According to Corey's agents comments last night, the team has already agreed to release him though. The only reason I can think of for them to do that is the $3M option bonus that he deferred last year is due on March 2 and it still contained the language it previously had which stated if not picked up his season salary would increase by the same $3M and become guaranteed and his deal would be done after that season. The agent also said they had been talking for days and were unable to work things out. That makes this the same thing as the Troy Brown situation of 2005. Which means he could yet be back if he decides he's willing to play for what they are willing to pay him in 2007, or he could go elsewhere if he finds someone who is willing to pay him more, or he could in fact just hang 'em up if the money he's offered isn't enough to motivate him to go through all that getting ready for and playing through another season entails at his age.
His dead cap is $5.7M and would hit the cap all at once if released on March 2nd. There is a new mechanism under the new CBA for releasing 2 vets per year in March and treating them as if released in June though which allows for spreading the cap hit over two seasons. So his dead cap would be $1.9 and $3.8 in 2007-2008 unless they opt to take the hit all at once.
I think Corey's gut reaction was I'm done (as he said to teamates after the AFCC), and that was reinforced when the team said they couldn't justify paying him more than his $2.5M salary this season because he would clearly be a goal line back and injury backup every down back to Maroney. His agent, however, prefers to downplay that and shop him in the hopes of his regaining some urge to play if he is able to find a more financially enticing offer in this flush cap market. Corey does also have some ego issues which exacerbated his relationship with the media here and he might respond differently to being stroked and courted into returning by some other franchise, and that simply isn't going to happen here where he has bonus money due he simply isn't worth.
I appreciate what Corey was and did in 2004. But he hasn't been that player for 2 years running, and he isn't going to be that player ever again. When Belioli teambuild they need to know who they can count on to do what it takes and be motivated to do it even when it hurts. They couldn't really count on Corey last season even though he was said to be giving good effort and working hard and not injured. He seemed to be asking out of a lot of situations and sitting out a lot of series even when the situation screamed for his particular skill set. I think BB has seen the benefit of the two back system, and he wants to make the best possible use of that. Faulk isn't that second back, he's a change of pace back and receiving threat. BB either wants a pounder to compliment Maroney, and that guy has to be available when the situation calls for him, not when he up for answering the call. Or he wants a similar alternate back to team with Maroney and maintain the run threat in conjunction with Maroney as the lead back and replace him when he can't go. Corey and Maroney were just too dissimilar to rotate effectively. There will be some blocking scheme changes in the works this season as well that favor Maroney's skill set, and those would make it harder than ever for Dillon to function in the primary backup or alternate role.
