Originally Posted by
Packnut
I guess we can debate this forever, but I still say you don't let your core players walk UNLESS you have a back-up plan. I've argued the Wahle thing with several people and no one has changed my mind. The fact is TT did NOTHING in an attemp to keep him because TT does'nt believe that much money should be spent on the guard position period.
Now we can argue the cap situation that existed all day long, but what can't be argued is TT left us very weak at the guard position and it's hurting us big time now. These rookies should not be in a position to have to start now. TT is the GM and it was and is HIS responsibilty to correct it! There are 31 other teams in the NFL and I don't believe ANY of them are in a position of having to start 2 rookies on the O line.
Packnut, I sympathize with this point of view, but this is exactly the thinking that put Mike Sherman into a corner and produced such bad contracts for Hunt, KGB, Diggs, Wayne and Wahle.
APB likes to point out that Sherman was resigning everybody with no cap room, like he was David Copperfield. But the cost was contracts loaded with back end money. He was always up against it because his cap was tight, it was tight in the future and depth was sorely lacking. He HAD to sign guys, or so he felt, so he never had room.
The backup plan should always be the same. Draft well. Sign free agents judiciously. I would add front load contracts, ala Philly and Minnesota and don't hand out big money to injured/older players.
Wahle's contract had that roster bonus PRECISELY because Sherman couldn't do market value at the time his second contract was up. Remember Wahle had a rookie deal and probably an RFA tender deal.
So you eat the 6 mil or backload another deal because you haven't developed any depth. How many decent lineman did the Packers have when Sherman took over from Wolf who left to take starting jobs or more money from other teams?
The depth on the line looked much better in 01 than 05. Sherman lost a lot of depth because of the money he committed to overpaying his own FAs at the heighth of their earning power, when they were in fact on the decline or simply looked better than the alternative. Poor excuse for big contracts.