i have always been on the quality over quantity mentality as far as the draft.
as others have mentioned, can you imagine what the team would look like if ireland would have landed just 2 blue chip players in the past 4 years drafts?
if he would have brought in one hi end, blue chip f/a every year?
we are all having vastly different conversations on the boards right now if he had. a whole lot more love in the house!!
and i dont mind some of the combo scenerios some have come up with, but, and its a reality, i dont have the confidence ireland would actually use them on blue chip, big school, big production players.
all those "i am going to dazzle everyone with my small school, injured, 6 total college games" players he likes to draft would all just become first and 2nd rounders. he would just moventhem up on his board.
i dont think we are done yet. and we will have some more draft pics as i think daniel thomas or steve slaton or reggie bush is going to be a detroit lion.
and i think jake long may be on the block. he is a free agent at seasons end. he is going to command HUGE, HUGE money and there will be teams better than us who will pay that or more for him. we have a bunch of cap money next year, thats true, but notice there are NO talks of getting long signed to a long term deal. not even a whisper!!
why? the finz know he will be THE free agent, and one from a premium position. you would think they would be trying like hell, even over the off season to get a deal done. but theres been nothing!
tells me they know [and i dont blame him] that he is going to see what happens in f/agency. i am sure they have approached him in private and he has said i plan on seeing what the market is for me.
SOOOO....... he is gone. i am 98% sure he is outa here. SO LETS GET SOMETHING FOR HIM? he is a huge commodity that we have a #1 selection and a good 90 mill in salary and signing bonuses and season incentives. i wouldnt even talk about a jake trade if it wasnt obvious he is going to enter f/a and will most likely go to a team that is much closer or already is a contender. if this season had ANY chance of a playoff spot, i wouldnt talk a jake trade. but, we are a 3-5 win [5 would be an acheivment] team, so whats the point of having him around for a worthless year just to go, oooohhh, theres jake long, oohhh, he's a stud!!
the name of the game now is REBUILDING with young, hungry players not spoiled and soiled by other regimes, systems and bad habbits and we need LOTS of top end draft choices. we have a 1, 2 #2's and 2 3's. can you imagine the pics jake long would command? you can add another 1st round and 2-3 other hi to mid round pics with that.
all those hi picks. all that cap room. AND free agency!!
get the picture? we could do a pretty quick rebuild with the bounties of those pics and money. is passing that up worth keeping jake and ohhing and aahing his guns and tats for a year that means nothing?
git er done jeff!!
