Quote:
Originally Posted by Hoover
This Super Bowl run has really impacted my thoughts on how this team should move forward next season. Before the playoffs I was ready for a significant revamp that would see Chris Jones walk, and those resources be spend on upgrading the offense in free agency, and using the draft to address DT position. Now I'm not so sure.
At this point if you can figure something out with Jones and tag Sneed, by all means do it. I know Chris is 30, but he isn't 32. Dude has plenty left. With the way this team has played in the playoffs why wouldn't you bring back the studs on this defense and use the draft to replenish at LB, instead of trying to fill a huge hole created by a the Ohminihue (SP?) injury and a Jones departure. Yeah I'd love to keep Gay and Drew at LB, but we can find their replacements in the 3rd and 4th rounds of the draft. DT is a different story.
I think the WR picture is different today than it was during the season too. Still plenty of work to be done for use, but we know what we have in Rice, and now its about finding the right compliment to him. Frankly I don't think the answer is spending a bunch of FA money on a WR. Now I'd love to get Mike Evans on the opposite side of Rice, but if that's not possible, screw it, give me a couple cheaper vets and I'm going to draft another WR with one of my first two draft picks.
I think the real puzzle is at LT. Smith's return is a key reason we are playing in another Super Bowl. Frankly, this is where Veach has to work his magic again. Not sure you can count on Smith making it for an entire season, and you can't walk into next year with Morris penciled in at LT either. You figure out LT, and I think this team is well on its way.
As for Jones, if you can't get a deal done, then I think this is where you have to spend free agent money. I just don't think you can address that spot in the draft and feel like you are ready to make a Super Bowl run. Hell, depending on what you do at WR and LT in free agency, if you could keep Jones and draft a DT hign in the draft, you might be getting the best of both worlds.
Hell the longer I type, the more convinced I am that keeping Jones and Sneed is the only way to go. If you let Jones walk you are just going to turn around and spend basically the same money on the position. Things would be different if Charles didn't get hurt.
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I don't think anyone knows when Chris Jones will slow down, might not be this year but if you're signing him to a deal around 3-4 years it's likely by year 3 or 4 he's making around $35-40 million on a backloaded deal and is nowhere near that level of player at that point. I just don't think it's wise to be sinking $30 million a year on a 30 year-old player based on past performance. You won't completely replace him but between the draft and FA I think you can get 75% of his impact split between multiple players and you decrease your risk from sinking so much money into a single player who is more likely to get injured at his age.
I also don't think anything has changed in the postseason in regard to WR play. The only difference is they pared down the rotation at WR, aside from Rice the WR room still needs a significant infusion of talent. I don't think anybody is suggesting we necessarily go out and spend $18-20 million a year on someone like Evans or Higgins, but several (including myself) are suggesting we sign someone like Mooney or Hollywood Brown which will likely take somewhere in the range of $10-15 million a year. Need to draft 1-2 as well. Not sure how you are able to afford a WR at that price range if you're extending both Sneed and Jones in addition to maybe signing Smith again at LT and other depth pieces that will be needed.