The smart teams almost never trade up. Go look at the teams recently who have traded up to get players (ie: Washington). Go look at the smart teams who have traded down or gotten solid value with their late first round pick (ie: Dallas, New England, Pittsburgh, New York Giants).
One thing that almost everyone here fails to take into account is our struggling economy. It is absolutely affecting how teams approach free agency and the acquisition of players via trade. If we were in a stable economy right now, I think you would see teams like the Giants, Eagles, Titans, and even us making a STRONG push for Anquan Boldin. There's just no way we trade up in this economy to take a player we're going to have to pay millions of dollars without proving anything in the field of play.
I dont think the economy has anything to do with it.
The NFL is probably one of the most lucrative industries now, and even if fans dont attend games, they will watch on TV and the TV deals are Billion dollar deals. Merchandising may be affected, but again, the money teams get from revenue sharing and TV still keep franchises strong.
The problem is two-fold. First, all teams are up against a salary cap. With rookie contracts running wild (specifically top 10 picks), it leaves the team with less salary cap money to fill other positions. Dumping 40 million dollars on an unproven draft pick can cripple a team if the player doesnt pan out.
The second reason is that it is cost prohibitive pick-wise to trade up into the top 10. It is generally accepted now that the best value picks come in the later rounds, second and third in particular. Most people value top 10 picks to the outdated Jimmy Johnson pick value chart, which would require multiple high round picks to move up very few spots. Teams simply can't justify taking 1 top tier player instead of 2 (or more) slightly lower rated players.
You can say that quality is better than quantity, but in today's NFL, where players are always getting injured, it is important to have depth, whether that depth be a solid, all-around first team, or a deep bench.
I think that BP thinks (yea, sounds funny) that you want a large quantity of quality players (as opposed to a small quantity of studs.) It is the opposite of putting all your eggs in one basket. You've gotta diversify those funds!
I think he has shown that since he has been here. He has greatly upgraded the bottom half of our roster, which has paid great dividends.
