This is my plan and I'm sticking to it

[BobDigital]

Overall good post. It is hard to make your case than to tear someone else's down so try not to take the nay saying so hard. That said I have a bit of nay saying to make.

This is about a lot of the board though and not just you. A lot of people here talk about Scott Chandler - TE and how he is a no brainer pick up for his price. Well this might be true that he would be a good pick up I don't think he is going to matter that much. This kid might be a serviceable backup but he is no difference maker by a long shot. I don't think adding him will solve anything at the TE position.

Sure he is a better pass catching back up then the guys we currently have but really it is just putting us in the position where we need to rely on Gronk staying healthy yet again and really doesn't change much.

Now if you want to say your improvements to the D will make a big enough difference to make not addressing the TE need in a truly serious way not matter I would say you can make that case. But don't tell me Scott Chandler fixes our problem at that position cause he absolutely does not.

 

[50-yard-line]

This may seem so if you take Walter football, and Cbs football mocks at the moment as the end all be all. We all know draft possition for players and teams is highly fluent. Just like the point that every one is picking a TE for the first pick for the Pats, because all the gossip has centered around it. And they all "think" the most important thing is to replace Hernandez.

ALL season what were the most talked about weekness's......Pass rush and pass blocking.....These are not the glamore picks, but the nessisary picks...No, they all want to talk about the glamor pick, dealing with the Hernandez loss. since his arrest the media and national attention has been fixated on the loss and the way to replace him. The luxury of having two starting quality TE's was a fluke and a CHANCE that we got burned on....Will not happen again...We got spoiled...

WE have an excelent secondary, but no secondary can cover forever which is what they had to do with no pass rush...The d is may be three defenders away from being awsom...Those being DT starter(we have no quality non geriatric answer),SS starter(None of the vet have worked out), and a quality rotational DE...

I also firmly believe that the Gronk and Hernandez duo covered up and conceiled the horendus OL play of Connolly and Wendell, so now that is gone it has surfaced and TB is getting killed.

Green Bay needs a DT. Hope he's there, but I doubt it.

 

[BobDigital]

Now I will go into my plan for the off season. It is similar to yours in a lot of ways.

Let Edelman walk (too expensive),

Let Wilfork/Kelly walk (keep them if they look like they can play AND agree to come back for a reasonable price. I am fine keeping Kelly and letting Wilfork go if that is how it works out.

Sign Talib (or equally good CB... you really need that #1 CB).

Let all other FAs walk If they don't wanna come back on a team friendly deal.

Restructure Mankins/Gostkowski

Sign Jared Allen. I think he can be had for 4M as a rotational DE. I'd take that deal. Try to trade for Tony Gonzalez (likely you can't but if you can do it).

Also if you can trade Mallet for a pick (unlikely)
----------------

Draft (assuming you don't trade for Gonzalez and keep either one of Wilfork/Kelly (or both) and they are projected to be productive.

#1 TE - Whoever of Ebron/Amaro/Jenkins
#2 DT - Easley/Sutton/Johnson/Tuitt/OR Someone falls.. all the better
#3 SS - Bucannon (I like where your heads at there : P)
#4 DE - Michael Sam - Take a shot
(after pick 4 it is just BPA).

Your roster for next year would/could be

QB - Brady Mallet/Other
TE - Gronk Amaro Hooman ????
WR - Dobson Amendola Thompkins Boyce ????
OT - Solder Vollmer Cannon Svitek
OG - Mankins Connolly Kline
OC - Wendell/Other
RB - Ridley Vereen Develin Bolden

DE - Jones Allen Nink Sam
DT - Kelly/Wilfork Easley Siliga Jones
LB - Mayo Collins Hightower Fletcher Beauharnais ??
CB - Talib Ryan Dennard Arrington
S - McCourty Gregory Bucannon Harmon Ebner

I still think we need to add a few more players to shore things up. Maybe another Veteran DT or a Veteran WR but nothing to expensive. However I think this is a team you can field with a good chance to win it all.

I think the D will be SB caliber. The OL has not really been addressed but adding a true O Weapon like Amaro will help cover that weakness up and you can get a decent OG in FA for a cheap price. I set this up to leave some money free for odds and ends like that but I am not going to discuss them all.

 

[kennyb]

Overall good post. It is hard to make your case than to tear someone else's down so try not to take the nay saying so hard. That said I have a bit of nay saying to make.

This is about a lot of the board though and not just you. A lot of people here talk about Scott Chandler - TE and how he is a no brainer pick up for his price. Well this might be true that he would be a good pick up I don't think he is going to matter that much. This kid might be a serviceable backup but he is no difference maker by a long shot. I dchandler isnt ason't think adding him will solve anything at the TE position.

Sure he is a better pass catching back up then the guys we currently have but really it is just putting us in the position where we need to rely on Gronk staying healthy yet again and really doesn't change much.

Now if you want to say your improvements to the D will make a big enough difference to make not addressing the TE need in a truly serious way not matter I would say you can make that case. But don't tell me Scott Chandler fixes our problem at that position cause he absolutely does not.

Chandler isn't as good as Gronk but who is? I think he'd be a great signing. Gronk needs a backup. Most backups aren't as good as the starter. In two te sets he'd improve things a lot imo.

 

[BobDigital]

Chandler isn't as good as Gronk but who is? I think he'd be a great signing. Gronk needs a backup. Most backups aren't as good as the starter. In two te sets he'd improve things a lot imo.

The problem in my mind is not that Chandler isn't as good as Gronk (like you said "who is?"). I am not looking to find someone as good as him but I do want a medium starter quality TE or better. If Gronk is on the field all the better but I want a TE on the field that is a play maker in his own right. Scott Chandler is not that IMO.

I just want to be prepared if Gronk goes down again more than the ability to run a great 2 TE set. If Gronk stays healthy then you are right. Chandler is more than enough. However I don't want to have to bet on that.

 

[part-timer]

The problem in my mind is not that Chandler isn't as good as Gronk (like you said "who is?"). I am not looking to find someone as good as him but I do want a medium starter quality TE or better. If Gronk is on the field all the better but I want a TE on the field that is a play maker in his own right. Scott Chandler is not that IMO.

I just want to be prepared if Gronk goes down again more than the ability to run a great 2 TE set. If Gronk stays healthy then you are right. Chandler is more than enough. However I don't want to have to bet on that.

You can most certanly find a top starting quality FA, BUT you will be spending 3-5 times the salary...The object of the OP was not to pick the best players with no cap ramifications....it was to realisticly fit the players in to the cap...

 

[Ring 6]

Jared Allen is not as easy to negociate... He is coming off a bloated contract that was signed 6 years ago that the team never thought would be completed.
Contract: 6 yr(s) / $73,260,069 Signing Bonus $15,500,069 Average Salary $12,210,012 Guaranteed: $31,000,000 Free Agent: 2014 / Unrestricted

Year Base S. Bonus Misc. Cap Hit Dead
2008 750,000 2,583,344 - 3,333,344 -
2009 11,950,000 2,583,344 - 14,533,344 -
2010 6,380,000 2,583,344 4,000,000 12,963,344 -
2011 8,979,438 2,583,344 200,000 11,762,782 -
2012 11,619,850 2,583,344 - 14,203,194 -
2013 14,280,612 2,583,344 200,000 17,063,956 2,583,344

At age 32 he has started to show a decline and would be more suited to a back up or rotational roll which greatly reduces his earning capacity. He is currently ranked 5th or 6th with a large FA crop.
Jared Allen, DE, Vikings. Age: 32.
Jared Allen has been one of the NFL's top pass-rushers over the past seven years, but he struggled a bit at times this past season. A sign of age, or was this just a fluke? The team that signs him to a big contract will have to worry about Allen declining at 32.


So I see him as a 5-6 mill per year on a 1-2 year deal with a heavey laden incentive package. WE are not looking for a starter with questions. More like an impact rotational back up. The bottom falls out quickly on these big men with age...Besides looking at retirement he may like to take a shot with a winner...

5-6 mill a year for a backup (which is what you are calling him) is ludicrous. We are nowhere near the cap postion to be able to afford that luxury.

 

[BobDigital]

You can most certanly find a top starting quality FA, BUT you will be spending 3-5 times the salary...The object of the OP was not to pick the best players with no cap ramifications....it was to realisticly fit the players in to the cap...

Well I am in the camp of taking a TE in the draft with our first pick. I think that is the best way to go. IMO any of the top 3 TEs can have just as much impact as Chandler would this year if not more but be a lot better in year 2.

If you want to get Chandler and Draft a top TE that is good with me too. I am not against picking up Chandler I just want a better #2 than him come playoff time.

 

[part-timer]

5-6 mill a year for a backup (which is what you are calling him) is ludicrous. We are nowhere near the cap postion to be able to afford that luxury.

If you had noticed in the whole post....my first pick in the draft made the release of Kelly, and Sopoaga possible, freeing up @ 5.5 mill.

Allen can stil be an impact player in a rotational role. He no longer is a 3 down player. Like Willfork and Kelly....Willforks cap is simalar to what Allen played for...I don't think Willfork will play under his current contract....Like Allen he no longer is a 3 down player....

 

[manxman2601]

5-6 mill a year for a backup (which is what you are calling him) is ludicrous. We are nowhere near the cap postion to be able to afford that luxury.

I'm not taking issue with your post but just want to ask whether you differentiate between a backup and a role player. I agree that 5-6 mil a year is too much for a backup, but if Jared Allen or Michael Johnson or whomever are alternately spelling Ninkovich or Jones or coming in on sub package downs and shifting Jones inside, then in those circumstances, might they be worth that money.

 

[captain stone]

Exactly. Just as 3rd CBs are considered starters because Nickel packages are deployed > 50%
of the time, so too should 3rd DEs be considered more than just backups; rotational players
might be a more accurate term for them.

 

[Miguel]

At QB if Mallott cant get us at least a 3rd I see him remaining with the team and possibly getting the original pick tag next year.

What do you mean by this?

 

[part-timer]

What do you mean by this?

If we are not successful in trading Mallott this year for a second rd pic, I believe that next year mallott as a RFA will be tendered at his originan rd...

 

[Miguel]

If we are not successful in trading Mallott this year for a second rd pic, I believe that next year mallott as a RFA will be tendered at his originan rd...

Mallett will be an UFA after this season.

 

[supafly]

Yeah, the fact that Mallett is in the last year of his deal could provide something of an obstacle for any team who would need to sign him to a new long-term deal, since they are giving up such a high pick (assuming that it happens).

I don't see any team trading a 2nd rounder to then risk losing out on him after only the 2014 season, by failing to sign him to a new deal.

Of course the biggest question is what kind of value would anyone predict for said "new deal?" It obviously would have to be something in the range of starter's money, since the other team would be giving up a 2nd round pick. Teams don't normally give up a 2nd rounder for nothing more than a backup.

That would mean that someone would have to try and guess what kind of money to give to Mallett on a new deal, which really could be anywhere from 4m all the way up to something in the range of 12m AAV. There's a huge grey area there.