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Originally Posted by Schneed10
Good stuff from LaCanfora. Our constant need to restructure is driven by the bonuses we hand out to so many players. We've handed out way more in bonus money than most teams, mainly because we sign the most free agents and draft the fewest rookies.
Drafting gives you the opportunity to find cheap talent and keep them on your books for 3, 4, 5 years with very low cap numbers. A more draft-centric approach would be much more cap-friendly. That to me is the root problem. We never have picks available, so we have to solve all of our problems through free agency. And that just digs us deeper into a salary cap hole.
We can continue to dig out of it. But we'd have more long-term cap flexibility if we had a few fewer free agents, and a few more quality draft picks. The Duckett trade was easily the most aggravating. We lost a 3rd round pick in that one (or at least the equivalent of a 3rd rounder) and for what? Hitting on a quality 3rd rounder sure would help our cap situation over the next few years.
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The worst part about it is, our college scouting department seems to know what they are doing. I'd bet that with more picks, and increased responsibility, they would pick their fair share of busts like any team would, but so far we have been pretty accurate when we lock into a guy. Sean Taylor, Carlos Rogers, Jason Campbell, Chris Cooley, Kedric Golston, not to mention our UDFA record consisting of Antonio Pierce, and Lemar Marshall among others.
Just keep a few more picks guys.