Gink was a nice story and value for us but he has never been a true 1 or 2 edge whereas Barrett has. Yes Barrett is older and that’s the risk but if he has one more good year in him that’s all we need.Van Ginkle is a better football player at this stage in their careers than Barrett. No two ways about it. This is a position of dyer need. He can come off the edge and he's always around the ball and has a knack for making big plays. Block punt, Pick six, whatever. This is the one loss I can't understand. I'll drink the coolaid for the other moves. Not this one.
Think we are overestimating Gink a bit similar to how everyone seemed to think we had a stud corner with Kader last offseason, I was in the minority then saying let’s not get too excited about an UDFA who managed to make the team and play a bunch of snaps in an injury riddled secondary. He certainly had his moments so not dissing him just didn’t think he was a bona fide stud as many did.
I’d wager we’ll feel about the same regarding Gink by next offseason, nice player but certainly can be replaced and be replaced cheaper. We might even get better play out of Barrett considering his ceiling and fact ‘23 was such a difficult year for him personally.