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warfelg

By warfelg
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AFF

AFF

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17 minutes ago, warfelg said:

Your statement had nothing to do with replacing. 

Yes you have to replace starters after trading them away but ok.

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warfelg

warfelg

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The last I'll say on this is that some of us (only tagging @43M and @Steeler Hitman because they have most often shared similar views) for years had tired of the year after year be just good enough to make or just miss the playoffs, tweak a few things here and there, and try to say "oh it's just a few plays" or "oh just one different coaching decision".

For a while we wanted to see this team have a fresh perspective and new direction.  Someone who wasn't afraid to move on from guys who aren't into the system.  We wanted to see this team be aggressive to get some issues done.  But we all also said a few times that it was going to take some time and it wouldn't get done in one offseason.

Honestly, there's kinda some irony here in that 2021 we were in almost a same position, having lost Dupree, Hilton, Davis, Villanueva, Feiler, Pouncey, Nelson.  And we signed no where near the talent we just did with the biggest signings being Killebrew and Maulet, basically retaining Juju, Cam Sutton, Wormley, and Alualu.  Went into the draft with holes at CB, C, LT, ILB.  Yet we got smacked with the "oh it's fine do all this stuff for Ben."  And we spent our top 2 picks on RB and TE waiting for RD 3 to get a C, 4 to get LT and ILB, and 7 for a CB.

Frankly, I know this team is far from complete.  And I know that there's a lot to still happen. Being ok with this team making a change like this and having a different philosophy as the past doesn't mean we don't still see these issues.  Yet at the same time this is clearly the impact of having bad drafts for so many years.  You hit a point where you tend to have more holes than you can fill.  IMO the only place Khan created a hole that didn't need to be there was WR2, but even then having a more cohesive group at the WR position and taking a potential poison out of the meeting room could be worth creating the hole.  Outside of that, it's hard to have a potential rookie starter not being worse than Cole, who rated 34 at C.  RT is a "hole" in that you want Moore (who is terrible) out of the lineup and Jones moved to LT, but even if you don't get one you know you can survive it.  CB3 is a hole, and you night not "like" who they got as CB2 but in house they love him.  And even at that CB3 issue, this draft has a bunch of good ones you can pick up. 

Again none of that isn't to say "oh it's fine" or whatever.  It's that it's not our usual MO of keeping guys like Pickett, DJ, Cole, Neal, Okorafor; resigning quickly guys like Wallace, Sullivan, Pierre, Watts.  It's refreshing to see the moving on from guys who weren't in.  It's refreshing to see even small bit time FA chasing with Queen.  Elliott, Johnston, and Patterson might not be huge name gets, but they were better players at their positions that we needed.

Would it have been nice to see them go after a C, sure.  But here's something to consider with that.  All of this years signings have 1 year outs.  All of last years signings had 1 year outs. Cushenberry, Biadasz, Brewer, Allegretti, Morse all have 2 year outs on their contracts. The only "top" FA corner to not have a 1st year out was Kendall Fuller, other than that if you wanted one of the top 3 names of Awuzie, Moore, or Bunting you had to hit the 2nd year out mark. That's something operational that's not going to change and likely a part of the reason why we didn't get a C via FA.

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43M

43M

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8 hours ago, AFF said:

I’m not saying they shoulda went out and got all 3 of Christian Wilkins/Sneed/Aiyuk.

But for example…Queens deal is 3/$41 mill with cap hits of roughly 6/17/17.

His cap hit is actually higher in 2025 than Edmunds who signed that massive deal with the Bears a year ago for ILB.

But he’s young and they can get out of the deal reasonably well even after the 2024 season.

They could’ve went out and got guys that can help move the team forward and make easier for Fields/QB of future.

Who?

I am not even disagreeing, per se, but you keep saying we should go get players to make the QBs lives easier, but you dont really list anyone.    

I do question their logic of trading DJ without having a solid plan for how to replace him, but what are your suggestions?   

There weren't really many great WR options in free agency, and several mid tier options were laughably overpaid.

So that leaves a trade, which is still on the table, but then you have to consider cost vs value, and also the repercussions of trading for a big time WR.   For instance, you advocated for Justin Jefferson, which is fine, but it would probably cost enough that would negatively impact other areas of the team that need improvement, and also possibly cause other issues, such as slighting Pickens.

8 hours ago, AFF said:

Now you can’t get all age 26 guys on al reasonable deals but let’s look at mid tier guys.

These are kinda like the Daniels and Seumalo signings of the past 2 years.

You coulda went and got a solid #2 CB like Kendall Fuller for 2/$15 mill(of course a void year was added but still)…now you don’t have to trade DJ for a guy that was probably getting cut and you solved CB2 for 2 seasons.

As you said, I think they were looking to dump DJ.

I would have preferred we traded DJ for a straight 3rd and signed a CB, but it is what it is.

8 hours ago, AFF said:

Now they’re walking into the draft with an obvious huge hole at WR2 and they didn’t do anything for the OL(even though I was counting on 1 high OL pick regardless.)

I don't disagree, but this has all been addressed.

OT/RT:  Limited options and they seem to like Moore more than fans do.

C:  Premium position where there were more needs than quality options.    There is still another decent option, but there is obviously good reason teams haven't signed him yet.

WR:  Somewhat limited options unless we wanted to overpay for players equal to or worse than DJ was.

8 hours ago, AFF said:

Maybe they sign a few guys after the draft….say Charles Leno for OT or a healthy Connor Williams for center, then I will gladly change my mind.

However at this point the offseason just seems to be…

-Getting rid of bad personalities/locker room cancers

-Signing placeholder QB/cheap gamble at QB

-1 medium level splash in Queen

-some depth pieces.

No long term pieces added(proven) especially on the offensive side of the ball

Every year, fans (of all teams), say "we should have signed this guy", but alot of times, they dont really get the opportunity, even if they may be interested.

Beyond that, there weren't nearly as many QUALITY "long term" pieces as you seem to think there are/were....especially at our biggest areas of need.

Again, would I have done things differently?   Yes, but I also understand the circumstances may have hindered certain efforts.

I am not currently happy with where we are, but Im trying to give Khan and Weidl a little faith, if only because its a different approach than Colbert would have taken....and that wasn't working.

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Dcash4

Dcash4

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10 hours ago, warfelg said:

Honestly, there's kinda some irony here in that 2021 we were in almost a same position, having lost Dupree, Hilton, Davis, Villanueva, Feiler, Pouncey, Nelson.  And we signed no where near the talent we just did with the biggest signings being Killebrew and Maulet, basically retaining Juju, Cam Sutton, Wormley, and Alualu.  Went into the draft with holes at CB, C, LT, ILB.  Yet we got smacked with the "oh it's fine do all this stuff for Ben."  And we spent our top 2 picks on RB and TE waiting for RD 3 to get a C, 4 to get LT and ILB, and 7 for a CB.

Odd to me that this season is so often used as an example of something but the fact that it was the Covid year that effectively dropped the cap nearly $30M Vs expectation is never mentioned once. 

Wonder why. 

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warfelg

warfelg

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3 minutes ago, skywlker32 said:

He did also make it seem like the Steelers were going to trade for Justin Jefferson and nothing has come of that yet, so I wouldn't hold my breath.

On the flip side he broke the Wilson, Fields, and Queen news.

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skywlker32

skywlker32

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7 minutes ago, warfelg said:

On the flip side he broke the Wilson, Fields, and Queen news.

I kind of equate it to what a LOT of people do nowadays. You report everything and hope that most of it sticks.

Don't get me wrong. I'm sure he hears things from players mostly, but he is only getting one side of the story there also. There is also probably a lot of "logical leaps" where you just match the players with where they would make sense.

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armsteeld

armsteeld

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3 minutes ago, skywlker32 said:

I kind of equate it to what a LOT of people do nowadays. You report everything and hope that most of it sticks.

Don't get me wrong. I'm sure he hears things from players mostly, but he is only getting one side of the story there also. There is also probably a lot of "logical leaps" where you just match the players with where they would make sense.

He also stated Texans would trade for Bills WR Stefon Diggs. I get what you are saying but he has many connections league wide.

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warfelg

warfelg

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16 minutes ago, skywlker32 said:

I kind of equate it to what a LOT of people do nowadays. You report everything and hope that most of it sticks.

Don't get me wrong. I'm sure he hears things from players mostly, but he is only getting one side of the story there also. There is also probably a lot of "logical leaps" where you just match the players with where they would make sense.

To echo @armsteeld, he's gotten a lot right and he's got the connections.  I do take it with a grain of salt as any other report before anyone announce anything, but he's hit rate this offseason ahs been really good.

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