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We've offered Derrick Ward a contract!


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Per PFT, the Bengals along with 4 others are suitors of his services:

DERRICK IN DEMAND

Posted by Mike Florio on February 27, 2009, 5:30 a.m.

As expected, running back Derrick Ward is one of the early hot commodities in free agency.

Ward, who along with Brandon Jacobs rushed for more than 1,000 yards during the 2008 season, already has received contract offers from five teams.

The Buccaneers, Rams, Broncos, Bengals, and Lions are all in the mix, per a league source.

Despite some apparent interest on the part of the Giants in trying to keep the Earth, Wind, and Fire trio of Jacobs, Ward, and Ahmad Bradshaw, Ward apparently wants to be someone’s every-down back — and to be paid accordingly.

Our advice? Be careful what you wish for, because things start breaking on those guys who carry the ball 20-plus times per game.

I for one am just happy to be mentioned as going after someone sweet, other than a 32 year old slot reciever.

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I like him as a good change of pace back, for similar money. I can't see anyone offering him more than Jacobs got, for sure.

I think they should figure out how to get him and Benson together in the backfield. Sign 'em both. I wouldn't want to depend on either one alone, but having both would be awesome. Sort of like the lone year where both Rudi and Glass were effective.

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i just looked up ward stats, he is 5-11 and 228 pounds. damn he is bigger than i thought about the same size as rudi. now the espn crew did say that ward at 2-3 mill a season is great deal. now the bad is he is 28 how many years does he have left in the tank.

His birthday is August 30th so he will be 29 before the season begins. I would be happy with him for 2-3 seasons paired with Benson. To bad he isn't a couple years younger!

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I'd actually side on Mike Brown's typical FA philosophy on this one. I'd sign whoever I can get for cheaper and be done with it. I'd look to draft a change of pace back on day two of the draft to take some carries away from whoever we sign. Personally, I think Ward is the better back, but I think he will be more expensive than Ced. Some teams aren't even going to consider Ced because of his past discretions.

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Ward won't sign here if Benson does. He wants to start

I read somewhere where it was reported that the Bengals would like to have both backs in the fold next year, but the priority is Benson. I'll look for that link.

Who do you think is the better back and who would you give the higher offer to?

I would have to say Ward. But not by much. He hasn't had a long career but has had a 1,000 yard season. Something Benson has never done.

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Schefter claimed the market price for Ward would be 3 million per and said he hadn't spoken to anyone who felt he could be a true starter. He also claimed Benson had done enough with the Bengals to convince some teams that he deserves another chance to be a bell cow. Mike Lombardi disagreed...strongly, saying you never project success forward when considering a so-called 1-year player. Rather, you look backward.

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If their is a deal...it would prob be in the $36-39 Mill range. Similar to the Michael Turner Contract last year.

if those are the parameters i say pass.

take 2/3's of that money and re-sign benson, now!

-he's younger

-he knows the system and he's had some success in it

-he's a surer bell-cow

ward doesn't have the mileage most 28 year old backs have, but in my layman's opinion he's not even close to the back turner is.

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According to the Sporting News its just between us and the Lions for Ward's services.

http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playernews.aspx?sport=NFL

The Sporting News reports that the Rams, Bucs, and Broncos are not in the mix for free agent RB Derrick Ward.

The Bengals are interested in Ward as a fallback plan in case they can't get Cedric Benson inked, and the Lions appear to be interested in pairing him with Kevin Smith. The Newark Star-Ledger is also reporting that the previous buzz on the Bucs' potential $15M offer to Ward is now considered "bogus."

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If their is a deal...it would prob be in the $36-39 Mill range. Similar to the Michael Turner Contract last year.

if those are the parameters i say pass.

take 2/3's of that money and re-sign benson, now!

-he's younger

-he knows the system and he's had some success in it

-he's a surer bell-cow

ward doesn't have the mileage most 28 year old backs have, but in my layman's opinion he's not even close to the back turner is.

I'll will admit this. I don't know how much the Giants offensive line had to do with it, but Ward had some absolute beastly games last year.

1,025 yards rushing at 5.6 per carry (plus 41 catches) is nothing to sneeze at.

Edit: Take away a 15 carry, 215 (14.3 ypc) yard day against Carolina in Week 16 and a 10 carry, 101 yard performance against Cleveland in Week 6 and his stats are not nearly as impressive.

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If their is a deal...it would prob be in the $36-39 Mill range. Similar to the Michael Turner Contract last year.

if those are the parameters i say pass.

take 2/3's of that money and re-sign benson, now!

-he's younger

-he knows the system and he's had some success in it

-he's a surer bell-cow

ward doesn't have the mileage most 28 year old backs have, but in my layman's opinion he's not even close to the back turner is.

I'll will admit this. I don't know how much the Giants offensive line had to do with it, but Ward had some absolute beastly games last year.

1,025 yards rushing at 5.6 per carry (plus 41 catches) is nothing to sneeze at.

Edit: Take away a 15 carry, 215 (14.3 ypc) yard day against Carolina in Week 16 and a 10 carry, 101 yard performance against Cleveland in Week 6 and his stats are not nearly as impressive.

Taking those games away he still generated 4.4 avg Which is quite nicevand you can't discredit a RB for games like that RB's have big games it happens....

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1,025 yards rushing at 5.6 per carry (plus 41 catches) is nothing to sneeze at.

It's almost James Brookish.

I was thinking the same exact thing. How about Ced Benson playing the Ickey Woods role to Ward's J.B.? If the Bengals could somehow manage to sign them both, I would consider this to be a decent offseason, sans Jason Brown.

I don't see any of the RB's in the draft outside of Knowshon with the potential of making the same impact as a Ward and it looks like we'll definitely need to draft an OT now somewhere before round 4.

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