I'm with ya. The overall cap space is of little concern. However, let's use Ellerbe as an example. He will cost $10M next year, IF his performance is close to as bad as last year, he needs to go and we have absolutely nothing to replace him. The cap saving would be an added bonus for an ILB to be drafted high this year,and may have a comparable value if Ellerbe works out, and Wheeler need to go. JMO
That's true. But, Seattle, Buffalo and Cincinnati all found I LB'S outside of the first round who were plug and play impact performers as rookies ... and there are other examples as well. MLB/ILB isn't the marque position it was when most offenses ran the majority of time.
Heck, Ellerbe himself was an UDFA I think and he developed in a few years time. If we need to fill that position down the road it looks to be one of the less difficult positions to fill on a defense.
That's a risk I'd be willing to take. Personally, I'm more worried about losing Paul Soliai than eventually replacing Ellerbe.
When push comes to shove. Either Wallace shines or he takes a pay cut ... because if he isn't top shelf next year nobody is going to pay him what his contract provides.
There are lot of questions a few years down the road, like Albert's health, whether to re-sign Pouncey, what is the status of our old CB's and how ready are our young CB's?
I just don't get the sense that we are salary cap constrained yet. We have a lot of options for this draft, and our most pressing needs in a year or two may not be the ones we are targeting today. Who knows, at least that's my take on this year's draft calculus. I wish they hadn't moved the draft back so far. Let's get this done already.
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