Nick Bolton extended 3 yrs $45M

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Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

In fairness, I think that's pretty much every team.

You're only ever 2-3 underwhelming drafts from being up shit's creek.

if Kingsley and Hicks establish themselves as solid starters, we're in okay shape. But if they don't, both the 2023 and 2024 classes would have to be seen as sub-par and at that point if 2025 also becomes something of a 1-player draft, you're in trouble.

But everything changes if Kingsley is a good option at OG (or OT) or Hicks steps in and gives us what Reid did. And maybe FAU becomes a solid player and/or Conner steps forward if asked to play FS rather than that odd nickel role.

The book isn't closed on those drafts yet and they could still pull themselves up to average to good. If they don't then yeah - we could be in trouble. Because again, 2-3 underwhelming drafts in a row will force ANY team to go heavier into FA than they want to and that's always going to be extremely expensive.

It is. And I want to note that I dropped an “lol” in my original post hoping to soften my tone. As I mentioned, sometimes you’ve just gotta pay guys, positional value be damned, and figure the rest out as you go..

It’s just funny commentary on team building philosophy.

… and I won’t lie and say that I wouldn’t feel a lot more comfortable if our largest cap hits were going to LT, CB, etc. instead. After all, it is generally much easier to find a serviceable RG than a LT.

I’m also preemptively grieving this whole Trey Smith contract. I really hope I’m proven wrong but this is just not how I would have handled this thing.