Even for this organization, this Free situation is just mind-boggling.
Why is this situation still unsettled? We're talking about Doug fricking Free here.
I said it before and I'll say it again - this should have been settled in 24-48 hours, tops.
"Doug, you were arguably the worst RT in all of football last year. You led the league in penalties and sacks allowed. Fact of the matter is, you're not performing up to your contract and we're in a tight cap situation. We'd like you to stay and compete for a job, but not under your current numbers. We need you to take a pay cut. If you cannot, then we'll be forced to let you go. We need to get a decision from you on this ASAP, so you have 48 hours to decide. If we don't hear back from by then, then we'll assume that you're not willing to take the cut and we'll be forced to release you."
That should have been the entire extent of that conversation, and he should have agreed to a reduced salary or have been cut by now. The fact that we are treating him and this situation as if this is Emmitt Smith prior to 1993 season is just ridiculous. This team is beyond stupid.
WTF is taking so long?
The reason it is taking so long is because we do not have options.
But the reason we are even bothering to ask him to take a paycut (which is laughable in of its own), is because he is underperforming his contract, not because we are looking to get rid of him or quite possibly, have any serious intention of replacing him...mainly due to the cap situation. Five million in space is breathing room and a ultra cheap short term one year deal to some desperate guy...not something that you can realistically use to sign a starter. We sure are not going long term with anyone.
If that were the case, they'd have severed the cord and gone ahead and bit the bullet.
But like the poor marksmen they are, they completely whiffed on both accounts. They couldn't get him to restructure. He won't accept a pay cut. He's called their bluff and won...big time. Either way, right now, Doug Free wins.
Cut him, he immediately becomes a young player in a very old market. As bad as he is, he'd get signed pretty damn quick.
And since we did ZERO in the draft or UDFA period, we have no swing tackle after we promote Parnell to starter (I fart in the Weems kid's general direction). There are two dorks that are on the roster that are worse than many UDFAs we could have got for next to nothing.