Most believe he will leave & I agree. How does he leave is the question for me.

Does Miami simply let him walk & get nothing in return or do they franchise him & seek a trade partner for a 2nd Rd pick? The latter is a gamble & costly, but for a LT of his ability a team cannot let him walk for nothing IMO.

If we let him go and we don't make any huge moves in free agency, we'll likely get a 3rd round compensatory pick for him. Not great, but definitely something we could use.

I do think Miami will make him a solid offer. That being said, I have read that he wants Joe Thomas money, and the last few years he has not been that caliber player.

I can't see them putting the franchise tag on him, and as wkloiber has said, they probably would get a high compensatory pick for him.

I don't want to keep Long anymore and would love to be able to get a 2nd or a 3rd for him

Miami will spend money in FA. They'd be lucky to get a 6th round compensatory.

Just let him walk. No need to waste your time trying to squeeze any value that you can out of a bust.

A bust? Really?

Not a bust but has he played one injrury-free season yet? Every time I turn around he is trying to play with a serious injury. He's not a weight room warrior so that isn't going to change.

I really hope we're not stupid with our money and spending it just because we have it. I'd rather see us re-sign most of our free agents to long term team friendly contracts. Then I'd like to see us extend guys like Mike Pouncey, Reshad Jones, and Dan Carpenter. After that we'd go into the draft and try to add as much talent as possible. Then, after the draft, we'd look to sign any veteran free agents that could fill an area of need that the draft did not address.

I'd love to see us work out some sort of deal with Greg Jennings where we immediately sign him after we've been awarded the compensatory pick for Long.

I disagree that Long is a bust and am surprised that you think so. Of course you also think that Bess and Hartline are piss poor receivers so ... I guess I should not be too surprised. ; )

What else would you call him? He essentially gave us 3 good years...A supposedly safe #1 overall pick.

That's a bust.

Not a bust at all. Guy was an All-Pro OLT. The last few years injuries have really hurt his game, but calling Jake Long a bust is ridiculous.

Any #1 pick that doesn't get a 2nd contract for any reason, other than money, is a bust, IMO.

Is he a JaMarcus Russell type bust? No. But I'd still consider him a bust.

No need to go back and forth. We agree to disagree.

[i]No need to go back and forth. We agree to disagree.[/i


Great job. Being a bust not a bust is a matter of opinion. However, the bottomline is that Long was not worth the #1 pick. Not getting resigned after your rookie contract is not good (assuming he doesn't resign).

he's not a bust but has always been overrated IMO. Clady and Thomas are both better

I wouldn't call him overrated. Pro Football Focus' rankings of offensive tackles:

2008: 10th (rookie)
2009: 2nd to Joe Thomas
2010: 2nd to Andrew Whitworth
2011: 21st (injuries)
2012: 46th (injuries)

The definition of a bust is Jamarcus Russell, he did not produce. Jake Long did produce and was a very good left tackle until injuries started taking a toll on him. However, I do agree with PR in the sense that IF he doesn't sign back and we "let" him walk, then I will label that pick a disappointment.

However, you don't pay him big money, but if the guy gets healthy again, he is still young and good lineman are hard to come by and IF you can sign him back at a reasonable salary great, but at this time is definitely not worth franchise level or top salary.

I hope they let him walk. The guy is an 6-10 game player for the rest of his short career. No need to waste multi-millions and a roster spot on that. We should have traded him after 2011.

And odds are we won't get any compensatory pick for him, as we will most likely sign a
Major FA, or a couple of reasonably large ones. That will negate any compensation we might have gotten.

Definetly was not an all out bust but when you have the #1 pick overall & 5 years later have not turned this around , It is more on the guys doing the picking than the guy being picked. Long was a monster at first but for whatever reason wore down year after year. I would be wary about resigning him because if things stay status quo you cannot count on him for 16 games. Someday when Ireland is gone hopefully we get the real scoop on who wanted who during all these drafts although i suspect the blame will be passed around & we might never get the truth.

Every year a team highly overpays for a free agent o-line guy thinking they have found their answer. Didn't Miami do this with LJ Shelton back in 2006?

Long gone, pun intended.

A serviceable guy will be signed or Martin will be introduced to Lou Ferrigno in the weight room.