Quote:
Originally Posted by calia
This point about too many busts is dead on. Had the money been spent (and had we even had tons of dead cap space) but obtained players who performed well and led to a spate of winning seasons and playoff runs, no one would care about the amounts spent or resulting dead cap space. It is about Ws and Ls, and it is a fair criticism that the Snyder/Cerrato brain trust has not been great in that regard. The buck does stop with them.
Having said all that, I also agree that it is better to look forward, and the restraint we've shown this offseason and the commitment to continuity (shown in virtually every instance, save Gregg Williams) is encoraging.
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Overall, I too would agree w/Schneed's statement about talent evaluation, but it goes further than that. It's not just the terrible value that we got out of loyd, he cost a 3rd & 4th round pick. Coles played well for us, but he cost draft picks & big $ too.
This has been more than a talent evaluation problem, it's been a total mismanagement of the cap as it pertains to value (please don't anyone reply that we're never in "cap hell" & that our capologist can fix it, I'm not arguing that, though I could). The poor talent evaluation of free agents or traded players is compounded when draft picks are involved.
In a nutshell, it seems to me that max. value in the cap is through draft picks:
Draft picks = less cap space & $, youth, & low risk other than 1st round.
Free agents/vets = theoretically known commodity, age, & cap space is locked into contracts forcing team to either keep player, cut & take a cap hit, or restructure & delay 'cap hell' to the end of the cba a la 2006.
In addition, the lack of priority on the draft has kept the team from building depth & developing players from within. Fortunately we've seen real examples of the scouts & coaches getting solid guys in the draft & undrafted free agents, e.g. Heyer, Alexander, Mongomery, Golston.
My only real criticism of JLC's article is that maybe he should've noted it more that re-signing our guys 1st is a change in itself. He mentioned the signings but not the significance of them. I think those signings - Collins, Rock, Frost & Fabini - are HUGE as the front office is sending a message that they want to keep their guys first. Re-sign JC next year & w/a good draft class this team could be in good shape.