I was a bit suprised to see us sign Ken Lucas. You don't sign a 30 year old corner of Lucas's level unless you plan to start him. Clearly the writing is on the wall for Jennings. We all thought Jenning was covering really well in 2007, but in 2008 we realized that looks can be decieving. While Jennings was typically hip-to-hip with opposing wideouts, teams learned that they can just throw at Jennings anyways, his inability to lay a big hit, or make a play on the ball in the air meant that he never punished with a pick, and often times couldn't manage to stop the completion. I don't think a diet of Gore, Jackson, and Wells will do Jennings any good next year either. Jennings still gives us a different matchup at the nickelback spot, injury depth, and a very good dime package.

Lucas can be an above average #2 corner for us. He was a cap casualty in Carolina, a team that felt deep enough at corner to let him go and gain some cap room.

The question is, how much did we spend on Lucas? I am guessing/hoping that we got a bargain. Most teams have already done their overpaying in FA, and have also had needs met in the draft. I would think that in the cold market we got a good deal on Lucas. I haven't heard the numbers yet, but here are some comparables.

The two corners who I think are closest to Lucas in value level are Jabari Greer and Samari Rolle, both good #2 corners.

Greer got 23MM / 4 years (age 27)

Rolle got 10MM / 4 years (age 32)

So I would think that fair value for Lucas would be between 2.5 and 5.5 MM a year. Varing depending on how good you think Lucas is relative to these other guys. I am basing my comparison naievely on Scout.com's rankings