Re: Officail 2008 Free Agency Thread
The way this market is moving, the Belichick/Pioli model will need some slight adjusting.
It's clear now that the difference in salaries between the stars and the grunts is going to be significant enough that multiple tiers are going to be set up on each team.
The Patriots used to excel by paying their stars about $6 million, a million or maybe two less than the market would bear, thereby allowing them to pay $3 or 4 million to middle class players like Bruschi, Neal, Jarvis Green, Rodney Harrison, etc. That allowed a good mix of stars, vets and young guys.
Now, with the top players rising to the $10 million range, there's a considerable gap between them and the middle class, so we're seeing marginal players land huge contracts. To preserve a middle class now, you have to shell out $5 or 6 million to these guys, and that may be too much to take a chance on some of them. Don't get me wrong: I'm sure they'd pony up that much to the likes of Bruschi and Vrabel. But this is going to get trickier now.
The Patriots may simply decide to hoard those $8-10 million paychecks for their top players, and then fill in around them the way everyone else does.
Otherwise, you better make damn sure you are hitting close to 100% with those $6 million paychecks, because having a few $6 million a year JAGs on your roster is a sure way to ensure losing seasons.
