If I understand correctly, Belichick made a mistake when he brought in two of the best corners available for $4M instead of paying $7M or $10M and being in danger of being over the cap. Bringing in mid-level priced free agents is one of the cornerstones of the patriot strategy over the past decade. We have occasionally brought in top free agents (Colvin and Thomas) for big money, but that is the exception.
What you really arguing with is an issue of allocation of cap monies. You would have moved money around. I guess you would have paid more for the secondary and less for some other position. Who would have chosen instead of Bodden? Perhaps you would have chosen not to bring in Taylor or Baker and used the money on more expenisve corners. Perhaps you would have not kept as large an emergency cap fund in case of injuries. We have had relatively few players placed on IR this year after then season started, which is why we still have the $3M we still have. We had the normal amount of excess going into the season.
I find it curious that you complaining about the secondary. They have performed very well. And more importantly, they are a great VALUE. If there is one place where Belichick excelled in this last offseason it was in bringing in secondary help while the youngsters developed. Bodden, Springs and McGowan have been a critical part of our 2009 defense.
In the end, the nfl is a zero sum game. Teams win in the long-run by using their monies wisely. The Krafts spend as much as anyone, always close to the cap. At the end of any year, excess cap money is moved to the next. The result for each year is that we have spent the total cap amount each year since the cap started, carrying over a couple of million each year.
There are places that money is spent that is NOT subject to the cap. The Krafts have spent a lot on facilities. They have built the stadium with their own money instead of coming to the towns around begging for money as other owners have done.
The only criticism I have for the Krafts with regard to spending monies is that I believe that we underspend with regard to coordinators. Obviously the Krafts disagree. We have a top coach and a top assistant coach, so, for the patriots, coordinators are less imporant than for some other teams.