I think it's a case of us stockpiling draft picks and what's available in the FA market. For the O Line we now have 2 veterans (Carey and Smiley), plus a 2nd year player (Satele) as starters. We're definitely going to draft at least 1 more starter, likely a tackle (LT if it's a first rounder or RT if it's a 2nd rounder or lower). We may draft a starting guard too depending upon how the draft goes. Now in the game of supply and demand, the top O Linemen are in such high demand that either A) they'll never hit the market like a top LT, B) they're ultra-expensive like Faneca so will have huge cap hits, or C) have some defects but are still a hot commodity like Smiley. Smiley was very good but not great, then injured significantly, those two things brought his value down, but he was one of our best FA signings and probably the most important. (Ferguson was a trade not a FA).
The O Linemen available now are journeymen, and there's a lot of those to fill in the holes, but the supply is so great that there's no rush. We can draft freely and caulk up the cracks with journeymen once we see exactly where our cracks are.
As for D Linemen, those are much harder to get, and I think we've gotten all we could in Ferguson (trade) and Starks (costly FA but one with talent and potential).
Next was WR, and I think we plucked the best guy we could have gotten in Wilford, who has exactly the physical talents that Parcells' grind-em-out and then convert in the red zone offense needs. Particularly when you consider Ginn doesn't have the size Parcells likes. Simlarly, while people are slagging Tab Perry as a special teams only player, I think we're taking a flyer on a cheap but talented receiver with good potential. He hasn't been healthy, but our WR coach knows him and believes in him, and if he (Perry's former collegiate coach) can get him on the field dependably, I think he'll be another good and cheap acquisition. Why haven't we gotten more? Because we may add one in the draft. Limas Sweed, James Hardy (my personal favorite) and Malcolm Kelly are all rumored to possibly be sliding into the 2nd round ... or even lower. All three would be great fits in Miami. If any of them are available at our 2B pick, I think there's a decent chance we take him. I definitely think we'll take a big pass catching TE in the 3rd or 4th round.
There simply were no good FA QB's available, none, so we took one with A) some experience winning occasionally on bad teams, and B) with the size, strength and ability to hold onto the ball that Parcells covets, and C) with some potential, although nobody expects him to develop into a top QB.
We're rather set at RB, at least until our injury train pulls into the station. :D
We have only 1 FB, but in Sean Ryan we have a solid blocking TE who can help that in a different formation.
We definitely lack CB's but this draft has a LOT of quality CB's in it ... and frankly I'm amazed that more people aren't talking about it because it's even deeper than the Tackles in this draft. By comparison, there's almost no S's to be had in either the draft or FA, so I think that's why we re-signed the ever-injured Bell.
We needed linebackers, and we got linebackers. Torbor showed well last season. The other LB's are filler IMHO, but so is Crowder IMHO, so who knows. I think we'll bring in 2 LB's in this draft, one early and one or more late. (Kroy Biermann in round 6
FTW!@%@^@$%@$@#!!!oneoneone).
So really, when you look at it, we addressed all the positions of need. We know we're going to bring in certain things from this draft (like a T, CB, and LB), and the rest of the FA's primarily fall into the caulk category ... good for patching cracks but you don't build the foundation of your house with it.
Before Free Agency opened I was hoping we'd bring in a lot of youngish veterans and great technique players to act as the structure and role models for a huge wave of youngsters. The moderately priced FA's tend to be the best business, as the big money ones have a huge bust factor and the cap hit for missing on them really stings. The medium/lower pay FA's tend not to lack motivation. Seeing what we've done, I'm very happy with this class. Ferguson was a great trade, we absolutely needed an NT, and I think we may look to add someone like Red Bryant or another NT in the draft to learn from Ferguson. Starks was a savvy acquisition, but I wonder if we overpayed a bit? Wilford was a great pickup, exactly what we needed and probably as good of a player as we could have gotten. Tab Perry has the skills and is worth giving a shot. Smiley was a great move, excellent pulling G who is proven in this league and came relatively cheaply. I like Torbor as a player too. I'm less impressed with some of our special teams maniacs, but I'm not going to second-guess it until I see Parcells' plan unfold. Maybe these guys set the bar high for rookies and eventually our rookies play better special teams, I dunno. But one thing is for certain, Ginn's smiling about it.
