Offseason personnel strategy

[Drift Reality]

Originally Posted by 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.

Right, to reiterate my point, I don't believe you trade down to take someone; you trade down because you don't have an impending need to take someone where you are at and someone else values the pick more than you do.

If Merriman was available and the front office has accurately estimated his value, then I believe they would not have traded down but drafted him. On the other hand, if a guy like Merriman wasn't available and someone were to approach them with an additional 2nd or 3rd - to move down a few spots, then I would punch it in.

I guess I'm saying I'd like to see more trades like the one where we swindled Ditka some years back out of his entire draft and still got Bailey, and less trades like giving away an additional 2nd rounder to take McIntosh, or the Duckett and Stokley trades.

I do however, support the trading of additional material to get JC!