Quote:
Originally Posted by The Goat
Ok I'm very curious if there's a consensus, or at least a majority opinion, on how the FO should/will handle the d-line this off-season. I'll be honest I've given it some thought but can't really even decide for myself what makes the most sense. Here are the main points I see:
- The FA market is very shallow at both DE and DT and the two top guys will command huge money i.e. Peppers and Haynesworth, respectively. I don't believe Haynesworth can be franchised again, according to his contract, and clearly the Panthers have a tough decision ahead whether to tag Julius. Anyway my early thoughts have been we ought to pass on both guys but want to hear what good arguments are out there for grabbing one or the other... signing both would be impossible, right?
- Again beyond Peppers and Haynesworth there just isn't much to be had in FA: Gabe Watson (DT) is a RFA w/ the Cards and shouldn't be available. No way do I want Tank Johnson. Basically Monty is as good as any other young guy out there to rotate at DT. Most of the available DEs are coming out of the 3-4 scheme, with Evans actually being one of the better run-stoppers among the whole group (I think we need to resign him).
- Daniels looks to be back to 100% by start of camp and will cost around $2.2 mil on the year
- Jason Taylor earlier signaled he may play for less but more recently some have rumored he won't, which means he'll cost somewhere in the vicinity of $8.5 mil
I've been leaning more toward the "spring cleaning" strategy where we dump Daniels and Taylor to make cap room that would probably be spent at OL and/or OLB. IMHO we'll be fine at DT. I see no reason Griffin won't be a warrior again this season and Monty and Golston still show promise, Monty especially. But DE is more tricky. Evans and AC would obviously start but the risk is beyond those two there's minimal experience. Rob Jackson @ 269 lbs certainly has the size to play LDE but honestly I have no idea how talented he is. Chris Wilson could fill in at RDE but again I have little idea about talent. So again maybe that leaves us too thin in which we have to retain either Daniels or Taylor. But in that case who?
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All of what you said depends on what we do in FA (your first two points) If we either get Haynesworth or (mainly Peppers) this changes the what we do with Daniels and Taylor. Say if we get Peppers, I would let Dainels and Taylor both walk based on that we save some cap room and their age, and I'd would be more than happy to see Peppers and Carter at both ends in '09. However
if we get Haynesworth deciding between Dainels and Taylor is irrelevant. I'm taking a wait and see approach just because there are too many scenarios that could happen.