The hours tick away and creep closer to Wednesday afternoon’s deadline in which NFL teams can sign “franchise” players to a contract extension before they must wait until after the regular season.
Given the unlikelihood of a contract extension coming in these few remaining hours, there’s little reason for Cardinals linebacker Karlos Dansby - who’s never made the Pro Bowl but has earned consideration the past two seasons - to lock himself up long-term.
The Cardinals could offer yet another one-year franchise contract to Dansby, but that would be even more foolish, financially-speaking, than what has already happened when they gave him the franchise tag twice. A third time would cost the team nearly $14 million for 2010-2011. Forget about that.
Dansby is guaranteed a little more than $9.6 million this season, and who knows what the future holds with the NFL in 2010 when the collective bargaining agreement expires and we’re faced with the possibility of a season sans salary cap.
Regardless of how the league’s finances change (or even if there is a 2010-2011 season), another healthy and productive season would probably land Dansby a Calvin Pace-esque payday next summer, whether it’s the Cardinals or someone else. Pro Bowl or not.
The “wall” between player and team isn’t finalized because Dansby could still negotiate through the season and sign an extension with the Cardinals after the regular season concludes, but if he’s looking for another huge chunk to put in his checkbook, there are more reasons for him to ride this process out to the very end.
So expect Dansby to have one of those “contract year” seasons similar to what Pace did with the Cardinals in 2007, which would only further price him out of the Cardinals’ long-term plans.
