Today, Nick Eatman of DallasCowboys.com spoke with Chris Canty regarding his status as a free agent defensive end come late tonight, here’s what Canty had to say.
[quote_colored name=”Chris Canty” icon_quote=”no”]I’ll start by saying this … I would love to stay in Dallas,” Canty said. “But I don’t think that the Cowboys are going to afford me that opportunity. You have to be somewhat realistic when you’re talking about the opportunity that free agency presents for a player financially. It’s just one of those things – you have to capitalize on that when you have the leverage. Players really don’t have leverage very often in the NFL, so when you do have that leverage, you have to capitalize on that.[/quote_colored]
It’s nothing new that Canty wants a deal similar to that of Oakland’s Tommy Kelly who got a seven year deal worth $50.5 million with more than $18 million in guaranteed money. But most in the Dallas area feel that Canty didn’t play well enough to warrant such a pricey contract.
There are likely to be several teams that disagree with Dallas fans though, as Washington and Miami are both already interested, and it’s possible that teams like Denver and Green Bay could be interested as well. The Packers are switching from their long-time used 4-3 scheme to the new fad of the league, the 3-4 defense. They are missing some key elements to make the switch personnel-wise, and are figured to go after a few 3-4 players in free agency and the draft.
The Cowboys, meanwhile, are letting Canty test the market and the overwhelming consensus is that the team won’t pay that kind of money for Canty; he simply did not earn it.
It also factors into it that Stephen Bowen and Jason Hatcher should be here next year, and neither has done anything to warrant their backup status. With Canty out of the way, and possibly a defensive end acquisition in the third or fourth round of the draft, we should be in for some heavy competition at defensive end this summer.
While I do not disagree with the players view in capitalizing and searching for a multi year large paying contract (is that not what we all want?) Can someone please show what Tommy Kelly did to deserve the large contract that he got? and is this not just like stealing? I mean recieving pay to be one thing, and not being able to produce that worth? Then again this is the NFL (Not For Long)!
It’s more like the foundation of American business anymore. We’ve all seen products advertised on tv that are supposed to do something that they can’t even come close to doing.
The difference is that those products don’t cost millions of dollars, and they don’t cause thousands of fans to pay money to see them not do their job.
So, I’m all for the Redskins getting Canty, especially if they also land Haynesworth.