Should the Hawks go after TJ Houshmandzadeh in Free Agency

by diehard82 on Jan 5, 2009 5:39 PM PST

Sat Dec 27, 2008 6:41 am EST

Houshmandzadeh will not get franchise tag in Cincy

Pro Bowl wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh will not get the Bengals' franchise tag this offseason, according to NFL.com and the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Cincinnati will instead try to sign Houshmandzadeh to an extension before his contract expires in late February.

Offensive tackle Stacy Andrews was last season's franchise tag recipient, netting him a $7.455 million salary. But Andrews injured his knee in the Browns game Sunday, so the Bengals probably won't re-tag him this year because the injury will diminish his attractiveness on the market, Schefter said.

"Don't look for Andrews' tag to go on Houshmandzadeh," Schefter said on his NFL.com blog, citing "a league source."

Houshmandzadeh, 31 years old, has rebuffed previous attempts by the Bengals to sign him to a long-term deal."

Source: Cincinnati Enquirer

Rather than spend a 1st or 2nd round pick on a WR rookie, should the hawks dive into free agency to address that pressing need and focus early picks on O line and defense secondary?

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Why would a 31 year old rebuff attempts to sign a long term deal?

I like TJ Houshmazoo, but I feel he would be pretty costly. Not sure what he would command, something around Roy Williams deal perhaps (or was his deal just as insanely dumb as I thought it was)?

by LantermanC on Jan 5, 2009 5:46 PM PST reply actions

Reliable Number 2 behind Chad Johnson

Cincy may not be willing to pay as much as Seattle for a couple of reasons. First, in spite of the fact that he’s a consistent 1,000 yard/yr receiver, he’s their number 2 behind Chad Johnson. He’d be our number 1 with Branch 2. As the article states, he wants multiple year contract. Probably wouldn’t take anything close to what Dallas paid Roy Williams, I’m thinking 4 years and $28M, which is almost half what we’d have to pay Michael Crabtree. Williams got $45M over 5 years which is pretty insane, but that’s Dallas. Nobody spends money like Jerry Jones and Steinbrenner.

by diehard82 on Jan 5, 2009 6:08 PM PST up reply actions

If it's 4 and 28, I'd be all for it.

Engram could move to his normal slot. Burleson would be the X Factor weapon that he’s been, along with special teams playmaker. and Taylor and Obomanu would stay as the oft-used 5 and 6 WRs.

You make a good point that Crabtree would command 2x as much, which just goes to show how ridiculous this draft is. Why don’t teams just refuse to overpay their picks?

by LantermanC on Jan 5, 2009 6:31 PM PST up reply actions

Correction

Williams got 6 years and $54M, but he’s only 27 and he is a deep threat guy planned to replace TO. Housh is 31 and more of a possession receiver averaging about 12 ypc. I’d expect Cincy to offer no more than 4 years and $20M, so I think he could be had for more. In addition, he gets to become the number 1 for a Hass. How could he pass that up? Additionally, he’s from CA and went to Oreg St., so west coast is home.

by diehard82 on Jan 5, 2009 6:41 PM PST up reply actions

Current Contract

For comparison, he’s coming of a 4 yr $13M contract, and was originally a 7th round pick, so has never had a “big” contract. He must be thinking about his financial future, so I think money will talk.

by diehard82 on Jan 5, 2009 6:50 PM PST up reply actions

I'm not sure if 31 is a little too late for his usefulness to us

However, I’m a little too lazy tonight to look up aging curves for #1 WRs. I will say that Housh has been Cincy’s most consistent receiver for the last three years, even managing to put up decent fantasy numbers this year with Ryan friggin’ Fitzgerald throwing him passes. He also has some size, although not a bunch of speed. I agree that he would be much cheaper than Crabtree. We could at least take a look.

"Hey, guess what? Nobody cares who would win in a crazy fantasy fist-fight between Anne Frank and Lizzie Borden." The Monarch

by crushedoptimist on Jan 5, 2009 7:17 PM PST reply actions

I'd be disinclined to acquiesce to that request

I mean, T.J.‘s the wrong side of 30 (32 midway through next season), he’s not particularly big nor fast, he’s going to cost more money than he’s worth, and in his best seasons (2004-2007), when he was averaging 88-1040-8, Chad Johnson was averaging 93-1379-8 as his number one. We already have a team full of number twos.

by Azimeir on Jan 5, 2009 8:44 PM PST reply actions

What 2's???

I see Branch as a 2, Engram and the rest are 3’s through 6. We need a guy who can catch vs. drop the ball and be relied on for the 8-15 yard gain to keep moving down the field. If not Housh, then who, rookies? There aren’t any other unsigned free agents of note. I think the team has a core of very good players that can contend next season if they stay healthy, and provided a couple holes (WR and SS) get filled. This would be a no brainer to me.

by diehard82 on Jan 5, 2009 9:58 PM PST up reply actions

Well...

Since you asked so nice and all, I would classify Branch (30-412-4 in 8 games), Robinson (31-400-2 in 11 games), Burleson (5-60-1 in .5 games), and Engram (47-489-0 in 13 games) – in that order – as number two wide receivers sliding to Engram being a three or four mostly because of age. Houshmandzadeh is 31, while Branch, Robinson, Burleson, and Engram are 29, 28, 27, and 35 respectively.

Who’s going to be on the team next year is a question mark. However, I don’t see Houshmandzadeh as significant enough improvement over these four guys for the money that he’s going to be asking for, aside from the fact that a healthy T.J. in 2008 would’ve been a huge improvement over games lost to injury and Robinson joining the team late. If he was a legit number one wide receiver, cheap, or 5-6 years younger I’d be all for it. We’re already overpaying one number two, let’s not make it two.

This is the kind of panic signing that loses teams a rung on the ladder.

by Azimeir on Jan 5, 2009 11:12 PM PST up reply actions

I agree fully with what you are saying.

And luckily, I doubt Ruskell signs TJ. There’ll be plenty of other teams in the league willing to overpay for him.

by redwolf75 on Jan 6, 2009 11:10 AM PST up reply actions

I like TJ if anything because of his ability to get open and his excellent hands, to move the chains.

However, I think he’s the biggest WR on the market, and since every team could use an upgrade at WR, someone will undoubtedly overpay for him. I hope we keep KoRo though, he’s been pretty good considering he has the same skillset as Roy Williams except making minimum NFL wage.

by Fearless Frog on Jan 8, 2009 11:30 AM PST up reply actions

God I hope we keep KRob

Branch, KRob, Burleson, Carlson. If all could stay healthy for a season I wouldn’t even care about signing another WR… not that they could ever possibly stay healthy for a season. Fuck.

by vanrijn on Jan 8, 2009 11:37 AM PST up reply actions

I'm ambivalent towards Robinson.

Sure, he has good speed, is a decent route runner, but his hands are rubbish.

If he’s cheap, I might keep him around as a 4th WR, but meh, he’s not going to help the team much.

by Phil Hatzenbuehler on Jan 8, 2009 1:49 PM PST up reply actions

if the NFC West is settled by a drinking contest....

I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE!!! I DRINK IT UP!!

by abender20 on Jan 8, 2009 2:59 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs

We'd lose terribly because apparently he doesn't drink anymore.

Hasselbeck seems too nice to drink and Lofa is a lightweight. Our only hope is Brian Russell and his talent for downing appletinis.

by SeaTownBlueDevil on Jan 8, 2009 3:21 PM PST up reply actions

But, much like Roy Williams, he makes almost every tremendously tough catch.

Not that we’d know considering the announcers don’t seem to acknowledge he’s on the field. That diving mid-air catch vs. the Redskins and the leaping circus catch vs. the Cowgirls were both pretty elite stuff. If only he wasn’t a drunk in his first go-through with us, he had the tools to be really good.

by Fearless Frog on Jan 9, 2009 11:41 AM PST up reply actions

We don't need him.

Matt Hasselbeck is not guaranteed to be 100% next year and we don’t need to spend money on aging players.

by aerozeppelin on Jan 5, 2009 11:53 PM PST reply actions

How much cap room are we expected to have?

Assuming there are no drastic changes like trading Hasselbeck or something?

by SeaTownBlueDevil on Jan 6, 2009 8:08 AM PST reply actions

I support it and think Seattle will make a serious run at signing him.

by John Morgan on Jan 6, 2009 9:55 AM PST reply actions

Good enough for me.

by LantermanC on Jan 6, 2009 10:09 AM PST up reply actions

Doesn't seem like a very smart move

He’ll likely put up a line of 950 yards on 80 catches and 5 touchdowns next year and decline from there out. And thats going off the numbers he put up playing behind Ocho Cinco and having Palmer as his QB. He’s not particularly fast or agile, he’s not particularly tall and he’s 31 years old. It smells of Grant Wistrom to me.

by Nate Dogg on Jan 6, 2009 12:31 PM PST up reply actions

Except wide receivers don't age like defensive ends.

Evidenced by the large number who stay productive through their early thirties.

by John Morgan on Jan 6, 2009 12:45 PM PST up reply actions

Whats realistic production from TJ?

by Nate Dogg on Jan 6, 2009 3:24 PM PST up reply actions

His current level for two to three more years.

At which point he can be cut without much of a cap hit.

by John Morgan on Jan 6, 2009 3:55 PM PST up reply actions

We could probably use him to replace Engram, who I don't see being back.

Engram wasn’t happy with how the contract issues worked out… don’t know if he’ll be back around. Of course, we still don’t know what we have from Courtney Taylor and Ben Obamanu. I don’t know if you can even scout how Taylor played, since Holmgren never was going to have a play in there to get him the football.

"Hey, guess what? Nobody cares who would win in a crazy fantasy fist-fight between Anne Frank and Lizzie Borden." The Monarch

by crushedoptimist on Jan 6, 2009 5:55 PM PST up reply actions

I guess if the financials are in order, then sure

but he seems like a guy that a team is going to overpay for. I hope it’s not Seattle.

by Nate Dogg on Jan 6, 2009 8:30 PM PST up reply actions

Really?

Isn’t he going to want a long-term deal?

I wouldn’t mind signing him, he would be great opposite Branch!

by djafrot on Jan 8, 2009 3:16 PM PST up reply actions

What about Antonio Bryant?

John, what do you think the chances that we go after Bryant are? I know he has had character issues in the past, but he is only 27 years old and was pretty impressive last year.

"We want the ball and were gonna score"

by Seahawks124 on Jan 6, 2009 11:42 AM PST reply actions