mgteich said:
We all agree that Seymour and Brady are worth top money.
Should the patriots be willing to pay anyone else top 10 money (top 10 at their position)? After all we are a T-E-A-M, not a group of individual stars. Someone could check, but my suspicion is that Colvin and Green already get top 10 money.
Branch?
Graham?
Samuel?
Koppen?
anyone?
Should we pay Branch and draw the line; or should we draw the line and give Branch a long vacation.
Is Branch worth more given Jackson's injury and Caldwell's performance? Is he worth more because Givens is gone? If not, why not?
I dont know that Branch is top 10, but since there are 2 WR postions, maybe we should be saying top 20? I think he is soemwhere in between.
Graham IMO is clearly a top 10 TE.
Samuel is not a top 10 nor top 20 corner. He is a good starterbut probably more like 30-40 in the NFL.
Koppen is tricky to me. C is a position where it seems easy to plug young players in who play very well, but the flip side is a bad C can really kill your OL. Top 10? Are there 2 worse starting Cs for everyone that is better than Koppen? Tough call, but I would think by the end of 2006 the answer would be clear to BB. (Last years injury and not enough experience yet says to me this is an inconclusive)
To answer your other questions, of course we need to have top 10 players. Being a TEAM doesn't mean having 53 guys roughly equal in average ability. Being a team is playing like and thinking like a team. Excellent players fit this as well. Its a misconception to me to say that a team attitude prohibits talented players. Theoretically about 1/3 of our players should be top 10 at their position (top 20 for spots like CB, WR, G, DE, etc where there are 2 of each) since there are 32 teams. That would be 7-8 starters. To say Brady and Seymour fill the boat of talent is a mistake. Team play isnt going to matter much of the guys playing as a team cannot execute as football players.
Personally, I think that I think I understand BBs philosophy in terms of should other players impact the decision.
I say no. I think BB judges value individually, builds the best roster he can, then molds it into a team. If that means he finds more value in one area than another he adjusts. When BB finds a 'good football player' at a reasonable price he gets him. Get Harrison when you have Milloy, sign Victor Green and create the big nickel. Win 2 SBs with a crappy RB, then get Corey Dillon because the price is right and lean more on the running game to win a 3rd. Get Roman Phifer to be a 3rd down cover guy--basically there appeared to be no spot for him, get starting good quality OLB play from him; get younger at OLB, move him inside, etc, etc ,etc.
That to me is BB philosophy.
1) There are skills that are necessary in his system.
2) You find every good football who possesses those skills
3) You fit the pieces together into a team, scheme, and tweaking of philososphy AFTER they are here.
Therefore ANY good football player (providing they fit the skillsets) fits and it can be figured out how to carve out a role, and NO ONE is irreplacable.
That said, there is no plan that overcomes a lack of talent, so while that top 10 guy isnt irreplacable, he still has the value of a top 10 guy.
