so much for O-gun

[jimminie82]

looks like he may get his wish.Still no contracts for Carey, Ogunleye

Miami is expected to announce some signings today, but Vernon Carey and Adewale Ogunleye are still without contracts.

By JASON COLE

jcole@herald.com


As the clock ticks toward 6 p.m. today, when Dolphins players are expected to report for training camp, the team might face going through the first day or two of camp without top draft pick Vernon Carey under contract.

''There's no deal coming down right now,'' agent Ben Dogra said. Asked if he expected a deal to get done by today, Dogra said, ``No comment. You'd have to talk to the Dolphins about it.''

The Dolphins have a policy not to discuss negotiations until they are complete. Aside from Carey, the Dolphins have signed or reached agreements with the other five draft picks and are expected to announce those signings today.

OPTIMISM FOR OGUNLEYE

There is guarded optimism that the team could get a deal done for Pro Bowl defensive end Adewale Ogunleye by today.

There also is hope that a contract extension can be completed for wide receiver Chris Chambers in the near future.

Agents Drew and Jason Rosenhaus and the Dolphins have gotten closer to agreeing to a basic value of a contract for Ogunleye. The deal figures to be worth more than the deal signed by Green Bay Packers defensive end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila before the 2003 season.

''It better be,'' Jason Rosenhaus said. ``This is a deal we can get done in 10 minutes. It shouldn't be that hard.''

Like Ogunleye, Gbaja-Biamila was a restricted free agent last year. He eventually signed a seven-year, $37.3 million deal with the Packers, never signing a deal with another team.

The key to the Gbaja-Biamila deal was an $11 million signing bonus and a total of $13.25 million guaranteed in the first three years. Gbaja-Biamila will get a total of $15 million over the first three years.

The Dolphins appear willing to pay more than that over the first three years because they believe Ogunleye is better than Gbaja-Biamila. In addition, there is the normal contract inflation that goes with fair deals.

The problem for the Dolphins is that their normal contract structure on such deals is not to Ogunleye's or his representatives' liking.

DIFFERENT APPROACH

Rather than pay a straight $11 million signing bonus, as in the Gbaja-Biamila deal, the Dolphins prefer to split bonuses over a two-year period.

The way that works, for example, is that Ogunleye might get a $6 million signing bonus now and then have a roster bonus of $5 million paid in March 2005. The Dolphins prefer that structure because it spreads out the salary cap ramifications.

The team has used it numerous times in contracts for players such as defensive end Jason Taylor and linebacker Zach Thomas.

Drew Rosenhaus, who also represents Thomas, has worked with that structure in the past. However, his preference is to get the entire signing bonus up front.

By contrast, Dogra, who also represents Chambers, said he is willing to work with the structure to get an extension done. Chambers is entering the final year of his original four-year deal.

''You'd always rather get all of the money up front, but their structure doesn't bother me,'' Dogra said.

``As long as they're willing to work with the money I want, I can work with their structure.''

Dogra said he hasn't had serious talks with the Dolphins about Chambers since last Friday, but he felt good about the chances of working out an extension for the wide receiver.

[1niksder]

Not so fast

POSTED 10:02 p.m. EDT, July 30, 2004

NO DEAL CLOSE FOR O-GUN

Jason Cole of the Miami Herald has had, in hindsight, a bit of a rough week. On Thursday, he reported that the Dolphins had called the Chiefs about running back Larry Johnson at the same time he reported that the Chiefs denied that any such call was made (kind of like voting for the $87 billion before voting against it, huh?), and we reported later in the day that the latter half of the Cole report was the right half -- the Fins made no call to the Chiefs.

On Friday, Cole reported that the Dolphins were making progress toward a long-term deal with defensive end Adewale Ogunleye. As Cole reported, "[a]gents Drew and Jason Rosenhaus and the Dolphins have gotten closer to agreeing to a basic value of a contract for Ogunleye."

Then Cole quoted Jason Rosenhaus, causing the reasonable reader to conclude that the Ogunleye camp truly believed that progress indeed was being made toward that elusive multi-year deal. Not so, a league source with knowledge of the status of the discussions told us on Friday afternoon.

Though a deal is still possible before the regular season begins, any suggestion that a deal is coming soon is flat-out wrong.

http://www.profootballtalk.com/rumormill.htm

[Deadskins]

That still doesn't mean he is off the market. They have said all along that he couldn't be traded until after he had signed a contract. In fact, this may even be a sign that a deal is in the works to trade him.