Jeff Ireland has always missed the value of playmakers. He'll trade you his dollar for 3 quarters because he can plug in the holes on his roster with those quarters.
But in fact you need dollars, and really only 3 - 4 of them, once you settled on Qb. The types of guys every team spends the week game-planning for.
"Watch where #99 lines up at all times, make sure we know where he is. Get a couple of guys on him every play."
Then you can fill out your roster with Quarters, serviceable guys that give good effort and win their one-on-one matchups.
But it takes a special type of General Manager to spot special players. Let's face it guys, Ireland cannot hit on those special guys. He's as average as you can get. Sees only measurables, only numbers on paper, and scores on a report. He doesn't see a guy that can be transformative, that can truly re-define his position. That's why you get him passing on T.Y Hilton because he already has his speed guy, Hyde Gates. It's all apples to apples with him.
It's truly time we move on from the guy, another year with Ireland would be a horrible horrible mistake.