By Greg Frers,
CFL.ca
So what is the cost of personal protection?
The B.C. Lions continue to find themselves in a stalemate with 2006 Outstanding Lineman Rob Murphy. Head coach Wally Buono appreciates Murphy’s talents, but with the new Salary Management System in place, he is forced to be cautious in opening the bank and paying the dominant left tackle what he perceives to be his worth to the team. Quarterback Dave Dickenson appreciates the value that Murphy can bring to maintaining his health throughout the season, and has expressed the willingness to offer a percentage of his salary to close the gap in negotiations.
Although the gesture is admirable, I would assume that if Dickenson offers up some money for Murphy, that Jason Jimenez, Kelly Bates and Angus Reid may not be too far behind him. By the end of this ordeal, and treating his entire offensive line right, Dickenson may be healthy, however, he will be playing for free.
This is the dilemma that a general manager finds himself in with the new Salary Management System. GMs need to be very cautious in what financial precedence they set in signing players as this will then be the bar that others will set their worth by.
A stalemate in negotiations is the last thing that the Lions want right now as they would love to solidify Murphy’s services for 2007 and beyond. At this point, however, there is little to persuade Murphy to move negotiations forward as he is not losing anything financial by standing pat. For the Lions, however, this is a negative story that will continue to linger and although any press is good press, they would love to let B.C. fans know that the offensive line is secure.
At this point, Buono has given Murphy, who is going into his option year of his contract, the ability to contact other clubs in the CFL to see what type of financial terms are out there. Buono feels quite confident that most of the teams have already spent their available funds and he hopes that this type of investigation by Murphy will give him a new perspective that will bring him back to the negotiation table.
So is Murphy worth the type of dollars that he is looking for? Many will argue that the left tackle position is a vital part of the offensive line and should be paid the most because this player is protecting the blind side of a right-handed quarterback, thus highly responsible for maintaining the health of a starting QB.
The fact that Dickenson is not a scrambling quarterback weakens this argument as the entire pocket presence is important for the Lions, however, in talking to Buono last week, he fully appreciates the professionalism and skill of Murphy and is willing to pay him well. But as stated earlier, Murphy needs to understand there is only so much money to go around and if Buono chooses to pay him well, it may be at the cost of retaining the services of other teammates.
The criteria of players that you dig deep into the pockets for are those players that are difficult to replace and have the ability to dominate a game. Very few would argue against paying receiver Geroy Simon, Dickenson or defensive lineman Brent Johnson as all three of these players fit this criteria. Talking to several Lions players this week, they all agree that like these players, Murphy has the ability to completely dominate at his position.
You can not understate what a dominant offensive line can do for the effectiveness of the entire offensive line. The fact that he can be left on an island of his own gives the centre, Reid, the freedom to look elsewhere to give assistance in pass-blocking schemes. Most defences will place their most dominant pass rusher on the strong side of the line and as Murphy is able to eliminate this threat and Dickenson is given the protection and time he needs, the B.C. Lions are very difficult to stop.
As a general manager, you need to find the necessary funds to pay those players that you can not easily replace. Murphy is one of those players, and Buono hopes to find enough money to make this deal go through. Oh yeah, so does Dickenson – there’s nothing like having some personal protection.
Greg Frers played 10 seasons in the CFL with the Calgary Stampeders, Winnipeg Blue Bombers and B.C. Lions and has been a panelist on the CFL on CBC since 2003.
(The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily of the Canadian Football League)
