It's been known for a while now that the Dolphins might lose LB Channing Crowder this offseason to free agency. And now PFT is hopping on the story as well. Says Mike Florio:
What’s unclear at this point is whether the two sides will be able to work out a deal.
One of the knocks against Crowder, a four-year pro who played college football at Florida, is that he had a couple of knee surgeries in college. But he has appeared in 58 of 64 games during his NFL career, and he racked up 113 tackles in 2008.
As we hear it, Crowder’s camp believes that the Dolphins are lowballing him, which could result in Crowder heading to another city.
The term "lowballing" is an interesting concept, though. I think what we have here is a player who feels he's better than he is. Or more accurately, a player who perceives himself to be more valuable to the team than the team perceives the player to be.
Seriously, while Channing was a solid starter for 4 years, he has also been...unspectacular. And while his absence from the game in Kansas City was glaring and showed just how valuable Crowder was to this team, that's not enough to warrant a big contract extension. All that game showed was how much better Crowder is than his backup, Reggie Torbor.
Simply put, Crowder has not made those kinds of big-time, game-changing plays that great inside linebackers make. Over the past 4 years, Crowder has just 1.5 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, and no interceptions. His 11 tackles for a loss is also an unimpressive stat. Compare Crowder's numbers over the last 4 seasons to those of fellow free agents Bart Scott (16 sacks, 2 interceptions, and 24.5 TFLs) and Karlos Dansby (19.5 sacks, 8 interceptions, and 23 TFLs) and you'll see just how unspectacular Crowder has been.
So tell me - would you sign Crowder to a lucrative extension?