When commenting yesterday on the situation between the Ravens and defensive end/linebacker Terrell Suggs before the two sides worked out a long-term deal, we forgot that Cardinals and linebacker Karlos Dansby were in the same situation, too.
Dansby, like Suggs, is entering his second season under the franchise tag.
Dansby, unlike Suggs, didn’t work out a long-term deal.
And so Dansby will have tremendous leverage come 2010.
To keep Dansby from hitting the open market next season the Cardinals will have to offer him a one-year guaranteed salary equivalent to the average earnings in 2009 of the five highest-paid players in the game.
So given the deal that Suggs signed on Wednesday and a looming one-year take that will exceed $15 million and likely will approach $20 million if the Cardinals decide to keep Dansby from getting a shot at a first-day-of-free-agency haul for a third straight year, it’s no surprise that Dansby is excited.
“The sky’s the limit,” Dansby told Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic.
Of course, before Dansby can hop a ride on a rocket, he’ll need to get through the coming year without a major injury. That’s the risk he continues to bear in the absence of a long-term contract.
And if that injury occurs, the limit will be a lot lower than the sky.
