Adalius Thomas may be shopping his talents as Jamal Lewis gets cut

by James on February 16th, 2007

NFL Football at its best. NFL Football at its craziest.

Adalius Thomas and the Saints Billy Miller practice a new football dance routine

The NFL does one of the best jobs in all the major sports of achieving a balance between teams. The name they give this process is parity.

Parity can be a double edged sword. It can keep bringing new champions to the league and new contenders as well. It also can destroy good teams that are close to being champions.

For long term success you need to manage your cap space.

If you want any clues as to how… this is done take a look at some of the moves the New England Patriots have made in recent years.

Teams that are close have to be very careful. The Baltimore Ravens are close. They have to be careful.

Adalius Thomas could be a free agent in one week. Now Adalius is a Pro Bowler on one of the best defenses in Pro football. They narrowly lost in a game to the World Champion Colts.

In that game the defense was brilliant. The running game was not. So what does that have to do with anything?

It is simple. Ozzie Newsome is the general manager of the Baltimore Ravens. This guy knows what he is doing.

Ozzie knows that he needs to keep Adalius. He knows that the window to win a Super Bowl can close in a hurry. Now you think about it. They held the Colts to 5 field goals and no touchdowns. You have to put that in the games that could have been won column.

Parity rears its Ugly head

The problem lies in the Parity issue. The Ravens have only 3 million in cap space. Not near enough to sign Thomas. They can pick up another 3 million by cutting Jamal Lewis.

Wait a minute, did you say cut, as in get rid of? Get rid of Jamal Lewis? Wasn’t he your Pro Bowl running back?

This was a guy that had a 2,000 yard rushing season. He helped lead Baltimore to the Championship in Super Bowl XXXV. Ok, there was that drug thing, but he is past all that, right?

Yes, dear fans, this is the ugly side of parity, the part that the young fan in me does not care for one bit. The Ravens may have to cast off one of their own to meet the increasing salary demands of another of their own.

Where have all the heroes gone?

Part of me yearns for the day when your heroes could play for your team until they could not play anymore. Even then they could be kept as backups.

Now Baltimore has to decide to tag Adalius Thomas with the franchise tag or watch him sign for more money elsewhere. Whether they do that or not, they will probably have to cut Jamal Lewis or he would be owed a 5 million dollar bonus next month.

So there is a long and short of it. Baltimore could lose both Adalius Thomas and Jamal Lewis. Even if they pull out the franchise tag on Thomas, he could become very unhappy.

Do we weep for Baltimore? No, Ozzie Newsome has a way of getting the job done and keeping Baltimore in the thick of things. It would be expected that he will pull out all the stops to keep the defense on top and the running game flowing.

No we won’t cry for Baltimore, but we will watch as they appease the gods of parity.

NFL Football Fan Question How will your team appease the gods of parity?

As always, any NFL Football related comments are welcome.

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