- Joined
- Jan 12, 2013
- Messages
- 1,870
- Name
- Nick
I get the cuts, they make sense. Older players do large sums of money and production doesn't match their salary. I get that we're trying to get young. But the holes we have and our cap we have to fill it with, have me mildly concerned.
Holes (no order):
WR: Flanker & slot
RB: 1 A tailback (Pead & Rich are both 1 Bs)
LG: Starter
RT: Starter
OLB: Coverage linebacker for nickel situations
S: Strong & Free starters
Lesser holes:
DL: 3rd DE & 3rd DT (Hayes' & Cudjo's spots)
TE: Pass Catching TE
How do we manage to plug these? My biggest worry is how we provide Sam with better weapons than last year. Obviously Givens/Quick/Pead/Rich should improve, but we need an established player like Danny or SJ. Do we get Boldin at $5 mill per? Do we add a top TE? This also raises another question of mine. Do we pay a premium price for a luxury like TE, to a guy who will only be catching passes?
Our cap room is reported to be a hair under $15 mill. With about $7 mill set aside for the draft, we have about $8 mill to work with. That's not much, given all the holes we have.
I'd think getting a FS in FA is a top priority, as you don't want to have 2 rookies on the back end. With it being a good FS class in FA it seems logical to fill that hole via FA. Good SS class in the draft including: Elam, Swearinger, Thomas to name a few.
My issue is: I think we will have one moderately expensive FA $5 mill+ (likely a guy like Delmas). But we have such little cap that leaves us with barely enough to resign guys like Hayes, Cudjo, and/or Stewart, let alone another starter.
I think we can bank on at least 2 starters via FA, but that leaves us with about 6 more key spots to fill through the draft. I like a young team. But THAT young?
Bottom line is. We'd better have a draft as good as last, maybe better if we hope to really build a year in and year out contender in STL. May sound funny that I'm deeming this a kind of "make or break draft," but it is in my opinion.
We have our cornerstones, and they're getting theirs: Cort ($14), Long ($13.25), JL ($11), Sam ($9). They make up a healthy percentage of our cap, so the young bucks better produce. This team was built wrong in the past with too much money allocated to too many free agents over too long of a period. That's why we're in the tight cap situation this year.
I think our cap woes stem from the historic poor o-line drafting over the past 10 years (Saffold the only good one). If we can add one or even TWO keepers in the draft we can begin to move on from signing those BIG contracts to older o-lineman (think of Bell, Brown, etc. over the years). Dahl & Wells make up $10 mill of our cap next year, we should be looking to replace them. Rok has potential to take over at RG & a guy like Turner could fill in for Wells in 2014, while we look for the long term center. As for the holes at LG and RT. I hope Warmack falls to us and becomes a keeper. RTs can be found in the mid rounds.
Youngsters need to step up in 2013, but we need to add some vet leaders too. There will be bumps, although hopefully we have less rooks playing as last year (sign of progress).
Ultimately I'm just scared for Sam as there are a lot of unknowns at this time. Many key guys gone and not any answers yet. I hope we give him ample tools, better tools than last year, or his growth will be at a standstill. I'd love Warmack &/or Austin with a side of TE in the 3rd.
Sorry for the rant, thanks for reading this far.
Let me know what you guys think...
Holes (no order):
WR: Flanker & slot
RB: 1 A tailback (Pead & Rich are both 1 Bs)
LG: Starter
RT: Starter
OLB: Coverage linebacker for nickel situations
S: Strong & Free starters
Lesser holes:
DL: 3rd DE & 3rd DT (Hayes' & Cudjo's spots)
TE: Pass Catching TE
How do we manage to plug these? My biggest worry is how we provide Sam with better weapons than last year. Obviously Givens/Quick/Pead/Rich should improve, but we need an established player like Danny or SJ. Do we get Boldin at $5 mill per? Do we add a top TE? This also raises another question of mine. Do we pay a premium price for a luxury like TE, to a guy who will only be catching passes?
Our cap room is reported to be a hair under $15 mill. With about $7 mill set aside for the draft, we have about $8 mill to work with. That's not much, given all the holes we have.
I'd think getting a FS in FA is a top priority, as you don't want to have 2 rookies on the back end. With it being a good FS class in FA it seems logical to fill that hole via FA. Good SS class in the draft including: Elam, Swearinger, Thomas to name a few.
My issue is: I think we will have one moderately expensive FA $5 mill+ (likely a guy like Delmas). But we have such little cap that leaves us with barely enough to resign guys like Hayes, Cudjo, and/or Stewart, let alone another starter.
I think we can bank on at least 2 starters via FA, but that leaves us with about 6 more key spots to fill through the draft. I like a young team. But THAT young?
Bottom line is. We'd better have a draft as good as last, maybe better if we hope to really build a year in and year out contender in STL. May sound funny that I'm deeming this a kind of "make or break draft," but it is in my opinion.
We have our cornerstones, and they're getting theirs: Cort ($14), Long ($13.25), JL ($11), Sam ($9). They make up a healthy percentage of our cap, so the young bucks better produce. This team was built wrong in the past with too much money allocated to too many free agents over too long of a period. That's why we're in the tight cap situation this year.
I think our cap woes stem from the historic poor o-line drafting over the past 10 years (Saffold the only good one). If we can add one or even TWO keepers in the draft we can begin to move on from signing those BIG contracts to older o-lineman (think of Bell, Brown, etc. over the years). Dahl & Wells make up $10 mill of our cap next year, we should be looking to replace them. Rok has potential to take over at RG & a guy like Turner could fill in for Wells in 2014, while we look for the long term center. As for the holes at LG and RT. I hope Warmack falls to us and becomes a keeper. RTs can be found in the mid rounds.
Youngsters need to step up in 2013, but we need to add some vet leaders too. There will be bumps, although hopefully we have less rooks playing as last year (sign of progress).
Ultimately I'm just scared for Sam as there are a lot of unknowns at this time. Many key guys gone and not any answers yet. I hope we give him ample tools, better tools than last year, or his growth will be at a standstill. I'd love Warmack &/or Austin with a side of TE in the 3rd.
Sorry for the rant, thanks for reading this far.
Let me know what you guys think...
