Offseason personnel strategy

[That Guy]

the cap was tight, and there was no way we could let santana play on his old contract - he held out until it was fixed, AND if we had made him play, his current contract would be insane compared to the one he was given at the time.

as far as your point on trading down - it doesn't necessarily increase your draft potential at all. trading down and bypassing merriman, for example, would have been a horrible move. and we definitely have a huge need at DE, if nothing else (though depth and defensive age are big issues as well - marshall will be 31, washington 29, springs and the DL getting past 30, etc).

if we pass on gaines, but end up with grubbs + okoye or something, then there's a decent trade off, but if we trade down and miss a 10 time pro bowler for 2 average starters (which are easy to find), that'd be a huge mistake.