Cap room

[e16bball]

5 hours ago, MKnight82 said:

I don't really know what else the coach is supposed to say about his new starting QB?  I mean he isn't going to bash the guy.  

I hear you. But as I said in the post you quoted, based on the fact that (a) Gruden clearly was never sold on Cousins and (b) Jon had to change his shorts after announcing an Alex Smith game, I’m not sure that’s just a coach giving the company line.

5 hours ago, MKnight82 said:

Package 13, our 3rd round pick and Kendall Fuller, boom you're in the top 10.  

A 3rd rounder and a slot CB with one great season and one terrible season isn’t getting you from #13 all the way up to #4 or #6 or however high you’ll end up having to go to get one of those top 4. Not with numerous other teams (particularly Buffalo and Arizona) also looking to jump up for whomever gets past the Browns, Giants, Jets, and Broncos in the top 5. You’re probably looking at adding in next year’s 1st to top their offers.

And even if that package did get you there, then you’ve got Baker Mayfield (or whomever you think is the #4 QB on the board) and $20M in additional available cap space. As opposed to Alex Smith plus an elite prospect at pick 13 (or the opportunity for a trade down). I’m not sure it’s obvious which of those is the better position. 

I would have supported them if they chose to blow it up when it became clear Cousins was a goner. But I’m not convinced it was irrational to get a guy who can give you Cousins-esque performance for 3 seasons and see if you can build a better team around him than you built around Cousins. 

5 hours ago, MKnight82 said:

I get that, but then why did we let a lot of our homegrown depth just leave, and why not be more aggressive in free agency?  The Alex Smith was a win now move, everything else we've done has been a win in a few years move.  When they do stuff like this it just reinforces in my mind that the FO has no long term strategy.  

Honestly, I think that homegrown talent wasn’t very good.

Breeland can play, but apparently no one can stand him. Long was a solid player, but to me his only real value is as a center. Never thought much of Murphy as an OLB, I thought he had maybe the least impressive 9.5 sack season I’ve ever seen. Grant seems like a good intangibles guy, but he’s mediocrity personified. 

I actually think they’ve done a pretty good job in terms of long-term planning with players leaving in FA. They’ve kinda been getting out ahead of the departures by a year. Take Doctson, knowing that you’re losing at least one of Garcon/DJax in a year. Take guys like Anderson, Moreau, and Roullier, knowing that you might decide not to retain incumbents at OLB, CB, and C in a year. Get those guys in house and hopefully have them ready to step in when you need them.

That said, I do get frustrated with them constantly driving hard bargains in FA — especially when the goal has to be to win with Smith. So I agree with you there. Not sure why they would choose to play such hardball with Hankins and drag their feet on other NTs (like Logan) and the veteran OG market. There’s no way someone like Fluker or Joeckel would have blown up the budget, and it is frustrating to see holes like that going unaddressed when we really need to be putting a quality lineup around Smith (or risk wasting him as we have with others).

[MKnight82]

3 minutes ago, e16bball said:

Honestly, I think that homegrown talent wasn’t very good

Lol, well the same guy that drafted the outgoing draft class is running the team now.