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Other than Boldin and maybe Walters, whom would you have NE target? At what point does Boldin join Peppers in asking too much for you?
Sam Aiken was a band aid. Joey Galloway was a hole. People attack Sam as if he was some demonic force who came in to suck the life out of the team - the guy played pretty well for a receiver who probably didn't get as much route time with Tommy as the primaries. You already know I prefer to address this through the draft with at least two picks, the kids on the roster showed positively in their first year, the Free Agency pool was as shallow as it gets. BB elected to bring Chief back and give him a shot, not what I was expecting, but Caserio's remarks at the Combine made sense (especially with the way Free Agency was working this year) - I just can't get too excited over losing to Baltimore in the Boldin sweepstakes when the NE situation isn't as dire as their's.
A hole? Connolly played as well as Hochstein has in years past for us, much better than Yates did, I never considered Hoch a "hole" behind Neal. If Billy was NE's primary interior reserve again I'd agree with you, but Wendell looked to outplay Connolly to my eyes, Ohrnberger and Bussey have had one year of conditioning and coaching (or will by April) and NE has Light, Mankins, Koppen, Kaczur, and Vollmer who all started a substantial number of games as rookies to justify waiting for the draft if they want to acquire additional competition for RG. Not a hole, merely a competitive and still uncertain position.
Well, whether he's a run stuffer or not, TBC did close that window a bit from where it was. NE made an offer to Peppers. Burgess is reportedly still on the radar. Ninkovich was looking pretty good in a reserve role and is a year wiser. Woods has been tendered, perhaps he can bounce back and play the way he did in 2008, and Charlie Casserly is calling this an incredibly deep draft class (okay, there I shot myself in the foot ) - day "two," my worry meter is still pegged on zero.
Bodden hasn't signed elsewhere yet has he? Then I'm not worried. NE has four young CBs on the roster, three of whom actually have some starting time, plus old Mr. Springs and his powered wheelchair, and Bill hired a veteran coach to come in and work with the youngsters and their young position coach -- sounds to me as if the expert with the inside knowledge doesn't see a "hole" as much as a young, inexperienced roster. CB doesn't rise to the level of my "hole" threshold.
One reportedly was a black hole during the season, addition by subtraction works for me. Further, NE has gone away from TE as a primary receiving weapon - I wasn't putting much emphasis on it before and for now I'm willing to wait and see if Bill makes it an OL assignment or what he's planning.
Not so much. I know Wright isn't everyone's final answer, but he's adequate, the draft is deep, Jarvis Green hasn't signed elsewhere yet, and it's day two.
Then not a worry.
DE - draft is fine.
Why shouldn't the team be expected to play at a high level with rookies? People on here do it all the time. Let's look at your holes and decide where a rookie is going to start.
Use of "obvious" isn't calling others oblivious?
Let's see, Peppers has $42.5M guaranteed on a contract which may reach $91M, about 47% guaranteed. Boldin's guaranteed money is about 36%, but Baltimore also had to use two draft picks. I'd say they are closer then you seem to think.
NE certainly could have made that same offer, and doubtless many here would have looked at Boldin coming in and ignored the money - but Bill can't do that. So let's look at what he might have been thinking about given he does have a budget to manage (even if we don't know what it is this year):
You don't like the injury aspect of those who are arguing more understanding, you when I compared Peppers and Boldin in terms of the auction atmosphere. I hate to break it to you, but this isn't an art auction for the idol rich, it's a business with budgetary constraints and those aren't display works for the museum, but the equivalent of heavy construction equipment - maintenance and rental charges are very valid concerns.
I feel better.
Feels like I'm in a deck chair on a luxury liner instead of drowning in despair, but the difference between a one year rental at $3M/2011 3rd and a one year rental at $10M/two 2010 picks is greater then the difference between a penny and a dollar. WR is a need, perhaps dire, but then again it's day two...
Heh, until you get the chance to laugh at Owens on-field antics I'm here to amuse.
How do you know they improved? The money they spent? I don't remember Dansby's name coming up the last time NE met Arizona, I already know Crowder is no Joey Porter. Dansby is not a savior anymore than Peppers is likely to be a savior for Chiacago or Boldin for Baltimore, he's just another piece of the puzzle and his guarantee is about twice what Mayo's entire contract is - that's a lot of scrambling to fill a hole with a guy who doesn't give his team much more then Mayo gives NE.
The Jest dumped an underachiever and traded for an underachiever. They reduced their overhead, but we won't know if they made their team better until we see him on the field. What we do know is they are foregoing drafting a CB in favor of hoping they can motivate an underachiever - how many times does that work out?
You threw a few drops of paint around in your original post too neighbor.
I think the difference here is between the TV rights and what the owners collect through parking, luxury boxes, etc. The owners seem to primarily want their stadium income back, with a slight rollback in the player's percentage of the TV revenues. In the long run as TV revenue continues to grow through the power of advertising sales, the players, who have seen a very rapid rise in income over the past decade, will be asked to see slower growth in future moneys. It's much like a Congressional budget, the rate of increase in the bill that was passed is less than the rate of increase in the original bill - therefore it's a budget cut for Congress & in this case the NFLPA.
And waste all that cushion with which years of excess have graced me? Heaven forbid.
Time for an anti-war song to bring peace to the negotiations: Where has all the revenue gone, long time passing...
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