Starks is more talented and more expensive than Soliai. And he's disgruntled, so no surprise he's gone. But I'm a little surprised we didn't try to resign Soliai. He makes 6 million a year, (or less, I think) and even with a raise it would be manageable. He likes it here and I think he'd stay with a fair contract.
As far as Joseph, it's not like there's no competition. He wants 35-40 million, and he'll go to the highest bidder, or else stay with his team, who he has openly said he'd rather be with. What happens if Soliai and Starks are gone, and we lose out on Joseph? Sure, we'll pick up someone else, but it doesn't mean it will be an upgrade. It may be a lateral move, or a downgrade at the position.
---------- Post added at 09:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:04 PM ----------
My take on it too. Keep one, makes no difference which. But losing both, makes me nervous.
5 years 30-35 million is not a bad contract for Joseph considering he's 25, talented, a 3 down player, and the structuring of the contract will really tell how good or bad it is. Soliai is 30 years old and looking for his last big payday that'll be over 6 million a year. Personally, I'd rather give Joseph a 5 year 35 million contract that is frontloaded than give Soliai a 3 year 24 million contract with 16 million guaranteed.
And it does matter which one you bring back with Soliai or Starks considering Starks can't play the 1 technique, and would be severely out of place on the Defense if we played him there. That means we'd probably have to grab some average 1 tech in FA unless you're going to pay 6-7 million for 2 DTs, which would be pointless IMO. At least with Soliai we'll have a spot for him in the starting rotation.