As far as "paying the best talent" goes I think it's obvious that their strategy is to try to win without paying their O-line, look no further than us not resigning guys after their rookie deals are up. My main point is our offense would be much more successful and consistent spending $ on the O-line rather than skill position players. Then find WR's, TE's & RB's in the draft.[/quote]
I think it's worth noting that although it's not shown in terms of the salary cap, the team did invest significant "capital" on the O-Line in last year's draft. From all that I've heard, Ifeidi and Ohdiambo have both met/exceeded expectations and will pay dividends for years to come.
Clearly decisions over the last couple years to lock down key players like Russell, Sherman, Cam, Bennett, Avril, Baldwin, KJ, and Earl have limited their cap space to sign O-lineman. Which one of those deals did they miss on? I would also push back on them spending a lot of money on their "skill players". If you ignore the cap hit from Marshawn, they are paying just over 22 million for their top 3 receivers, 1 TE, and 2 running backs this year. Compare that to most decent teams in the NFL and I think you'll find that to be on the low end.