced to take a low deal comparative to his last contract, the Bengals wouldn't likely keep Rudi Johnson -- signed for another two seasons with base salaries of $3.45 million and $3.6 million respectively. Cutting or trading Johnson would save the Bengals nearly $3 million in cap space.

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Oh boy, oh boy

While we're at it, let's cajole Corey Dillon and Carl Pickens out of retirement as well. Hell, Brian Simmons and Takeo Spikes are out there available and I bet Darnay Scott could use the paycheck... Seriously, Rudi's supposedly bulked back up and deserves another shot at returning to his pre-2007 form. As great as Alexander was and feel good, homecoming story thought it might be for him to come here, I offer one Ken Griffey Jr. as an example of why it's a bad idea- and no one even thought of Griffey as being physically in decline. Chris Johnson from East Carolina in Round 2 or 3 solves the problem.

by IgnatiusJReilly on Mar 11, 2008 10:16 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Chris Johnson...

...might not make it out of round one. He'll certainly be gone by the time our second round pick rolls around. Of course, it may not matter, because if both Dorsey and Ellis are off the board at 9 (likely), don't be surprised to hear the name Rashard Mendenhall called.

As for Alexander...eh. He's better than Rudi at this point but still only a shadow of his former self. I for one am not interested.

by BeerRun on Mar 11, 2008 12:19 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Re: Alexander.

I figure Alexander can't be any worse than Rudi. I mean really, I'm tired of him running to the line and then stopping.

What the team needs, regardless to whether he's bulked up or not is someone who hits the hole when the hole is there and who doesn't stop waiting for a hole to show up.

by davidincincinnati on Mar 11, 2008 9:30 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

RE:

I think your point is well taken when you saw the dramatic difference between Watson and Rudi. Watson would make one move, maximum, and then hit the hole whereas Rudi danced more times than not.

by Kirkendall on Mar 12, 2008 9:02 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

re

Might also have to do with a serious lack of push in the center of that offensive line. The holes Rudi's comfortable in just weren't there last year. Couple that with his downsizing... I heard on Lance McCallister's show this afternoon- just in passing, I didn't catch where the rumor came from- that we might be trading up to get McFadden? That seems completely counterintuitive, especially if it meant bypassing a Dorsey, an Ellis, a Gholston, or even a Chris Long if we sent Chad to the Big Tuna. ;)

by IgnatiusJReilly on Mar 13, 2008 12:17 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs