Originally posted by DeDolfan
Kind of after the fact, yes? That wasn't mentioned this time last week was it? All that was talked about was how great it was that Woody is our 1st choice and how we're going to make the big push for him, yada yada. Funny thing how now since we wern't even close to him that all of a sudden, he ain't all that, has injury problems etc. Sometimes, i just wish folks would make up mY mind for me !! 
Woody is a great player. a first rounder that lived up to his billing and no doubt we'd have been better with him on our team. But, Rick was not going to get into a limitless bidding war and when the price went above what he felt was the most we wanted to pay, he knew when to say when. Detriot's cap situation perhaps allowed them to set a higher limit. It was worth exploring and Rick went as far as he felt was worth it.
I don't know who said he was an injury risk. That is ludicrous. He had the knee injury last season that was so minor it did not require surgery.
That doesn't mean there aren't other guys who wouldn't be an upgrade over what we had last year. Maybe not as much of an improvement, but still an improvement to some degree.
The main thing with an OL, as I'm sure you will agree, is to find 5 good or better players, that can work well together as a unit.
That is what we should hope that Rick comes up with.
Signing one bigger name like Woody, would mean we may have not be able to address all our other needs in free agency. So it seems logical to look at the silver lining from not signing him, since there are pluses and minuses in any signing to varying degrees.
I like the fact that we should be able to get two above average OL red chip types, so to speak, for the cost of one blue chip player like Woody. So, what would be better? A guard tandem of Woody and the winner of the Whitley, Yates, Jerman competition, or a tandem of a guy like Jeno James and maybe a Cosey Coleman or Bobbie Williams? JJ and either of the two should add up to less than Woody, cost wise.
Since we're on the subject of OL UFAs lost...
I didn't like the idea of paying so much for Tait to begin with. But if that was what Rick felt was the best way to go, I'd have been glad to see how it played out. But, his family thought that the Chi-town environment fit them better for a place for he and his family to reside, than the South Florida one did, for several reasons I'm sure we could speculate on. But if it was something personal about the team and/or staff, why would Tait come down to begin with? He could have went to Chi first and just took their deal. Either them or us would be concerned more with putting forth a deal that KC would not match than what the other, between they and us, would be offering. I'm sure Tait, having been in the league for 5 years, knew enough about the team and coaches to be open to checking out the area, and I will not believe for a second that it was anything personal toward any members of our team that he chose Chicago.
I'm not saying you do, but that is my take on the Tait situation fwiw, and we are talking OL free agents I guess :)
