Boomer said:
Paid too much for Jeno James??? Are you out of your mind. He was a bargain. Do you not see that the OL is better and that the overll competition is better, the depth is better??? Would you rather have WAY overspent for Woody and for Tait, neither of whom was worth it and in Tait's case was money for old rope, when you consider he was the 5th best lineman on that line, he'll be 30 at the start of the season and he's a mediocre run blocker??
I'm sure before these mini-camps you were saying how great Boston was. Anyone who doesn't think that the Boston deal was a good one is nuts. Keyshawn??? Galloway????? Don't make me laugh. Joey Galloway??? Maybe when he left Seattle. Sheesh.
Great list of what if's. You also didn't list, what if the moon is made of cheese, because that should have been #7.
If Carey isn't ready then Jerman or St Clair or Tony Pape.
Smith is no better? Smith was fine last year. He'll be better this year with an offseason in the weight room. He has tremendous upside.
We won't know if Feeley is a bust for 2 seasons.
If Boston blows up then we have depth at WR and there are options after the June cuts.
If Zach gets hurt then we put Greenwood at MLB. No probs.
I think cutting 20 million off the roster, putting us in decent cap shape, bringing in a new QB, a ST captain and excellent receiver at TB, a rookie FA TB who can be a great 3rd down option and return man, a Pro Bowl WR who we got for a 6th round pick and a corner we were going to cut, a ST maven at TE, a Pro Bowl return man in the WR rotation, resigning our #1 return man and primary WR, adding 6 players on the OL, whilst weeding out the trash, bringing in 3 LB's, 2 of which could make the team, drafting the best value pick of the entire draft and bringing in one of the top zone corners and top 5 tackling corners in the draft, plus a former 1st round pick at safety with great upside and the SB champs ST captain, is a pretty sound job if you ask me. Of course, I'm not a doom monger so what do I know??
Hang on a second, let me get out from behind the desk while you reload. :)
1. I didn't say Rick had done a bad job, I said it was too early to call what he has done as great. There are a lot of questions about his moves, including a 2 for a 3rd string QB that has the rest of the media talking about us looking for a QB again. Maybe Feeley turns out great, but lets save the praise.
2. Over pay for Jeno James? I'm no expert, but people that analyze the NFL for a leaving have made this observation. Does that mean they are right? No, it means we gave top dollar to a guard which is against conventional wisdom. Hopefully he will be as good in games as he is looked in minicamp and the reverse for AJ. Which of course, gets at the heart of why it is too early to condemn or praise, which was my point, but moving on . . .
3. Tait: We offered the money to Tait who turned it down. SO are you saying if Rick gets Tait to sign, it is a bad signing? So was Rick "lucky" that Tait turned down the money. I confess you have confused me here.
4. Boston: Well, I guess there are a lot of people that are nuts because more than one has said this is a deal with some serious risk. There are reasons that Boston was available, and there are reasons why so few teams were even interested in him. I tend to think he will do well, but that's more a homer belief than anything.
5. As for my list of what ifs, I think it is a reasonable list of things that a good GM needs to think about going into a season like maybe considering last year if projecting Mark DIxon as a 16 game starter at LT is a good move. The things I have listed seem to me to be the most pressing concerns the team has, with little to do with the moon or green cheese.
The team has to be ready if Smith has his struggles at LT. Linebacker depth, an admitted concern. I can't agree with you that Greenwood would be a "no prob" answer at Zach's spot, nor do I agree that our pack of WR is depth. We got some bodies, but there is a reason why the team is still looking for a WR.
Feeley? better have a good backup plan. Is Fiedler the answer there? Lots of questions on the line.
Did Rick do some good things? Sure, he managed the cap well. Can we jump up and down about Boston, Poole and claim that Wilkens and Snoop will be awesome? Sure. All I'm saying, despite everything else above, is that at this point we can paint the moves as great or horrible, and we won't know it until the season starts.
So I'll save me praise. Ok, back behind the desk, err couch.
:couch: